Difference between organic, biodynamic and natural wine

If you’re passionate about natural wine, you’ve likely encountered various logos on wine bottles; “Agriculture Biologique" in France, “Bio Agri Cert” in Italy, and “Agro Bio” in Portugal, you may also notice the “Demeter” or “Biodyvin” logo on a bottle. These labels are the certification for organic and Biodynamic farming. Let’s delve into the differences between organic and biodynamic and the relations they have with natural wine.

Organic farming is mainly a reaction to industrial farming that emerged between the two World Wars and expanded just after the Second War. Farming started to rely more on artificial fertilizers, industrial phytosanitary products, and heavy mechanization. Industrial farming became the main source of food as it was necessary to feed the population during the post-war era.

Some people, for philosophical reasons, were opposed to this new farming process. It was a spiritual movement without any formal organization or defined process. It was only in the 60s and 70s that we could see the movement fully organized. In the ’80s, organic farming gets their first official certification, across Europe.

Organic farming is about producing food and agricultural products, from tomatoes to poultry and bananas. For wine, organic farming dictates what you can do in the field and the cellar: the principle is no synthetic product. Organic farming when applied to vine cultivation is clear. You can only use allowed phytosanitary products (mainly produced by plants, animals, bacteria, or minerals).

But like conventional viticulture, Organic viticulture must face various vine diseases. In conventional viticulture, 80% of phytosanitary products concern only two diseases, powdery mildew, and downy mildew. These two fungal diseases need to be treated in organic farming too.

In Organic farming, you can use pesticides and other phytosanitary products as long as they are biological. For powdery mildew and downy mildew, there is a natural solution that has existed since the 19th century, copper. the winegrowers use copper sulfate to prevent any infestation. As it is a natural product, it can be used in organic viticulture. It is used in an ionic form with sulfur and hydroxides.

Concerning the cellar, organic winemaking is relatively similar to conventional winemaking. They can use 36 different products during the winemaking, as long as these products are organic. It could be acids, sugar (to raise the alcohol level), concentrated must (to enhance fruitiness), yeast…

Organic Winemakers modern processes to enrich the wine (evaporation or reverse osmosis). The level of sulfite allowed in natural wine is between 100 mg to 150 mg per liter.

Like organic farming, Biodynamic does not use synthetic fertilizers or phytosanitary products. The difference is tiny between the two. To get the Demeter or Biodyvin, farming must be organic.

But in biodynamic viticulture, there is the concept where everything is connected and a vineyard is a living individual. It is a holistic vision of farming, where humans are between the earth and the cosmos. This concept guides winegrowers in their practices. Activities in the vineyard are conducted according to organic farming and this holistic vision. Some preparations based on minerals, cow dung, or plants are used at very low doses, like homeopathy in human medicine.

In winemaking, fewer products are allowed, five instead of 36 in organic wine. The level of sulfite allowed in biodynamics is 90 mg per litter.

Natural wine is not a stranger to organic or biodynamic farming. Most winemakers use organic or biodynamic farming in the field, with or without certification. You will often find the certification logo from Organic or (and for some winemakers, and) Biodynamic certification.

But Natural winemaking does not allow any oenological product authorized in organic winemaking, only grape, indigenous yeast, and sometimes sulfite at the bottling at a low level (less than 40 mg per litter). A natural wine is often organic, but organic wine is not always a natural wine.