Euphemisms include elixir of the gods, social lubricant, poetry in a bottle, and (penned by Ernest Hemingway) the most civilized thing in the world. Less romantic monikers describe it as glogg, plonk, Jesus juice, and porch-pounder.

Wine is rife with evocative metaphor. It can be dry, flabby, cloying, chewy, racy, or a fruit bomb. It can have great legs, impressive structure, a round mouthfeel, even a clean finish. Its aroma can suggest bright red berries, honeyed apples, saddle sweat or freshly cut grass.

It’s one of the few things we value more with age.

Wine is so many things. But can it be plant medicine, a true entheogen? That’s the question Ross Halleck and Jens Jarvie set out to examine with their first-of-its-kind event on Wednesday, October 18, 2023.

“Wine As Plant Medicine: A Ceremony” was imagined by Halleck as an investigation into the more entheogenic properties inherent to wine that are so often marginalized or completely overlooked in today’s culture of drinking to excess.

As adults, we likely have some relationship with alcohol. Each has a bevy of experiences alcohol has contributed to our lives. Halleck wants to know if we can reshape, and perhaps expand our stories by remembering wine has been considered a sacrament for millennia, and a possible gateway to subtler realms and energies.

But, we must first define entheogen.

Entheogens are substances, typically of plant or fungal origin (hence referred to as plant medicines) used in various cultures, religious, and spiritual traditions to induce altered states of consciousness, facilitate spiritual experiences, and explore the inner self.

The term entheogen is derived from three Greek components: “En” suggests inside or within. “Theo” refers to God, or the divine, hence theology. (The word enthusiasm is derived from entheos.) “Gen”esthai means ‘to generate’ or ‘to come into being.” Thus, an entheogen is a substance that generates the divine within.

Examples of entheogens include psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, peyote, salvia divinorum, iboga, and the San Pedro cactus, each of which rooted in their own cultures. Entheogens primarily affect the brain’s neurochemistry, and are meant to be consumed with a deliberate intention — such as seeking insight, healing, or personal growth — in the context of religious, shamanic, or spiritual ceremonies.*

The earliest known production of wine created by fermenting grapes can be traced back 10,000 years in the Republic of Georgia, taking root in on the Crimean Peninsula. Its significance in ancient societies expanded, becoming prominent in Greece 6,500 years ago, and eventually leading to Dionysianism, or the worship of the god of revelry, Dionysus, by celebrating wine as a ceremonial and spiritual elixir.

Judaism, a religion tracing its roots back 4,000 years, holds wine as an integral part of its traditions. The Kiddush, a blessing recited over wine, is used to sanctify the Shabbat weekly, along with every other Jewish holiday and ceremony. In Ancient Egypt, the discovery of six wine amphoras in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, dating back 3,300 years (1200 BC), highlighted the sanctity of wine in their society. Meanwhile, despite Islam currently prohibiting alcohol consumption, there are writings from notable Sufi poets that use wine and intoxication as metaphors for spiritual experiences. Poets like Rumi in the 13th century, his father Bahauddin in the 11th century, and his successor Hafiz in the 14th century wrote about spiritual intoxication and even used wine as a metaphor for divinity.

That wine might serve within a healing ceremony occurred to Halleck, embracing the disparate things he loves, and feeling inspired to draw connections between them. A winemaker for over 30 years, he knows the myriad ways wine invites people into an experience, and has witnessed the energetic and connective transformation that occurs with a glass in hand. He’s also steeped in progressive ideas about spirituality, exploration of entheogens, and the capacity of human consciousness to expand.

With connections in the Sebastopol community, Halleck has nurtured a friendship with local musician, Kirtan leader, and practicing shaman, Jens Jarvie, for several years. Halleck approached Jarvie with the idea of developing an experience employing wine as an entheogen, and the two men conceptualized a ceremony, pairing Jarvie’s expertise with Halleck’s belief in wine’s transformative potential.

And they invited guests to explore it together.

A dozen participants arrived for the inaugural event — mostly friends and acquaintances of Halleck and Jarvie. Guests ranged in age and background. They gathered quietly in Halleck’s living room: strewn with pillows against a backdrop of the settling dusk outside towering floor-to-ceiling windows. Halleck Vineyard’s tastings, and many events, take place in Halleck’s home, nestled in an acre of vines he harvests for their Estate Grown Pinot Noir. The ceremony employed this wine, grounding the experience in “Place.”

Attendees were instructed to bring a cushion, a blanket, a journal, and an item to offer to the altar. The entryway greeted guests with Halleck’s collection of South American Lemurian crystals, housed in a glass display case, an insight into Halleck’s exploration of spirituality as a foundation and lifestyle. Upon entering the sunken living room, Jarvie had set up a variety of instruments and sound devices, including a guitar, flute-like pipe, harmonium, gong, hand pan drum, and several sound tools sourced from indigenous studies in South America.

Everyone made themselves comfortable around the room. Some rested on pillows with blankets and belongings around them, while others settled onto the sofa on the perimeter. Halleck introduced himself, Jarvie, and the invitation of the event: enjoy two half glasses of wine — red or white, or both, per preference — over the course of the two hour ceremony. Stay conscious where it takes you within an intentional container of aural and somatic stimulation.

