Organic vs Biodynamic vs Natural vs Sustainable Wine

Yeah, I know, if wine weren't already confusing enough many wineries throw in some "save the planet" stuff. Here's a look at the differences from three sources.

Organic vs Natural Wine from Newsweek

Sustainable vs Organic vs Biodynamic from The Alcohol Professor

Organic vs Sustainable from The Tasting Panel Magazine

It's about a seven minute read for all three articles.

Takeaways:

• Organically grown grapes still can use sprays, but they are organic sprays. Organically grown is only the first step in making organic wine.
• The word natural gets thrown around a lot so watch this one. It's supposed to mean low intervention winemaking.
• Biodynamic is a step beyond organic in taking care of the vineyard in a more natural way (there's that word again). There can also be a bit of a wacky ancient spiritual side.
• Sustainable is about long-term care of the vineyard and the people that work it (good!), but things like Roundup can still be used (likely bad). Of course, it doesn't mean Roundup is used as many vineyards are moving away from its use. You could be both sustainable and organic.
• Some of these wines (organic and natural) can definitely taste different; sometimes funky.