Millesime Bio - organic wine goes from strength to strength

 
Jacques Beaufort and Karen Turner & Emmanuel Pageot at Millesime Bio

Ipads, smartphones, digital photos, the daily release of new software and tools, off-peak travel bargains. It's a rich moment for bloggers and other writers... as we describe a world that is increasingly imbalanced. Everyone senses that we are on the edge of something, perhaps enthralling, perhaps distressing, probably both. In any event, among all of this commotion, the search for authenticity (real authenticity, that is) is as strong as ever.

Marceline Beaufort of the Domaine de l'ocre rouge

The 18th Millesime Bio wine salon that has just finished in Montpellier is therefore a source of optimism. The interest in organic wine grows year after year. 3200 visitors came this year, an increase of 500 on last year, to sip the wines of 560 estates, up from 490 in 2010. For the first time, the show extended to two large pavilions; the extra space helped to foster a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

Everyone has to make a quid, and standing up all day chatting with buyers is tiring work. Seriously. But these are not suit and tie, diamond ring affairs. Pullovers, flat shoes and interesting faces are the norm. In France, where winemaking involves as much philosophy as method, vignerons of all sorts love a yarn, and the Bios with their extra engagement have plenty to talk about. Can we really call it organic if there is no control over what they do in the winery even when the grapes are farmed organically? What about the use of sugar, acid and sulphur? And are organic wines better than the others?

Marc-Antoine Bret

There are good and bad organic wines, as there are good and bad traditional ones. On the other hand, as I rode Solex from Chablis to Sablet I felt that the organic (and especially bio-dynamic) wines had greater clarity than many of the others. A large blind tasting might give more objective results. There is some logic to my gut feeling, though. If vignerons are constantly going into the vines to detect problems as early as possible, they are going to be more attentive generally. If they know they can't fall back on a dose of poison, they are going to watch those vines, and learn to feel how they behave. Respect for the earth is also going to encourage them to feel the link between that soil and the result. Their wine is not a product. Of course, there are exceptions, and some vignerons are organic because their marketers are pushing them there. Vive la difference!

In the following posts, I'll profile a few of the people I met there.