Why do we want to see our products certified organic? Why do we honorably pay more for organically farmed textiles and sustainably manufactured products? What do these certifications really mean?

In Napa Valley, CA - one of the world's most regaled and breathtaking viticulture regions in the world - there is controversy. I was invited via direct Twitter for a complimentary tasting at a conventional vineyard in Napa Valley my previous visit and I accepted. My pourer was friendly and shared the opinion of many small, succeeding wineries when he proclaimed loudly, so the entire room could hear, that "all those certifications mean nothing about growing practices and are just marketing strategy for the already well-to-do wineries". Being the diplomat that I am, I considered his opinion while remembering that the source was the pourer at a vineyard that had never attempted a certification of any kind.

It is true: in themselves, these social, environmental and spiritual certifications mean nothing. The certification is nothing more than a language of communication between like minds. We hear this word biodynamic more often these days and with clearer definition because there are so many minds with the need to communicate the concept that words are developed as are certifications. The practice of biodynamic farming is a living concept in action. The biodynamic certification itself though, it is true, is nothing more than a piece of paper, yet represents a standard in communication if all parties speak the same language. Without the standard, interested like minds would have to monitor each vineyard claiming to grow naturally to confirm what the certification reveals. The certification means nothing, but it means everything in terms of communication.

In my previous visit to Napa Valley, I visited four conventional wineries and four certified in some area. Yes, that certification effectively brought the appropriate "market" to the tasting room. If you prefer to call humans a market. I call them people and the appropriate people visited the tasting rooms of certified vineyards. I noticed that conventional tasting rooms generally hosted tasters with less social/environmental consciousness and often less wine knowledge too, while the rooms certified in some way welcomed tasters familiar with the sensual exploration of wine as well as current environmental and social affairs. Is this "coincidence" in demographic marketing or is this human?



What I have learned is that the "exorbitant cost" of certifying one's farm organic it due to the expense of ripping out irrigation systems and replanting mature vines. Many vines become more valuable and with more fruit character as they mature and it would be blasphemy to tear them up. These are a few reasons some uncertified, but naturally farmed vineyards might not certify as well as the reason some sneaky conventional vineyards twist the wording and insult the certification process to gain more eco-recognition than they deserve. Although according to Buck Bartolucci, owner and wine maker of certified organic Madonna Vineyards of Carneros Valley, CA, it is the transition that is expensive, not the certification process and not the growing practices. His vineyards have always been farmed organically and he relates how inexpensive maintaining organically grown vines actually is - one doesn't purchase pesticides, one uses nature to feed the land, and the vines are heartier and resilient within their habitat. Buck suggests that when one already grows organically, certification is not expensive at all.

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