Viticulture
Organic viticulture
Farming without synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers.
Overview
Certified organic viticulture prohibits synthetic inputs. Copper and sulfur remain permitted as fungicides, and both are naturally occurring.
The copper permission is a genuine criticism: copper does not break down and accumulates in soil over decades, so an organic vineyard can have a real long-term soil problem that a conventional one avoids.
Organic farming is considerably harder in humid regions with high disease pressure, which is why it is far more common in Mediterranean climates than Atlantic ones.
Certification covers the vineyard. "Organic wine" additionally restricts what may be done in the cellar, and the rules differ between the EU and the US — notably over added sulfites.
Sources
Sources consulted
More in the vineyard
Viticulture
Climate and wine style
The largest single influence on what a wine tastes like — larger than grape, producer or winemaking, and the reason the same variety is unrecognisable in two places.
Viticulture
Climate change and wine
Warming is already reshaping where wine is grown and what it tastes like.
Viticulture
Harvest and picking decisions
When to pick — the single most consequential decision a producer makes each year.