Each attendee approached to receive their first half glass, and once all were served, Halleck recited the Kiddush — a nod to his own Jewish heritage, and a blessing for the gathering. Jarvie then offered his own prayer, and invoked the cardinal directions in ceremonial purpose. Lights were dimmed, and participants slowly sipped their wine as they became audience to a series of musical tones, songs, chants, and incantations. Jarvie’s repertoire of ritual tools offered sounds that varied from melodious and rhythmic to ethereal and haunting, each carrying a deeply felt sense of intention. His frequent transitions, from more traditional indigenous implements to his original songs accompanied by guitar, offered the sense of being guided into the unknown while also touching the familiar.

The ceremony closed with a gentle word after about two hours. And thus began a closing conversation. Each was asked to share a few thoughts about their experience. Impressions offered around the room held common threads. All felt welcomed. All felt safe within the container. All were transported in some way by Jarvie’s various immersive soundscapes. “It was an unexpectedly deep journey into myself,” said one. Another reflected that “the wine added a softness to any rough edges, and encouraged a tender opening of the heart space with the rising and falling of my breath.” However, some spoke to their relationship with alcohol inhibiting their ability to fully surrender to the experience. As one participant acknowledged, “I felt like it was quite long, but that was part of my process of facing myself and what I was feeling.”

The entheogenic properties of many traditional plant medicines overwhelm. It’s nearly impossible not to ‘go somewhere’ when these substances are introduced. But wine is different. As Jarvie noted: it takes you deeper into your body. The one glass during the ceremony seems supportive for amplified self-inquiry, but it may require more guidance to get there on your own.

One might suggest that wine as plant medicine might be enhanced by more active participation — guided meditation, breathwork, prompted journaling, intentional movement.

As an ongoing exploratory series, a question arose: if we are to expand the story of wine as plant medicine, highlighting its potential for healing, is there also a need for guidance through the pain alcohol has wrought? This became as a topic of discussion.

Post-ceremony, guests gathered in Halleck’s kitchen for a meal prepared to enjoy during their integration; they chatted around the table about their individual journeys, but also about their lives. They took turns serving, laughing, sharing — a ceremony unto itself, and one that is common at Halleck Vineyard, where the abundance of the land is continually reflected by the abundance of its host.

Everyone had been moved through a uniquely layered experience, receiving all Jarvie brought forward while navigating swirls of thoughts, emotions, and sensations activated within their bodies and minds by the mix of wine, sound, and stillness.

Framed that way, it certainly sounds like a plant medicine ceremony.

This was an experiment. The intention is to host Wine As Plant Medicine ceremonies monthly next year, when Jarvie returns from further studies in Peru. In the meantime, Halleck is collecting feedback, exploring wine as a conduit for spirituality, and maintaining focus on connection to his land.

Stay tuned.

*It’s important to note that the use of entheogens can have legal and health implications. They should be approached with caution, respect, and in a responsible, informed manner. Researching and understanding the cultural and legal context are crucial before engaging in entheogenic experiences.

Sustainable Wineries

Sustainable wineries are an increasingly popular choice for consumers who value environmental conservation. Unlike conventional winegrowing, sustainable wineries minimize the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, which can be harmful to both the environment and the health of workers and consumers. 

Conventional viticulture leads to higher yields because the pests and diseases – which affect grapevines are killed off – but these neurotoxin-infused substances find their way into the grapes, the wine, and our bodies. Winegrowers who farm biodynamic and certified organic wines, on the other hand, work to minimize harmful impacts on the environment through sustainable viticulture farming and the reproduction of organic and natural wine. 

Sustainable Viticulture

For some winemakers, sustainable viticultural practices have become so important, they’ve become advocates in the culture of environmentalism. The quality of the wine we drink —its basic structure, aromas, and flavors—is inexorably linked to the chemical composition of the soil (among other factors like climate, slope, etc). Growers had evidence, vintage report after vintage report, of the negative effects conventional agricultural processes had on the grapes and the vineyard. It’s not just the dip in quality, but the gradual degradation of soil (less fertility and more erosion) through conventional techniques that is an overall threat to human health. We need to reduce the poisons in our lives however we can, not add to them.

Even packaging is considered, with more and more sustainable wineries opting for BPA-free materials and oak from sustainable sources. With the USDA recognizing organic wine growing as a sustainable practice, it’s no wonder that more consumers are choosing organic wines as a way to support sustainability and promote a healthier planet.

What is Sustainable Wine? 

In the last few decades, the strong ecological consciousness within global governance has promoted a basic philosophy of environmental stewardship. At the core, this is an individual, communal, corporate, and governmental sense of social responsibility for the overall quality of the environment.

This is reflected in the wine industry by the whole-scale conversion of many vineyards and cellars to fully certified sustainable, USDA organic, or biodynamic practices. Vintage after vintage the percentage of vineyards that farm by these means only increases. It is being done at every level. 

From small independent producers who make less than 2,500 cases to looming Rioja giants like La Rioja Alta, wineries from California to Australia want to work to become more self-contained and create healthy, self-sustaining ecosystems on their own, capable of maintaining control over all aspects of grape cultivation and wine production, and doing so with minimal (and even regenerative) effect on the environment.

Is Wine Environmentally Friendly?

The wine growing industry was not always environmentally conscious. Irrigation and water use have long been an issue in wine-growing regions around the world, where vineyard sites are often in rugged and dry climates. More recently, wineries have dumped more than their fair share of chemicals on the land. Although often accounting for a very small percentage of total agricultural land, wineries spray a disproportionate amount of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. 

Directly opposing this trend, in the United States, a very large array of regulations and certifications were (and are still) being created with the aim of producing wine that is environmentally friendly. These practices are laying down the groundwork for a healthy worldwide viticulture ethos that will extend into future generations. 

