Focus on organic
wines: do they really taste better?
The
profile of organic wines has been rising steadily in recent years. And
while they've not caught on quite as quickly as organic fruit and veg,
the fact that supermarkets such as Sainsburys have a separate shelf
display dedicated to them is an indication of their growing status
with consumers. Personally, the whole issue of organic and biodynamic
wine greatly interests me: I'm convinced that growing the grapes is
the crucial quality-determining step in wine production, and any
regime that encourages producers to take more care in the vineyard is
likely to have a beneficial effect on the final wine. Indeed, a recent
article in the leading scientific journal Nature showed that
organically grown apples actually tasted better than non-organic ones (click
here for a news piece from the journal discussing
this).
Because of the higher labour costs and
(frequently) lower yields of organic regimes, organic wines often cost
more than their non-organic peers. But do they taste any better? Do you
get more for your money? While it's not possible to provide a precise
answer to this question, a recent tasting organized by organic wine guru Monty Waldin
presented a fascinating opportunity to make a direct comparison. This
tasting, the first of its kind, was put on by Wine magazine, and the
results are published in the current issue (December). I was invited
to take part as a panelist, and I'm including here my full notes. I
also took the opportunity to ask Monty Waldin a few questions about
organic wines, and this interview can be found
here.
The wines were tasted blind, in 30
matched pairs (organic and non-organic). Of course, it would be
fairly easy to rig this sort of tasting if you had an agenda. For
example, Monty Waldin is an advocate of organics, and he could have
chosen stunning organic wines and then paired them with weaker
non-organic counterparts. Credit to him, he didn't. The wines were chosen to represent as close a comparison as
possible within each pair, but the exact identities were dependent on
which samples were sent by producers and retailers.
For each wine, we were asked to give a
score (out of 100), and to indicate which of the pair we thought was
organic. The scores I gave seem a bit on the high side, but I was trying
closely to follow the guidelines we were given.
For the record, I correctly guessed the
organic wine in the pair 20 times out of 30. How? Well, there's no
exact science, but I was looking for wines with more individuality and
personality, perhaps a more rustic feel, and maybe in some cases a less
technical or 'clean' character. Did the organic wines taste any
better? From this relatively limited sample, I preferred the organic
wine 16 times, and the non-organic one 14 times, which is pretty close
to 50:50. So I'd have to conclude that opting for the word 'organic'
on the label doesn't necessarily guarantee a better drinking
experience.
Back to top |