The Adelaide Review January 2014 9
adelaidereview.com.au
FEATURE
Heart and Soil
Soil was not forgotten by those attending a subsequent soil symposium at the Waite Institute, which brought together scientists, growers, wine makers, consumers and policy makers to discuss the emerging concept of terroir, and soil’s role in the wine industry. The symposium examined the influence of soil on grape quality and distinctiveness, and current moves towards defining wine subregions (likely to be the next major development in the state’s $1.75 billion wine industry).
by Stephanie Johnston
T
he passing away of Nelson Mandela calls to mind a number of 20th century giants who have secured a place in the collective global consciousness. Aung San Suu Kyi, Mahatma Ghandi, the Dalai Lama and Mother Theresa are among those who have provided inspiration for us all by ‘being the change they want to see in the world’. Child monk and long-term peace and environmental activist Satish Kumar cites Ghandi as his inspiration for renouncing the world at age nine, and for rejoining it again at age 18 to campaign for land reform in support of Gandhi’s vision for a new India. Then it was Bertrand Russell who motivated him in his early 20s to embark an 8000-mile peace pilgrimage at the height of the cold war. Carrying no money and depending on the kindness of strangers, he walked from India to America, via Moscow, London and Paris, to deliver a humble packet of tea to the leaders of the world’s four nuclear powers. The message was that they should sit down and make themselves a cuppa, instead of pressing the button.
Now based in London, Kumar is Editor-inChief of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine, and a director of Schumacher College for ecological studies. He was in Adelaide recently at the invitation of Leon Bignell, who subsequently got himself into hot water when his passion for a GM-free South Australia trespassed on another’s portfolio. Bignell remains unapologetic about speaking out on the issue, calling for the opposition to make its position clear. (For the record, opposition spokesperson on agriculture David Ridgeway says he supports the GM moratorium, but wants it monitored to make sure that farmers and producers are getting the market advantage the government claims they are.)
Satish Kumar.
For Kumar, the problem is the demise of biodiversity caused by a dependence on GM crops: “There used to be hundreds, if not thousands, of varieties of apple, but the mass production of monocrop varieties such as Golden Delicious, which is neither golden nor delicious, has driven out most of the local varieties that would live up to that name.” Evolution favours diversity and decentralisation, while GM favours monoculture and monopoly. Kumar is part of a movement urging the world to view the economy as a subset of the environment, replacing the “triple bottom line” paradigm which is failing to evaluate policy equally from a social, environmental and economic point of view, allowing an ongoing dominance of the economic imperative. At a gathering in Willunga, Kumar talked about how economics and ecology come from the same root. The Greek word ‘ecos’ means home, and ecology is the knowledge and entirety of ‘home’, while economy refers to its management. “If you lose ‘home’ (ecology), what do you have to manage?” he asked. At another gathering at St Peter’s Cathedral, Kumar proposed a brand new trinity for sustainability based on the concepts of ‘soil, soul and society’. He dismissed other trinities such as the French liberté, égalité, fraternité and the new age mind, body, spirit as being
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too human-centric, saying his proposed trinity would embrace the entire planet, and not just the human species: “We need a philosophy, a science, a religion, and a legal system that benefit all living beings, not just humankind.” In a nutshell, catering for the natural environment (soil), maintaining personal wellbeing (soul) and upholding human values (society) are the moral imperatives of our time. Kumar puts soil first, proclaiming “Soil is the source of life and is so important, yet we have forgotten about it.” ********
A recurring theme was the importance of soil versus the influence of geology and other factors, such as climate (macro and micro), the vine’s position on a slope (aspect), and the general topography of a vineyard. “Plants grow in soil, not rocks” was the key mantra of the day – as were warnings about the misleading use of minerality as a sensory descriptor of wine. Soil and geology do matter in terroir expression, but not necessarily in a direct way. Soil’s physical properties, such as its water-holding capacity are more important than its chemical or mineral elements (apart from nitrogen). Soil scientist James Hall pointed to a wealth of existing information around the extraordinary diversity of soils in South Australia. For him the move towards defining subregions should be about building interest through creating factual stories based in science, that can reinforce and add extra life to the whole South Australian wine story: “That’s what people want, they want an authentic story around their wine.”