SIP Certification (Sustainability-In-Practice)

Revolving around the three P’s of sustainability – People, Planet, Prosperity – SIP Certification seeks to implement stringent winemaking and wine-growing standards. They require “a measurable, holistic set of practices addressing habitat, water, energy, soil, recycling, air quality, packaging, pest management, social equity, and business management.” To ensure compliance all wineries are independently audited by third parties to eliminate any conflicts of interest. They look at sustainability in practices on every level from farm labor to agriculture – from energy conservation to water quality. 

CSWA (California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance)

Similar to SIP, an annual third-party audit is required to earn and maintain CSWA certification status. Here, wineries must adopt sustainable winegrowing standards based on the Industry’s Code of 200+ best practices for the environment, community, and wine. Vineyards must also “meet an overall score threshold, and measure and track metrics for water, energy, greenhouse gasses, and nitrogen.” Restrictions on crop-protection materials like pesticides are highly controlled as well. 

LIVE Certified

Originating from a cooperative of winegrowers in the Pacific Northwest, LIVE Certified sustainable wineries partner with numerous other certification programs and NGOs to audit the sustainable practices of participating wineries. They use the latest in university research and internationally accredited sustainability standards. All LIVE members are required to maintain ecologically rich areas on farms. These include “swaths of wildflower meadows, dense rich hedgerows, forested stands of trees, and protected riversides.” Although not required, many LIVE Certified wineries dry farm grapes without irrigation, using gravity flow systems to clarify wines. They rely on solar energy and biodiesel to power winery operations. Wineries are required to provide healthcare, safe and healthy working conditions, and fair wages for their teams in the field.

Napa Green

Napa Green is a third-party certification program for sustainable wineries. From the cellar to the offices, from the tasting room to the outdoor landscaping, all operations are measured against the six pillars of sustainability: water, waste, energy, regenerative farming, synthetic chemical reduction and social equity. The goal is to both improve soil health and help sustainable wineries become carbon neutral to negative within six to nine years. Irrigation assessments, prohibited pesticides, and conservation burning are just a few of the practices they seek to improve. Unique among the programs, Napa Green has social equity, justice, and inclusion standards that incorporate direct input and feedback from farm workers.

USDA Organic

There are two distinct categories of USDA Organic Wines. “Organic Wine” is made without using any prohibited substances or genetic engineering at any step of the process, from the vineyard to the bottle. Organic yeast must be used, and sulfites may not be added to the finished wine. However, “wine made from Organic Grapes” can involve the addition of sulfites and non-organic yeast to the winemaking process. Both designations undergo a very strict and expensive certification overview every year. 

Demeter Biodynamic 

Similar to USDA organic, but Demeter Biometric sets “higher standards on materials as well as on processes.” Demeter refers to a certification organization that promotes biodynamic farming practices. Biodynamic farming is a holistic approach to agriculture that considers the vineyard as a self-sustaining ecosystem. Biodynamic certification requires certain organic soil preparations to be used in lieu of toxic chemicals. It also revolves around a “whole-farm” approach to growing wines in tandem with livestock, mixed agriculture, and natural systems like rivers, forests, high deserts, and ocean hillsides. Demeter certification requires that the vineyard follows strict guidelines for soil management, pest control, and the use of natural preparations, such as compost and herbal teas, to enhance the health and vitality of the soil and the vines. Wines made from grapes grown in Demeter-certified biodynamic vineyards can bear the Demeter logo on their labels. Its chief concern is regenerative agriculture. 

ISO 14001

ISO 14001 is an environmental management system (EMS) standard that provides guidelines for organizations to manage their environmental responsibilities. In viticulture, ISO 14001 certification indicates that the winegrower or winery has implemented an effective environmental management system to minimize their environmental impact, improve sustainability, and comply with environmental regulations. This includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions, managing waste and water use, preserving biodiversity, and promoting the responsible use of natural resources. ISO 14001 certification is becoming increasingly important in the wine industry as consumers become more aware of environmental issues and demand more sustainable and eco-friendly products.

What is Sustainable Farming Wine? 

Cono Sur Winery in Chile is a long way from Sonoma County, California. A commitment to biodynamic wines also involves reducing oversupply, which has earned Cono Sur, a Chilean winery producing certified organic red wines, international recognition.  This sustainable winery is a prime example of sustainability in practice. In a true gesture of transparency, available on their website is a mammoth 100+ page sustainability report that details everything from supply chain logistics to employee working conditions to legal code compliance to vineyard practices. How well do they conserve water and use energy efficiently? Is there a water recycling system? Solar panels? Do they adopt electric vehicles? Purchase green electricity? Use recyclable wine shipping materials? Reduce air shipments? See for yourself here [pdf]

Cono Sur Winery is one of the wine brands that is leading the way in local education and promotion of sustainable wine production. This is an all-important second step that many wineries simply don’t have the bandwidth to take on. By providing an arena where other winemakers can visit and learn sustainable farming practices, Cono Sur is improving the chances of sustainability spreading throughout the other vineyards in the region. Austrian wines and those from the Gironde region of France are also known for their organic and biodynamic practices. 

Spottswoode Winery in Napa Valley is a California example of how all these regulations can coalesce to make wineries a constructive part of the environment. To conserve water, they use sensors to indicate when to irrigate vines. They do their own composting, using winery pomace and estate livestock manure to add nutrients to the soil. They plant fruit and olive trees to promote biodiversity. They have bird boxes and raptor roosts to encourage the presence of birds that eat harmful bugs and rodents. They plant cover crops in the vineyards which pull carbon from the air, and goats and sheep graze on it during the dormant season. 

