Wine List: The top sustainable wines to buy right now

There is just one universally heard buzz word in the wine world these days and that is ‘sustainability’. I think I first heard the Australians and Chileans talking about it (e.g. Santa Rita), but these days even the French are at it.

There is no excuse not to focus on sustainability these days, going organic is not enough (or even always wise). I discussed this on a Zoom call with Neasa and Laurent Miquel from their spectacular Les Auzines estate on a high rocky garrigue in Corbières (Google ‘Les Auzines’ for a nice drone video).

Laurent’s family has been winemakers since 1791 and Neasa's injection of some Irish blood has added a dynamic twist. Thanks to Neasa you can find their wines in Dunnes and O’Briens (I’ll report on their excellent new Rosé for O’Briens shortly - named for their daughter Alaina).

2020 has been a wet year and is causing headaches for organic growers. Laurent has ditched the Organic certs while retaining most practices and gone with the much tougher French HVE scheme instead (High Environmental Value/‘Haute Valeur Environnementale’).

HVE monitors treatments, carbon and water use and even working conditions while organic certification mostly looks at preventative measures. "We were constantly spraying and with crazy weather like this year we would be on the tractor burning carbon every day and risking copper overload (from spraying with copper-sulphate to prevent mildew)," said Laurent.

I recommend three of their wines below - you won’t find many better price-quality ratios.

Champagne meanwhile has its own sustainable system called Viticultur Durable en Champagne (VDC) and sustainability focused companies such as Charles Heidsieck and Piper Heidsieck have both HVE and VDC certs. There are excellent organic producers in Champagne (Fleury, Leclerc-Briant etc.) but given the wetter continental climate in the region going fully organic is not for the faint-hearted (or poor of pocket).

A Zoom talk with Emilien Boutillat, Maître de Chais at Piper Heidsieck, was illuminating. Champagne's average temperature has increased one degree since 1989 and spring frosts and hail are also more common.

The good news is that cooler hillsides (e.g. in the Vallée de la Marne) are now coming into their own and adding welcome freshness (especially useful for Piper Heidsieck’s crisp NV). Emillien has introduced beehives, hedgerows for birds, planted grass between all vines to prevent erosion, banned herbicides and insecticides and uses solar/electric GPS controlled robot machines to weed and micro-spray vines.

I've got Champagne on ice to celebrate the end of lockdown.