Producers have nose for ethical trading

Mar 13 2009 by Helen Savage, The Journal

Some producers, critics and consumer groups have raised questions about just how sustainable some initiatives really are – especially in the New Zealand wine industry. Is it a case of double standards to claim, for example, that a winery is carbon neutral, and then to go out and use vast quantities of a systemic weedkiller in the vineyards?

Just about everyone I’ve ever met who practises biodynamic viticulture (which uses homeopathic treatments in the vineyard and pays attention to the cycle of the Moon and stars) pours scorn on the widely-practised method of sustainable viticulture, which uses agrochemicals only when the going gets tough (as it did this year and last in western France).

As Nicolas Joly, the guru of biodynamists, says: “People say that they use very few artificial herbicides, just enough ‘to save the vines from disease’, without understanding that it is these same herbicides which over time create the conditions for the disease.”

But with wine production, as with almost any ethical issue, it’s seldom a simple matter of choosing between right and wrong. Ethical decisions are usually made through a process of difficult choices. It’s all very well for Joly to take such a purist line, but faced with the possibility of losing my entire crop to mildew, I’d be sorely tempted to resort to a treatment that might mean I was still in business next year.

That’s why I think the idea of Buy What You Believe is such a good idea. The Ethical Superstore doesn’t set out to preach, but to give the consumer the information to make their own choices. It’s a grown up way to do business, and I hope it succeeds.

In order to keep costs (and carbon footprints low) all sales are done online (there’s no shop). Its website is www.ethicalsuperstore.com. Once online, it’s very easy to choose wine according to whichever ethical “box” matters to you. The list is packed with goodies, at often remarkably competitive prices.

I was delighted, for example, to see Catherine Wallace’s brilliant biodynamic Saint Chinian, Château Combebelle 2005 (£8.50) – packed full of ripe black fruit, but perfumed with violets. It’s a wine destined to become one of the superstars of southern France.

I also hugely enjoyed Johan Reyneke’s superb Pinotage 2005 (£12.50), again biodynamic, a deep ruby red from Stellenbosch in South Africa, with a gorgeous smell of creamy black cherries and plums, chocolate and spice and then backed up by silky smooth tannins. Another classic.