The UN has recently stated that 40% of the globes agricultural land’s soils are in degradation.
Our soils are degrading and heading towards collapse due to modern industrial farming techniques. The use of synthetic chemicals on our crops and our agricultural soils is actually destroying the medium we rely upon to feed us. Synthetic chemicals are a product of the petrochemical industry which is part of the oil industry. The burning and processing of fossil fuels such as oil is responsible for the increased CO2 emissions in our atmosphere which is responsible for global warming.
Climate change is undeniably upon us. To avoid radical social upheaval and a global wide food catastrophe we need to return to carbon net zero as soon as possible.
According to Eurostat the largest usage of synthetic chemicals in any agribusiness per hectare, is viticulture.
Any vineyard that is still using synthetic chemicals in the form of fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide, molluscicide etc is a part of the problem and not the solution. I believe that the consumers of our wines should be made aware that in the majority of cases the wine that they thought was a “natural” product is very far from it and is a contributor to soil degradation and climatic change.
The consumers of wines from vineyards which are still using synthetic chemical inputs should also be aware that many of these vineyard inputs are retained in the final wine product. A study in 2008 showed that in every bottle of wine tested from vineyards that used synthetic chemicals in the field, contained traces of those chemical inputs in the finished wine. None of the vineyards which did not use synthetic chemical did, except one which had suffered ‘overspray’ from its neighbour.
We have been using petrochemical based products in viticulture for less than a century. We have been growing vines for wine for between 8 or 9 thousand years; successfully without any synthetic chemical inputs. So with a nod to the wisdom of times gone by and with a greater understanding of what a vine needs to flourish and the soil biology system that it relies upon and grows within. We have all of the tools and techniques available to us now to leave the fossil fuel based agriproducts in the past and underground.
The consumer deserves to be fully aware of what processes and inputs have gone to create the wine which they are drinking.
As producers we need the consumer to have confidence in our wine, that it is both safe for them and unharmful to the planet. The only way to do that is to be totally transparent with our viticultural processes and inputs.
This is the time for transparency.
Here at Hebron vineyard we have never used any form of synthetic chemical inputs on our vines or soils, our wines are made naturally in Wales and we can offer the consumer a pure unadulterated natural wine which is a true reflection of its terroir, with nothing added or taken away, allowing the consumer to experience a genuine taste of place; the sign of a top quality wine.