The winery’s carbon footprint is measured annually by a third-party company. And solar energy powers all winery and vineyard operations. In their commitment to preserving local ecosystems and wildlife, they offer financial support to a host of organizations like the Land Trust of Napa County, the Center for Biological Diversity, the National Forest Foundation, and many others.

The cost of entry to these sustainable, organic, and biodynamic programs offer accountability and transparency. However, the cost for entry is in the thousands, annually. For many smaller-sized wineries, it is a prohibitive cost, usually unaffordable. But this doesn’t stop conscientious wineries from putting these ideas into practice.

Halleck Vineyard in Sebastopol typifies the sustainable boutique Sonoma winery. Their flagship estate vineyard, exclusively Pinot Noir, is organically grown. No pesticides are sprayed. No synthetic additives are used. Case production for the Estate Grown Pinot Noir is under 200, which has won best Pinot Noir in America, a testament to the results of following organic principles.

Does Sustainable Wine Taste Better? 

Despite broad disagreements, it is widely accepted that wine matures over time, meaning that its flavors and aromas become more interwoven and balanced. A healthy product (grapes with no pesticide residue) can contain and reflect qualities of the grape (Merlot) and terroir (Pomerol) with more purity than conventional viticulture. Think of the difference between an apple bought at 7-11 in winter and an apple bought at the local farmer’s market in fall.

The key difference in taste between conventional and sustainable wines lies in this difference between uniformity and uniqueness. Conventional viticulture is often mass viticulture, producing millions of bottles per year. The final goal of these products is a total uniformity of taste from one bottle to the next. Naturally, sustainably made wines avoid synthetic intervention and manipulation, so there is much more variation from vintage to vintage (and even bottle to bottle). This is a battle of taste: the comfort of uniform expectation vs the adventure of a unique experience.

Why Sustainable Wine Matters

Sustainable wine is a worldwide culture to create thriving and self-maintaining ecosystems in wine growing regions around the planet. Backed by a growing and diligent network of organizations that ensure accountability and transparency, many wineries around the world and in the United States are implementing these changes from grape to glass. It is a seismic and permanent shift in the principles of vineyard and cellar management. This has resulted in wines of increasing distinction and regional character, which, for many in the wine-loving world, becomes a source of continuous pleasure and discovery.

Despite the wide-ranging and heated discussions around natural and organic wine, ultimately, the difference, here in the US, is quite simple.

Organic wine is certified by the FDA. Natural wine is not. 

This is just fine for many passionate, anti-authoritarian, and raucous natural wine community members who suspect the futility of effective government regulation. The initial cost of organic certification (around $6,000), the price of annual inspections required to maintain certification, and the paperwork involved are all formidable barriers in acquiring that official organic seal.

This can be prohibitively expensive for small independent producers, who are more prominent in Sonoma County. And it’s an important factor in the rise of natural wine. However, there is also a very real danger that wineries and winemakers may claim to be “natural”, but unlike certified organic wine, there is no way to verify how they farm their vineyards or how they create wine in the cellar.

Nonetheless, organic and sustainable wine brands, also known as zero-zero – which essentially means zero additives – are here to stay. There’s even biodynamic wine, which uses a program of different organic preparations to enhance and re-vivify the life of the soil, and are applied in conjunction with natural rhythms like moon cycles. So in this golden age of grape juice when our wine cellars are filled with a vast array of choices, it should be easy to pick what we want. But it isn’t. 

Tyranny of Choice: Biodynamic, Organic and Natural Wine

The paradox of increasing freedom of choice is the necessity for an ever-sharper sense of discernment. 

Every day seems to introduce some new specialized production method. Every day seems to unearth an ancient, long-lost-and-now-found grape varietal only the deepest oenological obsessives have knowledge of.

Speedy advances in transportation, storage, and marketing have allowed previously far-flung locales like the Canary Islands and Tasmania to occupy coveted menu/shelf space next to Sonoma County Russian River Valley Pinot Noir and Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. 

For the consumer, there is confusion and skepticism. But there’s also curiosity and even better, bravery. 

We want to experience something novel and exciting without accelerating the destruction of our environment through chemically dosing our agricultural products. We want renewable energy. We want to be environmental stewards. We want to know what toxins we’re putting in our bodies. And we want to know the differences between organic and natural wines. 

Organic vs Natural Wine: Science and Sulphur in Sonoma

It is important to understand that the term “natural wine” has no widely accepted definition nor legal certification and regulation, both in the United States and around the world.

In fact, France is the only country to recognize a definition of natural wine. In March 2020, The Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité (INAO), France’s official agricultural organization, recognized a system called Vin Méthode Nature. In this system there are two tiers of certification: those with no added sulfites, and those that add less than 30 mg/L sulfites. That is all. And this definition doesn’t apply anywhere else. 

Sulfites are a topic worthy of a PhD dissertation alone. There are huge, vehement disagreements between organic and natural wine producers on the role of sulfites in wine. In the most general sense, sulfur is a naturally occurring compound winemakers use to prevent flaws and spoilage. Sulfites are added to stop the fermentation process or preserve the flavor profile.

It is a key structural component of the wine. Many highly respected vintners are adamant that without sulfur wines don’t age well. However, many natural winemakers believe it is an aspect of “intervention” they could do without. Hence, the zero-zero category. Some are dogmatic about their practices. Some are not. It remains a point of contention. 

