Jane Anson’s 30 best-value organic & biodynamic wines

Shoppers the world over have embraced organic produce, but for wine the adoption process seems to be advancing at a slower pace. Jane Anson comes to the rescue with 30 great buys, all under £30...

The idea of buying locally, cooking with seasonal ingredients and supporting responsible farming has become so embedded in food culture as to barely raise an eyebrow
 these days.

And yet there is still far less acceptance of this with wine, even though – as with food – plenty of bottles are produced for a mass audience, with shortcuts taken along the way to ensure they taste good without costing a fortune to make.I wanted to write a book to celebrate the winemakers who rally against this.

To highlight those who treat their workers fairly, who reduce or eliminate their carbon emissions, who plant hedgerows and encourage biodiversity, who use grapes that are indigenous to their regions rather than importing the big-name international varieties, who use as little as possible in terms of additions.

The idea of a ‘wine revolution’ to describe this seems a little overblown. There’s no shared manifesto exactly; of course there are rules and regulations for farming without chemicals, whether organically or biodynamically, but each winemaker interprets them according to their own vineyard needs.

But there is a shared commitment to heightening the honest link between the land where the wine is produced and the final liquid in the glass. And to do it while protecting the rights of future generations to do the same thing.

Scroll down to see all 30 wines

Honestly, it’s hard to think of a more enjoyable book to write, and I feel so lucky to have been able to spend so many months researching, visiting and tasting with these winemakers. I was also given invaluable advice from experts such as soil consultants Claude and Lydia Bourguignon, and from many wonderful and inspiring sommeliers such as Pascaline Lepeltier MS, Ronan Sayburn MS and Caleb Ganzer, who shared their suggestions with me and offered brilliant food pairing ideas. 
The aim is to have a book that joins the dots between food and wine culture, and to show that caring about provenance and quality ingredients should apply as much to our glasses as our plates.

As I have looked for the best examples, you’ll find Cristal Champagne and wines from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Henschke, Humbrecht, Joly and Leflaive, and plenty of other world-class names.

But there’s no need to spend serious money to get brilliant organic or biodynamic bottles. I found some incredible value in Argentina, Austria, France, Sicily, Spain and more that are listed on these pages. With all priced at under £30 (and many far less), these are wines bursting with flavour and vitality that you can feel good about sharing.

30 great value organic & biodynamic wines:

Jane Anson is Decanter’s Bordeaux correspondent and an awarded author and columnist. These wines are taken from her new book Wine Revolution, released in October 2017.

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