But what is organic wine? and which one do you chose? It’s a complicated topic because wine production has two parts…in the vineyard and in the winery.
Organic at its core means only natural ingredients are used…no synthetic chemical use (fertilizers, pesticides, additives). Organic involves standards on growing, storage, processing, packaging and shipping. And organic requirements are different from country to country.
As wine production has two parts… the vineyard (grape growing) and the winery (fermentation, bottling)… there are two ways for wine to be organic. A wine can be “made with organic grapes” which means organic practices were used in the farming and growing process like Bonterra Organic Vineyards wines. This is the most common. Or a wine can be “organic wine” like Frey Vineyards which uses organic growing practices AND the winery process is free of additives and preservatives, like sulphur dioxide used to preserve the wine (i.e. contains sulphites). This issue of wine preservation is what makes ‘organic wine’ so tricky as currently the only effective preservatives that allow wine to last for a long period of time are ‘non-organic.’
My view? Organic growing is a great place to start! That’s what we get when we buy organic in fruits and vegetables. And if you can make a good wine without sulfites, that’s even better. Although I haven’t tried one. I need to pick up a bottle of Frey and see how they’re tasting these days.
Tried any organic wines you’d like to share? Whole Foods has many options. Bordeaux has a list of options on their site.
Pick one up and Cheers to Earth Day!