But there is complexity and overlap here, as most (though not all) natural wine producers acquire grapes from organic vineyards. And organic wines are legally allowed to use conventional yeast and sulfur additions, which many natural winemakers would scoff at. In the end, it’s up to the winemakers to decide. 

Natural Wine and Sonoma Wineries

To keep it short: an unofficial grouping of French vignerons in the 1980s started to loudly reject the modern wonders of industrial chemistry and forge ahead with what they saw as more sustainable approaches to winemaking.

Their approach revolved around a constellation of beliefs and practices that are not universally agreed. Their viticultural counterparts in Italy, under the Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) designation, pursued the same lofty ends in response to the mass production of what natural winemaking advocates like New York Times wine writer Alice Feiring and others regarded as Frakenwines.

Sustainable farm practices behind natural wines

Regenerative farming, without fertilizers or pesticides (and in some cases, irrigation) to build a permaculture that builds instead of depleting the soil; eliminating additives like commercially produced yeast; eschewing oak barrels (for clay vessels); and generally aiming for the lowest possible human intervention in the winemaking process, whether that be eliminating sulfur additions or throwing dry-ice on grape must (aka the “cold carbonic” method).

The carbonic maceration process, which involves whole cluster fermentation in a closed anaerobic vessel, is considered to be a mainstay in natural wine production. But carbonic maceration only begins the fermentation process. Winemakers who use this process, may still inoculate the juice with additives, so some may say it is not entirely natural. At the same time, many commercial yeast strains, which are used for inoculation, are naturally occurring strains.

Natural wine production is meant to bring more distinction, clarity, and individual character to every little spot of land and grape on earth. It is meant to create wine with more personality and variation, wine with less pesticide residue and carcinogenic compounds. Natural and organic wine methods go hand-in-hand with the notion of purity, or the perfect expression of the characteristics of the grape through the terroir. 

In connection with this idea, a profound respect and reverence for the environment is found among all natural and organic winemakers. The overall goal of the movement, besides making exceptional wine, is to create a healthy ecosystem for the community. They provide clean air, fresh water, medicines and food security. They also limit disease and stabilize the climate. Therefore, these types of wine are far more sustainable than those farmed by conventional methods which contaminate the air and water and deplete (and eventually destroy) life-giving nutrients in the soil.

Natural winemaking in Sonoma

For natural wine producers, the emphasis is strongly, if not exclusively, on the vineyards themselves. Adherents believe this allows for a more authentic expression of grapes and terroir. The dogma has no trouble finding fresh believers. Since the 1980s “natural wine” has bloomed into a major international phenomenon. Every relevant winemaking country is on this train, and it’s not going to stop.

Idlewild Wines, which has a crown vineyard above the Russian River Valley and a Tasting Room just off the plaza in Healdsburg, is an excellent California example of this worldwide movement. Spearheaded by Sam Bilbo, this Sonoma winery grows Piedmontese varieties (Nebbiolo, Barbera, Cortese) planted in Mendocino County. All those vineyards are maintained by holistic farming practices like composting and carbon sequestration. Pesticides are not sprayed. There is no oak aging. Native yeast is judiciously used, and a minimal amount of sulfur is added at bottling. 

Organic Wine and Sonoma Wineries

Organic wines start with organic grapes. Organic vineyards undergo a rigorous five-step verification process in the United States. Both growing the grapes and the conversion of those grapes into wine must follow these requirements, which can be found in lengthy detail on the USDA website. Admittedly, this is an expensive and time-consuming process, but it does yield the assurance to the consumer that the wine and the vineyards have undergone inspection and are truly “organic”. 

Yet it’s very important for the consumer to keep in mind that organic agricultural production still uses pesticides and herbicides that USDA’s organic certification standards have deemed acceptable. Just because something is labeled “organic” does not mean that no pesticides or herbicides are used. It simply means that the ones applied met the USDA’s production standards for the term.

Some Sonoma winemakers label sustainably farmed and otherwise organic wines as simply “natural”

Halleck Vineyards typifies the small producer in Sonoma County. Halleck Vineyard makes two organic red wines, but given the expenses associated with certified organic, which includes maintaining three years of diligent records in English (most farmworkers speak only Spanish), their wines are not certified as organic and must be marketed as natural wines, ever though their farming practices are regenerative, sustainable, and 100% organic. The Halleck Vineyard Estate Grown Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, which has been judged the best Pinot Noir in America again and again, comes from a tiny one acre vineyard about 900 ft above sea level in southwest Sebastopol, bordering the new West Sonoma Coast AVA. 

Planted in 1993, the vineyard has never seen chemical spraying or invasive mechanization. Organic practices allow the fruit to get naturally ripe and highly concentrated. The wine undergoes fermentation with native yeast, but Halleck likes to add about 30% new oak to the wine, leaving it in the barrel for ten months. This is one major difference between organic and natural winemaking. One will often see organic producers using new oak, while natural winemakers often opt for clay or stainless steel tanks.

Do Sonoma Organic Wines have Fewer Chemicals than Natural Wines?

Organically grown grapes cannot be treated with any synthetic pesticides, fungicides, insecticides, or fertilizers. 

This fact alone makes them a much healthier alternative to conventionally produced wine, which has tons upon tons of harsh chemicals sprayed on them every year. Despite this, certified organic wine is allowed to have about 70 different chemicals added to it. These are mostly organic and naturally occurring acids, salts, and sugars (the list can be found on the FDA’s website). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration prohibits any organic products from using chemicals that have an adverse effect on the environment or on human health.

