Sustainability in wine is a complex picture and it's hard for professionals, never mind consumers, to unpick it all. For many of us a glass of good wine is one of life's great pleasures (enjoyed in moderation of course), but readers may wonder what type of wine is better in terms of both sustainability and health? And whether the better choice is smaller batch, handcrafted wines rather than the big volume brands.
At its most basic, wine is the result of fermenting fresh grapes. And because it is a seasonal agricultural product, winemakers only have one chance a year to get it right. The flavours and quality of the grapes will be shaped by the specific patch of land they grew on, and whatever the weather threw at it in a particular year. Unfortunately, that means grapes aren’t always perfect – too much rain or too little; fungal disease; insect damage; under-ripe or sunburnt grapes and so on. These can be challenges for both small family wineries and larger producers working with lots of growers and hundreds of hectares. So sometimes winemakers need a little help to make something worth drinking, and in part that is a sustainability decision to not waste a year’s effort.
Sustainability issues – size can matter!
It's often big producers who make the most noise about their sustainability credentials, able to afford equipment like solar panels, wastewater treatment, refrigeration and the official certifications that come with audits and large bills. But that doesn't mean smaller batch wines are less sustainable – there is a difference of approach due to time and cost pressures that apply more to big producers.
Vineyards are the first step in winemaking and the argument about whether organic or sustainable viticulture is best still rages. It’s not true that organic producers don’t use agrochemicals – they are restricted to a small list of products deemed ‘natural’. Most important are the copper compounds used to control fungal disease (but it's worth noting that the French Agency for Food, Environment and Occupational Health has just banned several copper compounds used in organic production and imposed strict restrictions on others). These are contact products that may need to be sprayed by tractor many times a year in a damp climate, which means soil compression and diesel use, plus a build-up of metals in the soil. It's a different story in places with a dry, breezy climate where organic viticulture is an easier choice. For others, judicious use of systemic agrochemicals when they are needed to protect grapes, alongside leaving habitat breaks for biodiversity, is the more sustainable choice. Either way, it's likely that smaller producers are closely connected to their own patch of land and are able to pay attention to details of soil health and canopy management in their vineyards – to produce healthy grapes with less outside help from sprays.
No global sustainability certification
Organic certification is mainly about viticulture, with some restrictions on winemaking (limits on certain additives for instance). But sustainability is a bigger picture, covering everything from winemaking to energy use, waste management, packaging and fair pay and treatment of workers. Unlike organic status, which is controlled by EU and UK regulation, there is no single global sustainability certification and more than 40 regional programmes that all vary. All certifications require audits and records, and bring significant costs and time, so it may be beyond a small winery to find the money or time to tackle the bureaucracy. For example, it costs €300 to €800 for an initial application to Ecocert in France which may not sound like a huge amount of money, but it could be as much as two weeks to a month's wages for a vineyard worker in poorer regions.
When it comes to winemaking, a key difference between handcrafted wines and more commercial ones is about time and risk. Larger producers may need to vinify quickly to get wines to market or turn over their equipment in a short time frame. They may need to deliver a consistent brand that tastes more-or-less the same every year, never mind the vintage. More handcrafted wines may have the luxury of being able to explain vintage differences, but then there’s also a risk that they might not be able to produce wine worth drinking some years. Producers large and small have a range of options (regulated by law) to help them, but more likely to be used by bigger wineries managing large intakes of less-than-perfect grapes.
What options do winemakers have in poorer years?
Options include enzymes to help extract colour and flavour from fruit and clarify juice; adding extra acid when grapes don't have enough; adding sugar or concentrated grape must when grapes are underripe (this will be fermented to alcohol and doesn’t add sweetness); and adding preservatives like the almost universal sulphites (sulphur dioxide or SO₂) to help manage rogue microbes, reduce oxidation and stop young wine turning to vinegar. Fewer additives should be the more sustainable choice, though not at the expense of spoiling the wine.
‘Wild’ or commercial yeasts?
Producers of all sizes have the option of letting indigenous yeast ferment their juice. Several species live on grape skins and in the winery – risky but also offering the possibility of extra complexity in the wine, and a more likely choice for a low-intervention winery. Or they can use purchased commercial yeast that guarantee a quick clean fermentation, sometimes selected to emphasize varietal flavours.
Read more about the secrets of fermentation
The same applies for malolactic fermentation that transforms sharp appley malic acid into softer lactic acid (pretty much universal in reds, optional in whites), though the downside of ‘wild’ malolactic is the risk of formation of biogenic amines such as histamine (which can cause sensitivities in some people).
Gaining clarity
The next step is to clean up the cloudy young wine. Perhaps most sustainable is to allow time, and cold winters in the cellar to do this job, so cloudy proteins, yeast remnants and crystals settle naturally, leaving bright, stable wine. In some cases, like pet-nat or natural wines, cloudiness is part of the style. But large producers in more of a hurry, or making wine with some sweetness, can’t do this and rely on a bunch of techniques from energy-hungry refrigeration to fining and filtration to finish their wine.
Fining to remove cloudiness can be controversial, because traditionally some animal-derived products like egg white, casein and gelatine have been commonplace – even though these products don’t remain in the wine. Nowadays producers are much more aware of the concerns of vegan consumers and there are plenty of non-animal agents that can do this job (such as bentonite clay, or pea or potato proteins). A bigger producer is more likely to use various stability agents to stop wines throwing tartrate crystals, and a few other technical preservatives, in addition to SO₂ to reduce microbial risks, arguably reducing sustainability.
Ingredients in wine are strictly regulated
Whether you are buying a minimal-intervention, small-batch wine or a larger volume brand, the good news is that wine ingredients are strictly regulated. While ingredient labelling isn’t yet mandatory in the UK (as it is in the EU), the bottle itself must declare use of sulphites which can cause sensitivities (though legal levels in wine are far lower than dried fruit for example), and any potentially allergenic processing aids (egg or milk products used for fining), otherwise anything that doesn’t remain in the wine is not listed.
Everything else can be found on a website accessible via a QR code on the bottle – at its simplest this may just be grapes, but may include ingredients like sugar, acidity regulators, preservatives and stabilisers. Hand-crafted wines are likely to contain fewer ingredients, but responsible big producers too are increasingly conscious of using the minimum they need to make good wine. At least consumers can now look up what they need to know to make informed choices.
So, what’s in my wine glass?
Personally, my usual choice is to go with smaller wineries and more handcrafted wines, accepting vintage variability as part of the complex joy of wine. That way I know I'm supporting an individual, their family and their place in the local community, and for me that’s the more sustainable choice. On the other hand, if you opt to buy from a big company, keep an eye out for certifications as visible signs of commitment to sustainability. Whatever you chose, sustainability is important so we can continue to enjoy the luxury of a good glass of wine.
