Michael Green

Tell us about what you do.

I'm a wine and spirits consultant and over the last twenty years have been a retailer, importer, writer, and marketer for wine and spirits. I've consulted for Fortune 500 companies, restaurants, hotels, airlines, and have created unique wine and wine-and-food experiences and events for them. I'm also the wine consultant to Gourmet magazine.

What exactly is a green wine?

A green wine can be defined by so many different criteria, by how it's grown and made, whether it's organic or biodynamic, vinified with sustainable agricultural practices. But it also could manifest in other things: buying local wines, or wines with eco-friendly packaging, or maybe supporting a winery that is taking environmental practices to another level, like by using solar power.

We get that organic means cultivated without the use of chemical pesticides or insecticides, but can you tell us what "biodynamic" means?

On the most basic level, biodynamic is about the winemaker understanding their own local environment, the vineyard, also known as the terroir, and making sure they’re using what’s local and indigenous to the vineyard to get the greatest product possible.

Are all green wines labeled?

No, only sometimes. Don't necessarily let the lack of label information make you shy away from selecting a wine that might indeed be using some organic practices. In fact, some of the greatest wines for centuries have been produced with environmentally responsible, viticultural and vinification practices, yet it doesn't say it on the back label.

When did you become aware of green wines?

Many people have that 'a-ha!' moment when they get a heightened sense of eco-consciousness. For me, it was several years ago when I was attending a harvest and a lot of spraying with pesticides was being done. And I realized, 'God, these pesticides are going to influence the wine that I’m going to enjoy.' As much as you might think, 'Wow, wine is this beautiful and glamorous thing, fermented grape juice in bottle,' all the choices that a winemaker makes—from what to plant, where to plant, how to plant, to how to bottle—are ultimately going to affect the flavor of the wine, and also influence your body. That's when you become more aware.

What do you make of the whole green trend?

Green awareness in wine has piggybacked onto other choices people are making about being more eco-conscious. Years ago, the idea of an organic wine section was that fringe-y afterthought in many wine stores and maybe a few restaurant wine lists. From a quality perspective, I think people were wary of experiencing these wines. But now it's becoming much more integrated and much more mainstream, and that's really exciting. People are more willing to try these products and it doesn't hurt that the quality of these products has increased dramatically.

Do you have a favorite green wine?

I'm partial to the great wines that are coming out of the Rhone Valley, France, for their rugged, rich qualities, especially as the weather get more balmy or even wintry.

Have you met anyone memorable in your green-wine travels?

There are a lot of wine characters out there. And then when you add eco-friendly to the mix, it's just full, tilt and boogie. But I think you have to start with Nicolas Joly, the famed producer in the Loire Valley region of Sauvigniere, who really was the first to pioneer a lot of the teachings of Rudolph Steiner and biodynamic viticulture. He's quite a wild and crazy character and he's passionate about biodynamic and his wines are great.

What does "green" mean to you?

My last name? Sorry. 'Green' to me means a heightened awareness of the choices I make on a moment-to-moment basis to make my life and the environment healthier, more peaceful and gentler. For me, this means opting to bring a mesh bag to the grocery store rather than paper or plastic, looking out for some quality wines that just happen to be organic or eco-friendly, and focusing on the idea of supporting my local environment&38212;local produce, local wines. Whenever I travel and have a wine or food-related experience, I always seek out local markets. Not only are you having a more authentic experience, you're also supporting local farmers and local economies.

Have you experienced any eco-conflicts recently—local vs. organic, shipping something vintage vs. buying something new nearby, etc.

Not really&38212;for me it all comes down to taste. Would you rather have something that's organic that has to travel 3,000 miles to get to you or would you rather have something local that might have some pesticides and might not be certified organic but is fresher? For me, whether a product is certified organic, or is farmed with sustainable viticulture, the product has to be good. If it's not good, the idea of how it's farmed doesn't matter. The product that comes to my table and that I put into my mouth needs to taste great. The wonderful thing I'm seeing in the world of wine is that you can make responsible choices and still have a really good wine.

What’s your eco-sin?

We've all got our little guilty pleasures. My vice is taxicabs. I take so many taxicabs in New York City that my bookkeeper thinks I actually have another employee on staff. And I do know that had I a little more time-management skills and didn't race in and hail that cab on a regular basis, and took subways, I'd be doing the environment some good. I'm a lifelong, passionate New Yorker, and I should be taking the subways.

How do you recommend we enjoy our organic, biodynamic and eco-friendly wines?

One great way to sample some of the varied offerings in the green category for wine: Why not put together a wine tasting? Get together eight or ten of your friends, each person brings a bottle and you can sample them. You can put them in brown bags, rate them, and then reveal what the price, the origin and grape is. Figure on half a bottle of wine per person for a two-hour wine tasting. After you taste the wines, you can put on a nice little buffet and have people enjoy the wines with the food.