But even though organic wine is generally recognized to be healthier and safer than conventional wine, the actual scientific data regarding the importance of organic production on the chemical content of wines is shockingly scarce. There are only a few studies coming out, all from European countries such as Italy, Croatia, and Romania, none from the US. What they have found is quite enlightening: the mineral (heavy metal) composition of wines depends on factors different from organic/conventional production methods.

The landmark Naughton Study, published in 2008, rocked the wine world by revealing that the vast majority of wines in Europe contained dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals. This meant that, in a very real way, it didn’t matter if the wine was made by natural, organic, or conventional methods. Toxic heavy metals saturate our air and water, and so they saturate our wines. These are called “priority pollutants” and can have potentially deadly effects if their concentrations are not kept under legally allowed limits. 

Sustainable farming is not enough to produce organic grapes

A grapevine is like an ecological vacuum cleaner. It sucks in everything from everywhere. Many wine characteristics, such as grape ripeness, taste, aroma, and more, are under the hidden influence of these “priority pollutants” because of the absorbent nature of the grapevine. 

You could be an outstanding natural boutique winery in Sonoma. But, if your neighbor is a conventional Monsanto farmer, that’s trouble. Contamination of your wine by “priority pollutants” can happen at any stage of the process. 

A big gust of wind can take a synthetic pesticide cloud down the road and into your vineyard. Heavy metal contamination may be caused by long contact of acidic wine with aluminum, brass, stainless steel, and wood used in machinery and pipes, casks, and barrels. Or the chemicals you use for cleaning and sanitation might find their way into the must. Or maybe your vineyards are near the roadway. Those often contain high levels of cadmium and lead from vehicle exhaust fumes. 

Nearby commercial industries, city waste management, and traffic may contribute to the introduction of metals into soil, grapes, and ultimately into the final product. Collective environmental circumstances influence soil, climate, ripeness, transport, and storage. Even glass bottles and foil capsules can seep heavy metals into the wine. 

The reality is, organic wines are only “better” for you in the sense that they eliminate the main carcinogenic compounds which are intentionally used in the production of conventional wines. The less you are poisoned by your food and drink, the better. Yet these effects are often systemic and compounded with time: the longer you drink in life, the more it will affect you. It’s not a glass at night that’s bad. It’s a glass at night for 20 years that could be detrimental to your overall health. 

But this, in a nutshell, is exactly what the natural wine movement seeks to do. It seeks to help safeguard the planet’s ecosystem, so we don’t have to be inundated by toxic heavy metals anymore. And we can enjoy those 20 years of nightly glasses without worrying about our lasting overall health. 

Do Natural and Organic Wines from Sonoma Taste Better?

Similarities do exist between conventional, organic, and natural wine. All alcohol causes inflammation in the human body. It doesn’t matter if it was made in your backyard with pristine ingredients or at a mega-chateau with synthetic additives. And no alcohol in excess, no matter how immaculately produced, is kind on your liver. 

Conventional, organic and natural wines all cause hangovers. But organic and natural wines are made without the chemicals used by conventional winemakers. This may be less taxing on your biology, but it does not eliminate the negative effects of alcohol, when taken to excess. Additionally, since some wine drinkers develop sensitivities to sulfur at some point in life, they prefer wine with fewer quantities added in. This is a big selling point for natural wines.

Taste of Sonoma natural wine

But taste, of course, is highly subjective. Organic and natural winemaking techniques are not simple or easy to execute, no matter how “hands off” it seems. It takes a highly skilled viticulturist to both grow grapes and make wine with no additives. This is why taste will vary so markedly from producer to producer and from bottle to bottle. Although the aspiration of organic and natural winemakers is the production of wines that taste like where they came from, in practice, there are many wines that lack flavor, structure, and definition. There’s a nasty wet dog and barnyard component that can’t be overcome. Thankfully, very few wines have these qualities. The best practice to develop your taste would be to find a wine shop that knows their stuff and can point you in the right direction. 

The Natural Finish

The difference between natural and organic wine is complicated and intertwined. There’s a long and complex history involved in the growth of the natural wine industry, and much of it is tied into organic farming and the creation of a sustainable wine industry, at least in the United States. The number of certified organic vineyards grows year and year, as does the number of self-described “natural” winemakers, but since there are so few laws and regulations in regard to natural wines, the debate between the taste, philosophy, and quality of natural versus organic wines will continue to rage.

Over the last three years, two of the top ten costliest fires in the US – The Glass Fire and CZU Lightning Complex Fire were in Northern California, according to the Insurance Information Institute. The Camp Fire was the most destructive in the state’s history with 153.3 thousand acres burned, 18.8 thousand structures destroyed and 85 people killed. California is now the most fire prone state, with 9,260 fires and 2.2 million acres burned in 2021.

A warmer, drier climate means that vegetation burns hotter and faster. Farmers in the area which straddles North Marin and South Sonoma – known as the Petaluma Gap – are particularly at risk of having their crops ruined by smoke taint, since fires west of the Sonoma Mountains can quickly feed fresh smoke into the Gap’s wind tunnel. Grapes don’t need to burn to spoil. Smoke less than 24 hours old can permeate the skins of red wine grapes and destroy entire crops.

