Organic Wine Utopias - More Than Just An Ideal?
Tucked into apicturesque valley along the Argens river in Provence, in south-east France, isa village that is known as the First Organic Village of France. The village ofCorrens got together in 1995 and made a decision that all agriculture in thetown would be organic. A majority of the agriculture in the town is actuallyviticulture, and there’s a decent chance you’ve had a rosé that came fromCorrens.
That’s because Corrensgained international notice for its Provençal rosé when Brad Pitt and Angelina Joliegot married there, and later purchased Chateau Miraval in Correns. ChateauMiraval rosé is still widely available, despite the couple’s split.
But this isn’t aboutcelebrity fairy tales with unhappy endings. This is about a group of people whodecided to make organic values the defining characteristic of their community.If I had Brangelina money, I’d want to buy a castle in that town too. That’skind of the point… wouldn’t we all want that?
There are several communities that are leaning in the Corrensdirection, but they are few and far between.
In the U.S.A. the town with the best shot at this may be Hopland, California. In this quaint hamlet in Mendocino County, a majority (11) of the wineries are organic and/or biodynamic. This includes the one of the largest organic wineries in the U.S. – Bonterra.
There’s also Fetzer, which, while not making organic wines, manages hundreds of acres of organically farmed vineyards and has the distinction of being the largest Certified B Corp winery in the world.
Wouldn’t everyone want to live in a community where you didn’thave to tediously read ingredients lists to make sure you aren’t ingesting morechemicals than actual food, where your kids can play in the rivers withoutworry of being poisoned by agricultural or industrial run-off, where you caneat at the local restaurants with confidence that the entrees and beverages areclean, healthy, and nutritious?
So why is Correns unique in the world then?
To me, that’s an important question, and why it’s worth highlighting these towns. I hope they soon won’t be unique.