Why Some Winemakers Are Ditching Organic and Biodynamic Practices

Lately, some winemakers are choosing to sustain their business over sustaining the environment.

In New Zealand, a pair of Marlborough’s largest wineries have abandoned organic farming and gone back to conventional cultivation practices, according to a report by The Press, a daily newspaper in Christchurch. Indevin and Vinarchy will use synthetic pesticides and fertilizers in their vineyards, with the former rolling back organic practices at about 250 of its 320 acres, while the latter is reverting 200 of its 370 acres to conventional farming practices.

The vineyards in question were acquired when Indevin and Vinarchy each bought out other brands and inherited the organic plots. And both companies made the decision that organic didn’t make economic sense when conventional farming could increase crop yields while lowering their costs.

“If your business model is about supplying a cheaper product offshore then you might have some tonnage-per-hectare expectations which are just not achievable with organics, and that’s particularly so with Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc,” says Bart Arnst, a Marlborough winemaker and founding member of Organic Winegrowers New Zealand.

The Marlborough region is responsible for 75 percent of New Zealand’s wine exports, and overall exports for the country fell 12.2 percent in 2024, putting financial strain on the industry there. Conventional farming will increase yields, but that may not help the bottom line if trends in consumption continue. Around the world, winemakers are ripping out vines because there is a wine glut as people drink less. Many of those now-fallow vineyards were meant for growing just the kind of commodity grapes for low-end wines that the brands plan to produce.

Meanwhile, in California, there are winemakers who are still trying to be stewards of the environment, but they’ve decided to give up on maintaining their biodynamic standing for their wines, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. Biodynamic is an official certification overseen by the Demeter organizarion that goes beyond just using organic fertilizers and pesticides; it has rules for the entire ecosystem surrounding the vineyards. And for these winemakers, the regulations started to feel to onerous, especially in a time of economic strain. In 2020, 53 California vineyards were certified biodynamic, but that number has now fallen to 44.

“The economy’s tough in wine,” says Alex Davis, the winemaker at Porter Creek in Healdsburg. “Another expense, another hassle in paperwork, and being shamed for doing what I need to do is not very fun.”

For instance, Porter-Bass Vineyard owner Luke Bass wanted to use a soybean-based fertilizer in his Guerneville vineyard. But because Demeter couldn’t determine if the underlying soybeans were non-GMO, it suggested he used a much more expensive fertilizer made from line-caught fish. So both Bass and Davis decided to drop their certifications and do what they thought was best for them economically, while still treating their vineyards as ecosystems to be cared for holistically. Still, their move shows that the economic strain vineyards and wineries face right now is leading to tough decisions.