Certified organic is the only sure way to know your wine is free of chemical residues. Many agricultural pesticides, herbicides (chemical weedkiller) and fungicides are so toxic they state on the box do not enter the vineyard for 48 hours after spraying. If something is this toxic, you don’t want it sprayed on something you are going to eat. Grapes are not washed before they are made into wine!
Look at the photo at right of a vineyard in Aquitaine that is farmed chemically. There is no biodiversity. There is no plant matter on the ground in the vineyard and no hedges or other plants nearby thanks to excessive herbicide use. This is a classic mono-culture where pest outbreaks are guaranteed. Not only that, uncovered earth means erosion when rain falls. With organic farming we have a balanced environment with much more biodiversity (photo below of Chateau Feely taken the same day as the one above). We have never had a pest outbreak. If we ever did we would treat it with natural means. R
osemary and ferns are both good natural pesticides.
We have high populations of the good bugs like ladybirds that keep the bad guys in check. If there are a few bad guys (eg aphids) around they generally prefer the other plants in the vineyard to the vines. They would only eat the vines if there was nothing else like in the other vineyard where the only green things are the vines.
Natural remedy for ants: If you have ants coming into the house put a large sprig of rosemary at their entrance and they will leave.
With thanks to Wandercooks.com for the header Photo.
