Vineyards moving to organics

There are not many vineyards with horses, cattle and chickens roaming around but that may change as discerning wine buyers increasingly look for organic and environmentally friendly wines.

Around New Zealand's wine regions there are vineyards, such as Serecin in Marlborough, Muddy Water in Waipara and Carrick Estate in Central Otago, which are embracing organic and biodynamic growing practices.

All three suggestions were part of the 2009 International Winemakers Roadshow which came to Queenstown last week and they were keen to show that organic wine is as good or even better than what it would be if chemical sprays were used.

Serecin Estate assistant winemaker Carlos Orgiles said the organic philosophy was not a marketing gimmick - it was a way of life which could be tasted in the wines.

"You can taste it in the wine - there is more texture, a fuller flavour," he said.

Serecin Estate uses biodynamic principals which have been good for more than the vines - two former racehorses have been saved from an uncertain fate and given new jobs keeping the grass down and helping with the spraying.

"Wine has been made for hundreds of years - we are just doing things how they used to be done," Serecin Estate sales and marketing manager Joanna Glover said.

The estates' second label, Momo, is also following an organic path, with a contracted grower undergoing certification, Ms Glover said.

The Serecin philosophy is to use more traditional practices and have reinstated a number of traditional agricultural practices, such as using compost instead of chemical fertilisers and a horse-drawn sprayer powered by the movement of the wheels.

Mr Orgiles said it was "more healthy - like a garden".

Carrick viticulturalist Blair Deaker said Central Otago was ideal for biodynamic practices because the vines were not subject to the same number of diseases and pests due to the arid climate.

The estate is half-way through its certification process with Bio-Gro - its first fully organic vintage will be in 2011.

Mr Deaker said the conversion to organics was about improving the wine and doing the right thing by the land.

"It is a long-term process," Mr Deaker said.

"We are looking to get more flavour in the wine . . . we are going to get more terroir out of it."

Waipara's Muddy Water Estate winemaker Belinda Gould said the expectation that organic growing was more labour intensive did not have to be true.

"A lot of people say you have to have a higher level of cultivation - but we're happy with a higher level of weeds."

She said the vines are under-planted with beneficial companion plants - "and if a weed gets in then that is not so bad".

Muddy Water is also working towards certification.

There was an increasing interest among customers about how their wine was made and it was important to be "able to back it", she said.