A new wine year is about to begin. We will see new trends, new issues will be discussed and decided, new legislation will be made. Here are some of the things that we think will be on the agenda for 2015.
1. Organic wine I
The EU intends to review, and possibly renegotiate, some of the permitted additives and processes from the agreement on “organic wine” that was done in 2012. On the table is e.g. levels of sulphur, the use of reverse osmosis, and the maximum temperature for flash pasteurisation (currently at 70 C). It is sure to be exciting negotiations.
2. Organic wine II, sustainability
Will the debate on organics shift to focus on sustainability? In France there are today several different labels for sustainable viticulture. Champagne has one, the co-operatives have one, and more and more growers go for the agricultural label HVE, Haute Valeur Environnementale. There are several others and it will probably take all of 2015 to get to grips with what is what and what it means.
(Read our new book, Biodynamic, Organic and Natural Winemaking, if you want to know more about these issues and sustainability, and about permitted additives in winemaking.)
3. To plant or not?
The infamous (scandalous?) planting rights in Europe will change name to “planting authorisations”. The intention is that it will become easier to get authorisation for new plantings (not easy today!). But each country can only increase its acreage with 1% per year. The new rules will come into action until January 2016 but we are quite sure that the subject will be intensely discussed in 2015.
4. The renaissance of the natural cork
In 2004 Robert Parker predicted that the screw cap would become more popular than the natural cork as a wine bottle closure by 2015. He was wrong. The natural cork is still the dominant closure and today quite a few wine producers are returning to natural cork. In contrary to Parker’s predictions in 2004 the cork producers have invested heavily to control the issues leading to “cork taint”.
5. The renaissance of Spain, and others
We think that many people will want to (re-) discover Spain. It is a country with so great variations in climate and environment that there is an indefinite variation in wine styles. We also think that Chile will reach new heights with many smaller wine producers going for quality and individuality. And also Portugal, Languedoc-Roussillon, Sicily, Apulia (Puglia), Le Marche and, well, many other wine regions that we think will be worth pushing. But that will be something we will do all along the year. (And to many of these wine regions wine lovers can come on a wine tour with BKWine.)
We wish all readers a very happy New Year!
Britt & Per
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