The trials of being organic

Here's my latest column for US online wine magazine Palate Press  - focusing mostly on organic producers in Graves.

Last week, the New Zealand Organic Focus Project gave a public presentation on three medium to large NZ wineries who participated in a side-by-side organic versus conventional agriculture trial. The aim was to demonstrate the relative ease or difficulty of conversion to organic viticulture. Palate Press‘s own Erika Szymanski reported on the results, which were promising if inconclusive.

Two of the three wineries were convinced enough by their results to want to continue – but Wither Hills, the biggest, most well-known producer, could not apparently reconcile their business drivers with the decidedly lower yields from the organic plots. You could say that speaks volumes.

Continue reading at Palate Press