Wine producers are facing difficult choices today. Not least in what way they should manage the vineyard. Conventional, sustainable, organic or biodynamic? They have a variety of pesticides to choose from. More if they grow conventionally, less if they are organic.
However, there are very different opinions about how dangerous these products are (e.g. glyphosate) to the environment, the workers and the consumers. Scientific reports point in different directions.
At the same time, the EU is imposing stricter rules on what can and cannot be used. For example, the limit on copper was recently lowered.
Perhaps copper, a fungicide permitted in organic viticulture, will be completely banned in 10 years. Will there be an alternative by then? Or how else is organic farming supposed to be possible? There is currently no organically approved alternative. How dangerous copper is to the life in the soil is also not totally clear, which, of course, adds to the confusion.
What is clear, though, is that virtually all producers spray the vineyards, primarily with fungicides. Conventional, organic, “natural”. All. No wine producer “uses no sprays or poisons in the vineyard”.
This article in Meininger’s Wine Business International highlights all of these difficulties. There are no simple answers. An interesting read. Read more: drinks-today.
