Sustainability

Sustainability

From After Wine School by Wine School Media

February 17, 2026 · 25 min · Season 2 · Episode 22

About this episode

The episode discusses the complexities of sustainability in wine, including green certifications and the differences between organic, biodynamic, and regenerative practices.

Sustainability in Wine: Green Certifications vs Greenwashing (Organic, Regenerative & Biodynamic Explained) Keith Wallace and Alana Zerbe discuss what sustainability really means in wine and whether green certifications reflect genuine practices or greenwashing. They define sustainability (long-term ecosystem preservation), regenerative agriculture (restoring depleted soil and water), biodynamic farming (self-sustaining farm inputs with lunar-calendar traditions originating with Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s and later adopted in Burgundy and Champagne), and organic certification (USDA-administered, expensive, recordkeeping-heavy, and focused on avoiding synthetic pesticides/fertilizers and GMOs). They explain why “organic” labeling in the US is complicated by strict sulfite limits that can be exceeded even without additions due to fermentation, and contrast this with the EU’s focus on vineyard practices. They cover certification costs and economics (including Demeter as the main biodynamic cert and other regional programs), and note that small producers may practice near-organic methods without paying for certification. They also highlight gaps in many sustainability paradigms…

People in this episode

Host: Keith Wallace

Guest: Alana Zerbe

Topics covered

  • sustainability in wine
  • green certifications
  • organic farming
  • biodynamic farming
  • regenerative agriculture
  • environmental practices
  • wine production

Keywords

  • sustainability
  • greenwashing
  • organic certification
  • biodynamic farming
  • regenerative agriculture
  • wine production
  • certification costs

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: USDA, Demeter

Places: Burgundy, Champagne, Italy

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