We are very happy to announce that our first book in English is soon to be published. The book is called “Biodynamic, organic and natural winemaking. Sustainable viticulture and viniculture.” It is published by Floris Books. Here is a short introduction to the book. We will give you more details once it is on the shelves. Probably by the end of September.
The purpose of the book is to explain what these different types of winemaking practices are about, organic, biodynamic, natural, sustainable etc. What is allowed. What is not allowed. How it works. What are the benefits. And what are the drawbacks.
The biggest part of the book is about organic winemaking. Biodynamics, as well as natural winemaking, are treated as special cases. We also touch on all other aspects of wine and its environmental impact: “sustainable” methods, often called culture raisonnée in French, water forest resources etc. The original title of the book was “Wine and the Environment; Organics, Biodynamics, and Natural.”
The purpose is not to tell you that winemaking should be organic or biodynamic or natural. That’s for each winemaker to decide. And it is for each wine drinker to decide if they want to buy these kinds of wines or not. What we want to do is give the facts to the wine-drinker and also to the people in the wine-trade, so that everyone can decide for themselves.
Most books on this subject have an agenda – to evangelise and say “this is best”. We don’t. We just want to explain what it is and how it works and then you decide what is best for you.
The book talks about where organic wine and winemaking is today and a bit on how it came there, a bit of history.
We also look in detail on what are the rules. What are you allowed to do? Which additives are permitted? What winemaking technologies are allowed? Etc, etc. This section of the book is also invaluable for those who want to know what is permitted in “traditional” or “conventional” winemaking too. We explain what is allowed for that too, so it is very relevant also outside the context of organics.
At the end of the book we have a section on wine producers that we recommend that work according to these principles.
For the original Swedish edition we won the award as Best Wine Book for Professionals in Sweden. And we were runner-up, second place, in the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, in the category World’s Best Educational Wine Books.
We have published four books in Swedish:
- The Wines and Winemakers of the Languedoc
- The Creation of a Wine, on Wine-growing and Winemaking
- Biodynamic, organic and natural winemaking. Sustainable viticulture and viniculture
- France, the Country of Wine
This is how the publisher presents this first English edition, “Biodynamic, organic and natural winemaking. Sustainable viticulture and viniculture”:
Organic farming, biodynamic wine, natural wines, sustainable winemaking: what do all these concepts really mean, and what benefits can they bring to winemakers? This comprehensive book by two renowned wine experts explains the rules, the do’s and don’t’s of organic, biodynamic and natural wine production, both outside in the vineyard and in the wine cellar.
It sets out clearly what a winemaker is allowed to do, including processes, additives and chemicals, and looks at the potential long-term benefits of going organic or biodynamic.
This is an invaluable introduction to sustainable winemaking for all wine professionals.
I am sorry I can’t show you the English edition just yet. It will be available in the autumn.
But you can already pre-order it for example on Amazon if you are interested:
- On Amazon.co.uk: Biodynamic, organic and natural winemaking
- On Amazon.com: Biodynamic, Organic and Natural Winemaking
- On Amazon.fr: Biodynamic, Organic and Natural Winemaking
