According to Denny Dudzik, vineyard manager and co-winemaker at Handley Cellars in Philo, grapes are one of the ideal crops which can be grown without synthetic chemicals. "Grapes are forgiving for a variety of reasons," Dudzik said, as we walked Handley's gently terraced rows of pinot noir and chardonnay. "While some fungal diseases like powdery mildew and botrytis do threaten crop quality, there are few insect pests that attack wine grapes. And since the grapes are destined only for processing, flavor quality takes precedence over cosmetics."

Handley Cellars is not a certified organic grower. With a few changes and better record keeping, however, they probably could be. "I call our approach 'bio-rational,'" says Dudzik. "We're not extremist one way or the other. We're growing the best way we know how for both wine quality and the environment."

In a newly planted gewurztraminer vineyard, Dudzig points to a proliferation of weeds and thistles out-competing the scrawny one year-old vines clinging to the trellis posts. Rather than strip spraying with an herbicide, they'll be disked under in the spring, or yanked out by hand if necessary.

Dudzik estimates his company spends $500 to $1,000 per acre more than most other vineyards in the Anderson Valley, primarily for extra hand labor costs: hoeing to clean up fields and leaf pulling at critical times to fight fungal diseases. Handley no longer prepares a new piece of ground by fumigating with methyl bromide; however, they will occasionally resort to Roundup (banned to organic growers) to knock back an overly aggressive berry patch.

Another key to farm management at Handley is a computerized weather station jointly established with Roederer Estates Vineyard, which can foretell outbreaks of certain fungal diseases. "Diseases have predictable life cycles," says Dudzik, "and by alerting us to problems early, computers can help decrease our overall sprays."

The Handley vineyard rambles across lumpy hills which gravitate toward a 25-acre foot pond, rain-fed during the winter and topped-off by an extensive network of gutters and rain collection devices that divert every possible drop into the reservoir. "Grapes have a great potential for dry farming," Dudzik claims, "but we still use 25 gallons per plant per season, and that irrigation mostly coincides with soluble fertilizer applications."

Mendocino County organic wine making was most notably pioneered by the Frey family, whose 61-acre vineyard is tucked away in a wooded, undeveloped corner of Redwood Valley. John Frey, who works and farms with most of his 11 siblings, says he came to wine making reluctantly, as a way to save the very special family farm his parents purchased in the early 1960s.

Frey, now in his forties, had spent a number of years working and studying with acclaimed French intensive gardening practitioner Alan Chadwick in both Santa Cruz and Covelo, and returned to his parents' land to start a truck farm and carve out a self-sufficient homestead garden in the early 1970s. Remnants of those early experiments—an orchard, greenhouse and cold frames—are now overgrown. While not pristinely manicured, the vineyards Frey and his siblings have dedicated themselves to are vigorous and charming. The thirty-year old cabernet vines his father planted to thwart a proposed dam project that would have flooded their land, now have trunks as thick as manzanitas.

Walking the fields with John Frey and Philo apple farmer Tim Bates on a crisp December afternoon is about as pleasurable an outing as one might hope for. The vineyard is bordered on all sides by woods and swales. Cover crops sprout between every vine row. Some vine blocks are interplanted with herbs like echinacea and self-heal. Piles of grape pomace (crushing leftovers) lie composting in various places. Frey talks with conviction about the bio-dynamic practices he and his family embrace, a chemical-free system that reduces off-farm inputs as much as possible. In addition to using certified organic techniques, the Freys apply specially-brewed bio-dynamic solutions such as compost teas, which help boost plant fertility and vigor. There is a station to prepare these bio-dynamic inoculations, containing some sophisticated yet Druidic-looking contrivances.

The proficient yet light touch that the Freys wield on the land is obvious everywhere. Judging from the Rube Goldberg-like series of second-hand stainless tanks that comprise the wine making operation, however, it's a bit harder to fathom that the family produces 40,000 cases of organic and bio-dynamic wines each year.

"We really need to upgrade our wine making facility," Frey says, as we navigate two columns of variously-sized steel tanks and criss crossing pipes, all open to the air. A small puddle of syrah wine has temporarily stained the cement a bright purple. Frey points to a rolled up parachute, which shades the tank area in summer.

"Our real challenge in making bio-dynamic and organic wines has been our decision not to use sulfites," says Frey. Sulfites help vintners keep the crush or juice from oxidizing, clearing the way for a predictable fermentation process. (They're not to be confused with sulfur, which protects grapes from fungus and mildew and is a certified organic material.) "When not using sulfites you have to be extremely careful about sterilizing all of your equipment and in blocking oxygen from souring the wine."

He walks us over to the tasting room, a wide, well-worn, wooden plank straddling a few barrels outside of the hand-hewn winery headquarters. If there were any challenges in the wine making, it's not obvious in the product. We sample a fruity yet dry table wine, a rich zinfandel (the bio-dynamic was even better than the organic), a chardonnay flavored with toasted oak, a spirited organic syrah and a cabernet worth aging a few years.

Handley and Frey are just a few of the exemplary Mendocino County growers successfully producing nearly 4,000 acres of pesticide-free grapes. But a sensational headline in the November 27, 1998 Press Democrat attempted to undermine the movement: "Organic Disappointment," began the title of an article by Mike Geniella, "Phylloxera invades Mendocino, Fetzer's faith in organic-growing methods shaken."

Geniella's article initially derided organic farming methods for being unable to prevent phylloxera infestations in vineyards. (Phylloxera is a wingless bug that attacks roots and leaves, draining the life out of vines grafted to the AXR-1 rootstock, which was planted widely in the 1970s and 1980s and now occupies 60% of the county's 17,000 acres of vineyards.)

Apparently, a few years ago, a Fetzer press release claimed that the soil-enhancing regimens of organic farm practices would be able to keep phylloxera from migrating to their Mendocino vineyards from the already-plagued vineyards of Sonoma and Napa.

While Fetzer vineyard manager Tom Piper is quoted in the Press Democrat article as saying the infestation "shook our belief system," he told me over the phone that "nothing could be farther from the truth. In the two years since we discovered phylloxera, we've only seen an increase from 10 to 50 infected plants throughout our 530 acres. The benefits of organic farming methods and infestations of phylloxera are two completely different conversations."

Piper says Fetzer has changed its cultivation practices in those areas where phylloxera has been identified. "We give those vines a little more water, and we mow permanent cover crops rather than disking the soil around the plants."

Unfortunately for organic and conventional grape growers alike, phylloxera is predicted to become an increasing problem in Mendocino County in the coming years. But according to UC agricultural advisor Glenn McCourty, interviewed in the same Press Democrat article, "local growers are being advised to continue their organic farming methods in hopes of slowing the infestations while preparing to replant with several new resistant varieties."

It seems natural to wonder whether pesticide-free growing practices affect the quality of wines. While all of the wine makers I interviewed remained modest about their results, upon further questioning, all also admitted they believed that the extra care taken to grow grapes organically undoubtedly makes its way into the bottle.

(copyright 1998, by Dan Imhoff. Article first appeared in the December 23, 1998 Anderson Valley Advertiser, and later reprinted in Good Fruit Grower Magazine.)