Organic Manifesto

In the dictionary Organic is defined as, “of, relating to, or derived from living matter”. This definition is too succinct to give clarity to one pondering what it means to be Organic, however it is telling. To me the key word in this definition is “Living” and that is wherein the essence of being Organic exists.

Our foods, wines, other produce, and, in some way, all products are beholden to a living ecosystem and if our respect for life within the ecosystem become brash or ignorant it will suffer, and in the long run we too will suffer. I think we tend to forget that all life is interconnected, and sadly the ripples of this forgetfulness can be seen in the negative state much of our livestock, plants, lands, and waters are currently in. Our goal is to rekindle your awareness of human connection to living matter, as well as to show you that being “Organic” is not just a label, but also a living, pun intended.

So when I say that my vineyards and wines are Organic, what I am really saying is that I practice my profession with a philosophy centered on a respect to “living matter” and the ecosystem it is contained in. This philosophy is applied to all aspects of the viticultural and winemaking process, such as soil management, soil to grapevine relationship, grapevine physiology, disease and pest management, harvest strategies, grape processing, fermentation, wine finishing, and more. My goal is to guide the entire process in a low impact manner so that it benefits the overall balance and complexity of the living ecology while at the same time benefiting the overall health and quality of vine, fruit, and the wine.

A winemaker must work very hard to become invisible in order to make wines of place, and it is through these organic approaches that we are truly able to awaken a site and give it the ability to show place. This approach involves being a steward of nature rather than her master, seeking to foster a balanced ecology of unfathomable complexity rather than a simple monoculture that may be easy to manage but is vulnerable to opportunistic pathology and disappointing in terroir expression. Conventional viticulture and winemaking, though useful in eliminating gross defects, has done little to promote excellence. Its central tenet is that clean wine will show varietal character.

It is our mission to awaken our vineyard sites with Organic and Biodynamic approaches, and to follow through with the same philosophy in the cellar to bring you wines of character and place. We believe that the only way to convince any skeptic of a philosophy is to allow for them to take part in it. We would be thrilled if you choose to try our wines and would love nothing more than the chance to show you the value of what we do. Perhaps you too will take part in the Organic movement once you experience the difference.

Cheers!