Biodynamic Wine - Neighbor Pressure and Influence of Time

Delmas’ paper on the taste of organic wine had mentioned the fact that “A winery’s decision to become eco-certified is influenced, in part, by whether its nearby neighbors are eco-certified. The more of its neighbors are eco-certified, the more likely it is to begin eco-certification.”

I was surprised by Ivo’s clear confirmation of this. His grandfather had renounced to use “organic” on the label because of the fear of retaliation from other non-organic wineries. I am wondering why would neighboring wineries be hostile towards an organic / biodynamic producer. It would be interesting to know how the social pressure changed in France, from against organic (I suppose France would be similar to US) to in favor of biodynamic, in order to assess whether a similar change could occur in California.

My second point is related to how time could be the cardinal influence in the decision to turn organic / biodynamic. Studies and Ivo himself have confirmed that prolonged usage of soil through a non sustainable / natural agriculture ultimately reduces terrain quality and consequently the quality of the grapes.

 It is no mystery that grapes have been cultivated in France long before than in California, so the degrading condition of the soil might have moved French producers towards organic / biodynamic methods in order to preserve the quality of the wine. If this is the case, more Californian producers would turn organic in the future, when the soil of non organic wineries will start to lose nutrition (probably at a faster rate due to intensive agricultural practices).