Are organic wines healthier for you!

Recently, there has been a growing market presence of Organic, Biodynamic and Synthetic free products being produced not only in Australia but also around the world. You may have found yourself asking, ‘are organic/biodynamic wines a healthier choice?’

Logic says yes! The less synthetics consumed, the less additives the body has to process, the healthier the individual. This makes absolute sense to us. 

The trouble being it is very difficult to find conclusive evidence to prove one way or another. In my own recent research, I couldn’t verify that synthetic free, organic/biodynamic wine is a healthier choice. There were many articles that allude or suggest chemical free is healthier but then contradict by saying that it’s not proven. This could be due to research studies being unavailable and expensive to undertake, afterall who is willing to pay for them.  

I came across a paper from Environmental Health called “Human health implications of organic food and organic agriculture: a comprehensive review”.  Click here for the full article. The study abstract tells us that ‘Organic food consumption may reduce the risk of allergic disease and overweight and obesity, but the evidence is not conclusive….’.  The paper reports that conventional fruits and vegetables constitute the main source of pesticide exposure to humans.  Other topics discussed include organic dairy, higher omega-3 content, animal antibiotic use, and lower cadmium in organic cereal crops.

Another discussion point is about the subjects of the study.  Do people who consume organic/biodynamic food have better outcomes as they may exercise more regularly than those who consume a conventional diet.

At Stefano Lubiana we are motivated to produce organic/biodynamic wine because we believe the environment and native fauna are better off, our employees do not have to handle poisonous chemicals and our customers hopefully experience an unadulterated ‘wholefood’ benefit from consuming our wine.  If these advantages were not part of organic/biodynamic farming then we would not bother with the time, cost, hassle, administration, expense and energy it takes to achieve certification.

With the festive period just around the corner I encourage you to read this article for yourself and whilst you enjoy a glass of Organic/biodynamic wine from Stefano Lubiana Wines!

28/10/2020 at 2:46 PM Permalink

We've got Worms

Recently I came across an interesting book that Steve purchased online called ‘Organic growing with worms’ by David Murphy.  It was sitting on the coffee table and I had a few minutes between the dishwasher finishing and hanging out a load of washing. (This is what I do on my days off as a part time domestic goddess!!)

One of the few challenges we’ve found in our vineyard is the imbalance of nitrogen. Why do grapes need nitrogen? Grapes with balanced ‘goldilocks’ nitrogen produce higher quality, flavoursome and stable wines that age well. Too much nitrogen is not a good thing as vines push to create canopy rather than fruit shading out bunches. This can produce unripe fruit characters with poor age-ability.  One of the reasons Grand Cru wines are planted on hillsides rather than the valley floor is because hillsides have soils of less vigour and are generally warmer (less clay), and also can be of a higher PH.  When we purchased our Granton vineyard over 30 years ago it was planted to a market garden producing mostly brassicas best suited to an alkaline soil type. The previous owner ran the market garden conventionally and, as a result, we inherited soils like concrete, which is a habitat uninviting to worms. Over the past 30 years we’ve set about reversing the harm done through the introduction of compost, compost teas, 500, 501, gentle cultivation and cover crops.  We monitor our progress through soil testing.  We’ve come a long way and we’ve increased the carbon content immensely but there is still some more work to be done. Worms can help us as they work around the clock with no overtime converting the carbon to nitrogen.

If you’re mad about gardening and want to do something to help the environment, especially if you’re keen to grow food, this is an essential book.  What I learned was that worms deposit nitrogen in the soil through their burrowing and urine (wee).  When worms burrow they shore up the walls of the burrows with their mucus. This is full of nitrogen that is excreted through the digestion of carbon, minerals and bacteria. Their wee is also full of nitrogen. When it rains, or irrigation is applied, this washes all the nitrogen through the burrows to the tip of the root system that is then taken up by the vine. Not only do the worms deposit nitrogen but their burrowing allows for oxygen to enter the soil. Along with carbon this is a key requirement for bacteria to flourish. ‘bacteria is agriculture’s richest source of nitrogen on the planet’ p112.  Oxygen in soil feels squidgy underfoot, not like concrete. ‘Organic growing with worms’ explains how to start a worm farm, attract worms, keep them and increase their numbers.  It’s an easy read full of great ideas. I give it 5 stars out of 5.

30/08/2020 at 3:26 PM Permalink