Bio
by JeanPierre · 18 June 2026 · Cooking, Food & Lifestyle
Tourists always ask Jean-Pierre if his wine is organic. He explains four generations of pesticide history. They want yes or no. He says: come back in twenty years. They buy a bottle anyway.
The question I am asked most often by visitors, more than any question about the wine itself, is whether it is organic. Biologique. Bio. The word arrives with a particular hopefulness, as if the answer will determine whether they are a good person for drinking it.
I explain, each time, that my grandfather used no pesticides because there were none available, and my father used them when they became available because they worked, and I use considerably fewer than he did because the science has changed and also because I am old enough to be suspicious of things that arrive with too much certainty. This is not a philosophy. It is a long argument with myself that the vineyard has been listening to for forty years.
None of this is what they want to hear. They want a yes or a no. The wine is either virtuous or it isn't.
I tell them: come back in twenty years when this argument is settled. They usually buy a bottle anyway, which I take as evidence that the wine is more persuasive than I am.
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