“To make good wine you must first grow good grapes.” That is a fundamental rule accepted by most winegrowers. Although things can go wrong, turning good grapes into good wine is relatively uncomplicated.

There are a number of ways of looking after a vineyard but today, without going into much detail such as leaf thinning, green harvests, irrigation, pruning, etc, I am going to focus on three principles of thought that are either popular or in vogue.

Reasonable viticulture

This is what today has become the most ‘traditional’ – and as the name implies – ‘reasonable’ way of growing vines in quality wine areas. It’s basically a balance between well-established organic viticulture and chemical or mineral intervention only when needed.

Winery practices may be subject to chemical and physical manipulation in the winemaking process. Modern technologies such as destemming, temperature control, pumping, oxygenation, barrel ageing, etc, are used according to vintage and need. A number of important estates in this category use some biodynamic principles.

Biodynamic wines

Biodynamic wines follow the teachings of Rudolph Steiner (1861-1925), an Austrian philosopher and architect who promoted and developed ways of taking organic farming to a new level.

Like biodynamic agriculture in general, biodynamic viticulture is based on his spiritual/practical philosophy, called anthroposophy, which includes understanding the ecological, the energetic and the spiritual in nature.

As a practical method of farming, biodynamics embodies the ideal of ever-increasing ecological self-sufficiency just as with modern agro-ecology, but includes ethical-spiritual considerations. This type of viticulture views the farm as a cohesive, interconnected living system.

Sounds weird? Well, having visited many vineyards either in full or reverting to biodynamics, I have to say that the experience is slightly ‘mystic’.

I am making no claim to understand what it’s all about but basically it is all to do with strange preparations which include dandelion, cow horns and intestines and nettles, among others, which are sprayed on the vines or buried in the soil according to moon phases and other astronomical conditions. Practices in the winery also follow specific principles.

This results in a healthier vineyard which, apparently (time will tell), is able to withstand better fungal and vineyard problems with minimal sulphur or chemical products. Especially in the good years, the resultant wines tend to be cleaner, clearer, with more vibrant tastes and longer lived.

Biodynamic wines have been around for some time. Nicolas Joly in Savanierres (Loire) was one of the very first important French wine growers preaching these beliefs in the early 1990s, with his fantastic Coullee de Serrant.

The term ‘natural wine’ is used to distinguish such wine from organic and biodynamic wines. The difference lies in cellar practices

Zind Humbrecht and Josmeyer in Alsace soon followed. Many vineyards in Burgundy are now biodynamic, as well as in Bordeaux. The well-known Château Fonroque in Saint Emilion comes to mind.

Natural wines

These are wines made with minimal chemical and technological intervention in growing grapes and turning them into wine.

The term is used to distinguish such wine from organic and biodynamic wines. The difference lies in cellar practices. All natural wines are, however, farmed organically and many growers are biodynamic in the vineyard as well.

Strictly speaking, natural wines are wines that are produced without adding or removing anything during winemaking, such as yeasts and enzymes, although some growers add tiny quantities of sulphites at bottling stage. There is minimal intervention in the winery and no filtering or refining, which often results in cloudy wines.

Many natural wines are made by very interesting and artistic people in small quantities, very often reflecting their own eccentricities, and are popular with equally interesting, sometimes artistic wine lovers. Paris is full of wine bars specialising in natural wines.

To highlight all of the above, I recently organised a tasting of a few Sicilian wines grown and made with the three ideologies in mind. These include the ‘reasonable’ camp two fantastic whites from Marco de Bartoli. From Marsala, comes Sole e Vento 2010, a structured wine made from a blend of Grillo and Zibibbo.

It’s fragrant and mineral, even at this age. Pietra nera 2011 is an even more mineral wine. It’s dry, made of 100 per cent Zibibbo vines grown on the island of Pantelleria, 350 metres above sea level and fermented with wild yeasts. These are both wonderful, elegant wines.

Also in the reasonable camp, but this time 650 metres above sea level on the Etna, Marco de Grazia’s Terre Nere, Feudo di Mezzo 2007, is fresh, clean and well structured, with a lively acidity.

COS at Vittoria need no introduction here in Malta. I have been following them since the early 1990s and have witnessed their transformation into biodynamic ideology with the added focus on clay amphora fermenting and ageing. Many wine enthusiasts, including some of their neighbours, criticise their wines as undrinkable.

I must say I quite like them, although they do take me to the extreme of drinkability. Pithos – Cerasualo di Vittoria 2010 is light in colour and relatively low in alcohol. It’s a wine that needs aeration to show off its best. It’s mineral and direct with a lively acidic backbone and goes well with food.

Now on to the natural camp.

Franck Cornelissen has made quite a name for himself on the northern slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily with the strangest of wines.

His wines are totally not interfered with and resemble more of a Maltese garage wine. We tasted two wines of his: Contadino 10 from 2012 and Munjebel No. 9, also from 2012.

It’s slightly cloudy and has a strange but, I suppose, natural, grapey smell, harsh on the palate. And it’s totally unrefined. I find these type of wines very interesting on the philosophical aspect and challenging on the intellectual side, but I have to say, disappointing on the gustatory front.

Leading US wine critic Robert Parker was recently asked to predict how he sees the future of wine.

Among other things he mentioned that natural wines will go down in history as a fad. I agree.

mike@michaeltabone.com

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