Defined by wind which pulls the coastal fog through a gap in the mountains at Bodega Bay, air flows inland to the Sonoma Mountains and gets deflected south to the San Pablo Bay, making the terrior ideal for growing cool climate grapes like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. In fact, Gap’s Crown Vineyard supplies grapes to Kosta Browne for one of their most celebrated Pinot Noirs and lauded Sebastopol winery Halleck Vineyard sources their clone 828 Pinot Noir grapes from Black Knight Vineyards on Taylor Mountain.

But the Petaluma Gap is feeling the impact of climate change. Ms. Dorsey is a witness. She has been at McEvoy ranch since the very beginning, participating in the land prep with her own two hands. Now, 22 years later, she runs the ranch’s day-to-day operations, including their wine tasting room, the McEvoy Ranch Outlet store in downtown Petaluma, and their online store. 

Initially, McEvoy Ranch has a larger viticulture operation. But today, their olive orchards might also be seen as a hedge against a warming planet.

McEvoy Ranch is located on a sprawling 550 acre farmland just over the Marin side of the Petaluma Gap. Since 2006, they have maintained two different vineyards. One specializes in Pinot Noir, while the other tract is split evenly between Syrah and Montepulciano. All said and done, they produce a variety of different labels in-house, although their vineyard operations have changed radically. 

In recent years, McEvoy has turned their attention from viticulture to winemaking. They lease their vineyards to growers and source grapes from them and other local farms, such as the neighboring Pacheco Ranch which dry farms and rare AXR1 rootstock for Cabernet Sauvignon, which is rare outside of Napa. “The limiting factors for us in terms of production are water, of course, as well as smoke taint which has destroyed numerous crops,” she says.

While McEvoy’s shift away from viticulture is the result of numerous factors—tough, clay-like soil, the drought, unpredictable weather, and a pronounced labor shortage— the threat of climate change is always lurking. 

Unfortunately, climate change is something that all California’s growers will have to contend with in the coming years. Smoke damage emanating from regional wildfires will inevitably lead to loss of plant and wildlife. As the planet warms, water evaporates faster and vegetation gets drier.   

As a result, Ms. Dorsey and the team at McEvoy have hedged their bet by investing in their halo product: olive oil. Olive trees excel at growing in dry, arid climates. They need little water to survive and can even thrive in desert-like environments and Ms. Dorsey is very optimistic about the future of olive growing in California. 

Aside from their drought-resistant qualities, olive trees are also smoke resistant, which means wildfire smoke doesn’t taint their flavor as it does with grapes. “It really is an extraordinary product that can be grown on marginal soils in a high heat environment,” she says. 

Ms. Dorsey is also an advocate of the environmental benefits that go along with olive oil production and consumption. For example, olive oil has a small carbon footprint because it is nonperishable and does not require refrigeration. And the benefit of buying olive oil from a local, small producer like McEvoy is product integrity. Large-scale manufacturers are less than honest when it comes to the labeling of products. 

Far too often manufacturers will label diluted, mixed, or processed oils as “extra-virgin” even when they’re not. California in particular is fighting a battle with manufacturers who label their oils as Napa Valley products without the proper pedigree. It’s a battle they are winning, thanks in part to the artisans at McEvoy Ranch. 

So when is the best time to visit wine country? With climate change approaching, the sooner the better. While there may be some grapes that thrive in a warmer climate, with the escalating pace of climate change, if you wait too long, wine country could someday become olive country.

Either way, McEvoy Ranch is ready.

But like the rest of the Bay Area, the Petaluma Gap climate is changing. At the Golden Gate Bridge, sea level rose 9 inches between 1854 and 2016 as a result of melting land ice and the thermal expansion of ocean water. Over the last 100 years, Bodega Bay sea level rose 8.5 inches. And since 1961, average ocean temperature at Point Reyes has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit.

Climate science is very complex. Stewart Johnson earned his bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley, his master’s degree from Yale and his J.D. from Hastings. But none of it prepared him for the challenges of growing grapes on the Marin side of the Petaluma Gap, where the soil is particularly thick and tough for roots to penetrate. The drought put Chileno Valley Vineyards out of business and prevented Griffin’s Lair from delivering a crop last year.

“I irrigate with a pond that catches runoff every winter. Even through the previous years of drought, I always had a full pond. In 2021, I didn’t get a drop. I had to haul in recycled water,” says Johnson, who gave his Kendric Vineyards about half the water he usually does just to keep the Pinot Noir and Syrah vines alive. 

All in, it cost him $27,000 to bring in enough water to eke out what he considered to be a sacrificial crop. “I picked my grapes much earlier than I would have liked because the vines were so stressed from the drought. The Syrah grapes hang longer and fared worse than his Pinot Noir. He used to get eight to 10 barrels of Syrah. Last year, he only got one. Climate change exacted a hefty toll.

The Petaluma Gap – which comprises roughly 200,000 acres and 4,000 vineyard acres that get wind swept with fog from the Pacific Ocean – was first recognized in 2017 as an American Viticulture Area for its unique Sonoma County microclimate. The AVA is defined by its wind pattern, and is home to roughly 90 vineyards, nine wineries and seven wine tasting rooms. 

Warmer temperatures inland draw coastal fog from the Pacific Ocean through a gap in the mountains at Bodega Bay. The wind current travels east until it hits the Sonoma Mountains where it gets deflected south to San Pablo Bay. So the Petaluma Gap is essentially a wind tunnel, and some of the AVA’s most famous vineyards – like Gap’s Crown, Robert’s Road and Sun Chase – are along the western side of the Sonoma Mountains, which serves as a sort of wind tunnel inflection point.

