Hirsch and Organic Grape Growing
11/12/2008 -
It’s important for us fans and fanatics to learn about how a wine is made, but walking through vineyards with a grape grower is generally much more interesting than visiting another cellar full of steel vats and barrels. In the vines most growers are very much at ease, and they love to talk about their methods, the nuances of each plot and the wines they make. As more vineyards are farmed without pesticides and other chemical treatments the vast difference in appearance between conventional grape growing and organic farming becomes more and more dramatic. An organic vineyard is full of other plant life between the vines and in the rows – most grown for their beneficial contribution to the health of the vines and the soil of the vineyard; occasionally the grower has even planted some vegetables in the open rows. There are birds, small beasts rustling around, lots of bugs… Johannes Hirsch scooped up a big handful of dirt on the Heiligenstein to show us all of the worms in the soil; a riot of life. In my experience vineyards are always beautiful places, but there’s no way to ignore how much more beautiful a vineyard farmed without chemicals is by comparison with conventionally farmed vineyards that so often have the appearance of a moonscape-with-plants. In the end, however, the proof is in the bottle, and no one could deny that are a great many fabulous wines from conventionally farmed vines.
Nonetheless, we find more and more examples of great wine from organic vines. I’m working on an entirely unscientific theory: organic farming requires even more work in the vineyards, and even more concentration on each plant, so the potential for great quality is more often revealed. Every grape grower I’ve met who farms organically says the same thing: the transition from conventional farming was difficult, but once the plants began to adapt the growers realize that the vines are healthier and stronger and less susceptible to disease and pests while producing the best and cleanest fruit they’ve ever had. And they also all talk about how the vineyards seem alive, how they themselves feel healthier, and how they feel great about what they’re leaving for their kids – and what they’re not leaving for their kids. Sounds pretty good, right?
In any case our bleeding-heart city folk nostalgia for mud is made happy by thinking that the product we’re consuming is pure, mostly, and that it came from a rich, alive landscape, all while being a great glass of wine.
Great glasses of wine is certainly the case with the extraordinary range of wines that Johannes Hirsch made in 2007 from biodynamic farmed vines.
