Farming
Natural wine starts in the field. Check out insights and interviews on biodynamic and organic farming methods used by RAW WINE's producers.
Why biodiversity means better terroir
by Hans-Peter Schmidt (Delinat Institute & Mythopia) “Biodiversity: the Foundation of Quality” There are unmistakable signs that grape aroma, even in renowned terroirs, is deteriorating, while at the same time the susceptibility of vines to disease is continually calling for new pesticides. Against this background, European wine-growers are beginning to
Water Harvesting
By Mark Garrett Water is essential for growing healthy soil as moisture is needed for the microbes to break down the organic matter and create humus. Water in the humus then enables the nutrients and trace elements to be taken up in a soluble form by the root system of
Growing Soil
By Mark Garrett Today’s blog is really a part 2 to the blog I posted on the 10 April 2013 – “Understanding Soil” – where I discussed what soil is and why it is so important for it to be healthy. As mentioned, for this to happen we have to encourage
Understanding Soil
By Mark Garrett “You are what you eat”. The truth of this saying is becoming ever more evident with the rising numbers of people worldwide affected by food related diseases such as diabetes, obesity and environmental toxicity. But did you know that what you eat is only as healthy as
Permaculture Design
By Mark Garrett Design is fundamental to permaculture as a lot of thought has to go into trying to figure out what’s what in the tangled webs that are ecosystems. If I do X, what will it affect? If I need Y, then what should I be putting in
What is Permaculture?
Permaculture is a contraction of “Permanent Sustainable Agriculture”, a concept, formalised by two Australians – Bill Mollison and David Holmgren – in the 1970s. It encapsulates an idea shared by many cultures and peoples around the world, namely that we should farm in such a way that we enrich our environments both
Our Virtual Expert
RAW WINE is delighted to announce that Mark Garrett – the permaculturist extraordinaire that joined us for RAW WINE 2012 to talk about Growing Plants (and who also happens to have been Richard Branson’s permaculture consultant on Necker Island) – is joining RAW WINE 2013 as a ‘Virtual Expert’. Unfortunately he
Horse Ploughing
One of the more picturesque practices one finds traveling the natural wine world is people ploughing their vineyards with horses. It’s satisfying in so many ways to see draft horses trudging contentedly up and down the rows. The plow following behind, earth furrowed and turned. But horse-ploughing isn’t
