Calling All Sustainable Wine Fans, You Will Want a Peace of Vino

Are sustainable wines just a passing, hippie fad? The Straits Wine Company doesn’t think so. In fact, they’ve just put together an online store called Peace of Vino, which specialises in sustainable wines.

The site is a veritable one-stop site for natural, organic and biodynamic wine, and all of their eight retail outlets will now have a section dedicated just to sustainable wines – it won’t feature the entire range though, so do check with their staff if you want to see more. As for the website, for now, it is sorted by variety, but I am told that there are plans to sort them further in categories like organic, biodynamic, and the like, for those who are looking for something specific.

Although the concept of sustainable wines seems like a ‘spinoff’ from the mainstream, but if you think about it, the kind of wines that would have been made hundreds of years ago, would check all the same boxes that sustainable wines do: made naturally, organically, with use of biodynamics, etc. Some producers consider it as returning to the roots of winemaking, as in the last 50 years, additives have been used to control the winemaking process.

They also make a case for natural wines tasting lush, vibrant and alive, with a tinge of earthiness; something you would want to drink fresh to capture its natural flavours in its entirety. The idea being that, without undue intervention, more of the intrinsic differences in each grape variety becomes more apparent – good thing or not, that’s subjective. But variety certainly helps to keep things interesting, does it not?

Regardless of your motivations, sustainable wines are themselves creating a buzz without its earth-conscious label creating preconceptions in the public eye. And Peace of Vino is an initiative that’s geared towards promoting wineries that use earth-friendly practices in the winemaking process.

According to the Straits Wine Company, they look to work with wineries that care about the environment and are passionate about using natural processes to craft wine, through practices such as biodynamic farming, natural winemaking and organic viticulture, and striving to make the best wines possible with minimal use chemicals and pesticides.

They put forward the example of the oft-publicised Basket Range, which is a tiny enclave in Adelaide Hills where many natural winemakers reside, and whose wines have been enjoying quite a bit of time in the press. For those who are unfamiliar, the wines are reputedly made using wild yeasts, requiring no filtration, and only uses the barest addition of sulphur at bottling.

Regardless of whether you are new to the concept or you are already a card-carrying sustainable wine supporter, perhaps you might want to check out the launch of this new initiative. Come 27th and 28th of May, Camp Kilo will play host to two days of wine-tasting from over 30 wineries curated by Peace of Vino, accompanied by delicious food as well. It will also be graced by the presence of the owners and winemakers at Unico Zelo Wine, Brendan and Laura Carter, who are one of the most influential winemakers from Adelaide Hills. If you want to know more first-hand about how wine is made using environment-safe practices, this is as good as any a time to find out. For more details click here.

Photos: Joel Lim