At Tablas Creek, we believe that organic farming allows the grapes to show more varietal character, have more intense flavors and taste more like where they are grown. Since our beginning in 1989, we have followed the model set by Château de Beaucastel, which has been an organically farmed vineyard since the 1960s. Like Beaucastel, we are confident that in addition to producing the highest quality fruit, avoiding chemical additives makes for a healthier vineyard. We received our organic certification in January, 2003.

To reap a successful harvest, all farmers must ensure that their crops are not overrun with weeds, are not eaten by bugs or other pests, and receive sufficient nutrients. Modern (often termed “conventional”) viticulture relies on commercial herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers for those purposes. Organic grape growers, on the other hand, eschew chemical solutions, and must be more creative. They rely on a variety of solutions, including cover crops, mulch, beneficial insects and composting. At Tablas Creek, we use all of these methods.

Cover cropping is one of the mainstays of our organic viticulture program, and serves several purposes throughout the year. Each fall after harvest, a selection of crops (including peas, oats, clover and vetch) are planted between the rows of vines. During the winter rains, the cover crop minimizes soil erosion. In the spring, we plow the cover crop under, and it acts as a natural fertilizer, returning valuable nitrogen to the soil. These cover crops provide a habitat for beneficial insects such as ladybugs and lacewings, which in turn eat the insects that could potentially damage the grapevines.

A tractor attachment called the Tournesol (after the sunflower-like arrangement of its cultivating heads) is our primary method of in-row weeding. A circular duo of blades is dragged behind the tractor, rotating a few inches below the ground to uproot weeds in the vine rows. A rubber sensor arm in front of the cultivator alerts a computer to the presence of an obstruction, and rotates the cultivator head around the vine, post or wire. Thus, the weeds can be uprooted without damaging the grapevine. Other methods of weed control we’ve used include hand hoeing in between the rows and mulching (using shredded rootstocks and other organic materials) around the vines.

Compost is another crucial component of our organic program. We compost vine cuttings, leaves, and by-products of the winemaking process, such as stems, grape skins and seeds. Most of the compost is used for spreading in the vine rows, usually in October. We have enough compost for a few acres of vineyard, and it is used in the areas that need an intensive dose of nitrogen. The compost pile is also used to brew compost tea. Composted material is placed in a sack made of cheesecloth, much like a tea bag, and warmed well water is bubbled through it for two to four hours. The resulting liquid is a highly enriched organic brew that can be sprayed directly on the leaves and bunches to combat mildew or can be run through our irrigation drip lines to directly fertilize the roots.

Our organic pest control is done primarily by encouraging a sustainable population of a diverse array of insects, including lacewings, ladybugs, predatory wasps, thrips and insectivorous mites. Cover crops are a large part of this effort, but we also plant sections of the vineyard with insect-friendly, flower-rich cover crops, which thrive throughout the year. Because we don’t spray any pesticides or herbicides, each year the beneficial insect population builds and becomes more effective. We can also intervene as necessary by releasing beneficial insects in response to specific threats. Leafhoppers are our most common threat, sucking liquid from the vines and sapping vine strength, and we control their population by introducing their natural predator, lacewings. When necessary in the summer, we place tabs containing roughly 10,000 lacewing eggs every 100 meters along affected vine rows. They hatch and augment the existing population, bringing the leafhoppers under control. For more severe outbreaks, we have at our disposal organic soaps and oils which we can spray on vines.

Although all the grapes that go into our wines are organically grown, we do not make organic wines. The distinction is one that is confusing to many people. At issue is the use of sulfites in wine. Sulfites have been used for centuries to discourage the formation of vinegar and inhibit oxidation. A certain level of sulfites occurs naturally in grapes, and additional sulfites are traditionally added in winemaking. The USDA, through its National Organic Program, has defined organic wines to be wines made with organically grown grapes, and without any added sulfites. At Tablas Creek, we use 100% organically farmed grapes, and just enough sulfites to ensure that the wines are stable and can age gracefully.