How they did it back in 1997?
In this black and white video (French only) a French winemaker spells his reasons for producing organic wines.
To quote a few of his words, we should not expect tasty strawberries in November and a wine should not taste sunny in a rainy year.
Wines that came out of each harvest were influenced by soil and season. In a wet year he would turn the grapes into more sparkling wines for example.
Thanks to Isabelle Rozenbaum for pointing to this piece of history.
(Video from INA, not sure what TV show and Channel it was originally broadcast on)