As a result, experts recognize the Petaluma Gap AVA to be quite distinctive. “They’re definitely cool climate wines. That’s the whole beauty of that area. You get a little bit less alcohol and more acidity. The wines tend to be a bit more fresh, which I think people really enjoy, especially with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. People like that cool climate intensity without a huge amount of alcohol,” says Virginie Boone, contributing editor at Wine Enthusiast.  

In April 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency in Sonoma and Mendocino

In an attempt to defer water curtailments, local stakeholders launched a voluntary water sharing program for Upper Russian River rights holders earlier this month. Warmer temperatures make surface water evaporate faster. Add to that low precipitation, and you can start to see why wine growers have been hit so hard by climate change. For the last 26 consecutive months, Marin, Sonoma and Napa have been experiencing severe drought conditions.

Annual average temperatures in the US increased by 1.2°F from the period of 1901-1960 to the period from 1986–2016, due to more atmospheric carbon dioxide from human activities, according to the Fourth National Climate Assessment, a report prepared every four years for the US president and congress by a veritable army of American scientists, academics and government agencies.

Changing Petaluma Gap AVA Climate

“More than being hot, it’s unpredictable. And we’ve not had water for the past two or three years. We’ve been irrigating in March, which is something we have never done,” says Ana Keller, director at Keller Estates which has vineyards, a winery and a tasting room in the Petaluma Gap AVA. “Normally it would be raining. So we are now trying to fake rain so that the plant can pull the nutrients it needs right when it’s starting to grow its canopy,” she says. They also recently introduced a lighter weight glass bottle to lighten the amount of fuel required to ship their wines. Every ounce matters.

“We lost grapes in 2010 and 2011 because they were the two coldest years on record in this part of Sonoma,” says Mitch Black who grows grapes with his daughter Lexine at Black Knight Vineyards on Taylor Mountain overlooking the Petaluma Gap. “We’re having such strong swings from cold to warm.” Black Knight grows clone 828 Pinot Noir grapes originating from Dijon, France for Halleck Vineyard.

Combined land and ocean temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.13 degrees Fahrenheit per decade since 1880. But the average rate of increase since 1981 has jumped to twice that rate, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency’s 2020 Annual Climate Report. Rising temperatures also means snowpack melts earlier, leading to dryer and more flammable vegetation, longer fire seasons and higher burn intensities.

Fires west of the Sonoma Mountains pose a much greater risk to Petaluma Gap wines. If the smoke from neighboring fires reaches a vineyard within 12 hours, it can ruin the crop. Unlike white wines, where the skins are discarded, Pinot Noir hangs on the vine longer and is extremely susceptible to smoke taint,” says Tom Gendall, director of winemaking and viticulture at Cline Cellars.

Three of the 10 most costly fires in the history of the US were in 2020, according to a report from the Insurance Information Institute. And two out of those three were in wine country. The other was in Santa Cruz.

The Glass Fire, which broke out at North Fork Crystal Springs Road and Crystal Springs Road on Sept. 27, 2020 burned 67,484 acres and destroyed 1,555 structures was responsible for $2.9 billion in damages. But since it was east of the Sonoma Mountains, so it posed less of a threat to Petaluma Gap vineyards.

The LNU Lightning Complex fire on the other hand, which started just south of the Quail Ridge Ecological Reserve on August 17, 2020 and burned 363,220 acres, was responsible for $2.43 billion in damages and posed a much greater agricultural threat to the Petaluma Gap, because it was west of the Sonoma Mountains, so the winds had the potential envelope Gap vineyards with thick, black smoke.

“Wildfires are becoming a bigger source of loss for insurance companies in the last five years. And since 2017, Northern Californians are suffering more losses,” says Janet Ruiz, director of strategic communications at the Insurance Information Institute, a nonprofit, industry-backed association. 

It is because of climate change that McEvoy Ranch President Samantha Dorsey – who has been farming on the Marin side of the Petaluma Gap AVA for 20 years – believes that olives are the future. Unlike grapes, olives are drought tolerant and resistant to smoke taint. And since it’s nonperishable, olive oil is a plant-based fat that is much more carbon-friendly for cooking than animal products. McEvoy Ranch has 50 acres of certified organic olive trees and produces 5,000 gallons of olive oil a year.

Why the Climate is Changing

To understand the greenhouse effect, think about a parked car with the windows rolled. There’s no way for the heat to escape, so it gets hotter inside the car than it is outside. Roll down the windows, the heat escapes and it cools down.

We’ve sort of rolled up the windows around our planet. Emissions from spent fossil fuel get caught in our atmosphere forming a barrier that traps heat from escaping into outer space. The more emissions, the stronger the barrier. Because of that, our atmosphere is warming at an alarming rate, threatening to send our ecosystem into chaos.

The Sonoma County Regional Climate Protection Authority set a target for reducing greenhouse gas “emissions to 25 percent of 1990 levels by 2020.” But however well-intentioned, it is too little, too late to address the scope of the crisis Michael E Mann PhD, Director of Earth Sciences at Penn State outlines in his new book The New Climate Wars, about fossil fuel’s PR war against science.

Since the 1950s, businesses have opposed policies that jeopardize their profits by using paid experts, faux foundations and outright lies to seed doubt around peer reviewed scientific findings, reveals Harvard professor Naomi Oreskes in her book Merchants of Doubt, which draws a parallel between fossil fuel’s ginned up climate change controversy and big tobacco’s smear campaign on the scientific consensus that smoking causes cancer.

A shorter version of this feature appeared in the Marin Pacific Sun.