What Is Organic Wine?
Posted by Adam Morganstern on Mar 17, 2008 in Learn
Vineyard Practices
At its most basic level, organic wine is made from grapes that have been grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides.
At The Winery
Winemaking techniques should be organic as well; little or no manipulation of wines by reverse osmosis, excessive filtration, or flavor additives (such as oak chips). Many organic winemakers also prefer wild yeasts for fermentation.
The Role Of Certification
When a label says “organic,” it means the wine has met certain standards that are set by a government agency. Different nations have their own certification criteria, so what’s organic in one country may not be so in another.
Many wineries that are technically organic still choose not to be certified. There are many reasons for this. Some do not want the added costs and bureaucracy of registering. Others may disagree with their government’s standards. It can also be a marketing decision. Whatever the case, they are not allowed to use “organic” on their labels.
Sulfites
The use of added sulfites is debated heavily within the organic winemaking community. Many vintners favor their use, in extremely small quantities, to help stabilize wines, while others frown on them completely.
In the United States, wines labeled “organic” cannot contain added sulfites. Wines that have added sulfites, but are otherwise organic, are labeled “wine made from organic grapes.”
Biodynamics
Biodynamic winemaking follows the teachings of Austrian anthroposophist Rudolph Steiner (1861-1925), and incorporates homeopathic treatments, as well as astronomical and astrological considerations, into the organic process.
Sustainable
Although there are no set standards, wineries that take the ecology of the vineyard into account, and try to minimize chemical treatments and energy use, are called sustainable. Some jokingly refer to themselves as “organic unless something goes wrong.” While we applaud all efforts to be more responsible, the Organic Wine Journal will not be focusing on sustainable wineries.
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Great article. It taught me a lot about what organic wine is. I’ve linked your post on my blog for my readers.
All the best
Thanks for the information.
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Another item to note with organic wine may be as useful to other wine lovers who suffer from migraines as I do. It is the sulfates in the wine that are a common trigger for those who get migraines from wine. I have not once received a migraine from organic wine.
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Though interest continues to grow in everything organic, there are many misconceptions about organic wine. One of the worst is that they aren’t really very good wines at all, and that their only claim to fame is the fact that they are organic and nothing else. Another seems to imply that organic wines are just a fad that will soon run its course.
Nothing could be further from the truth. There are excellent wines that are produced according to the rules of the National Organic Program. You clearly point out that great care is taken in the growing of the grapes and the making of the wine. And you also call attention to the fact that many winemakers produce organic wines but chose not to be certified because of the cost or other issues. It is time to see organic wine as a product produced with great care, not as just a fad.
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You can find a lot of organic wine at Napa Wine Tours in Napa valley
Great article!!. one question though, how “organically” is adding oak chips, using staves and using new barrels any different? I would be willing to aurgue that using chips and staves in used barrels or even stainless is much more sustainable than always using new barrels…just a thought
Jay, this is why there are many arguments about organic standards and why some winemakers avoid the labels altogether. Technically, a wine can be organic, even though things can be done in the winery that purists would frown upon. It’s important for everyone to find out which practices are important to them and do a little research behind the wines you are buying. There are consumers who purposely want something with “organic” on the label, and there are those who care about the practices that go beyond that label, and would prefer a bottle of natural wine regardless of whether or not it is certified.
There are so many different definitions of ‘organic’. I think consumers are confused because of all the terminology, legal aspects, different certifiers, different labels, etc. Basically it’s a mess, and a headache for us producers.
As a consumer, I think you really have to do a bit of research apart from just reading the label (if you really want to know what wine you’re drinking, that is). Each producer is different and believes in, and does different things and has different priorities, etc.
As a producer, we have to decide whether to certify or not (if we do, with which certifier), decide what info to put on the labels, decide on vineyard and winery paractices, etc. Life is complicated (but fun!)
Hi there!
I am totally Organic, and I respect and admire your writings on your blog, I know how much time and effort this must require…
So, I have added your Organic Wine site to our directory here at The Organic Home
Do please check your details and link are good for you, just look in the ‘Blogs’ – ‘Food & Drink’ category, and if you wish us to change or edit your entry do let me know, and I’ll change it immediately for you.
If you would return a link to us here, I would be delighted, (as Google loves shared organic links) and do let me know if you have any news, events or blog posts, and we can add these to our news pages.
Oh, our group of sites had over 8.5 million hits last month, so I hope that our link and future contact can bring you some extra traffic.
Warmest Regards & Organically Yours…
Mark Golding
theorganichome.co.uk
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Great clarification on the true meaning of “organic wine” as per the government standards. Sulfites, Biodynamics, and sustainability are all important elements in this notion of organic wine. Thanks for the knowledge. I’m really looking forward to see what organic wine’s are released in the upcoming years, I feel like the wine industry is way behind in this idea. Organic food has really gained popularity… just in the last 5 years. Let’s see how the wine industry responds to this demand.
Cheers
Stop telling half-truths about organics: statements like “… without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides” aren’t entirely true. SO2 is a chemical, copper sulphate is a chemical. Both Ok for organic farming. Say what you mean: no SYNTHETIC (unnatural nasty even chemicals). It’s important otherwise people will think organic producers aren’t telling the truth. I see this all the time, by the way, nothing personal!
Cheers, Richard.
Please. Be honest. Sulfur is a synthetic fungicide derived from crude oil distillation. Copper fungicides are produced from hard-rock mined minerals that destroy entire eco-systems. Ever visit the largest open-pit mine in the world outside Salt Lake City? Copper is synthetic. Copper fungicides are permanent and nasty contaminants in vineyard soils in wet climates like Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Loire, Even New Zealand. It is a known fact that copper damages the soil micro-flora and eliminate earthworms. These soils are dying. These are scientific facts. Mineral oil is synthetic and a crude oil distillate that is as natural as gasoline. Most modern “synthetic” fungicides derived from hydrocarbons are used in much smaller quantities than the OMRI Product Listed materials discussed above. They are less toxic and and less damaging to beneficial insects and mites than sulfur or mineral oil. I’ll be happy to provide you with science-based information if you care to know more than you do now.
Adam:
Do you realize that your definition of “organic” Vineyard Practices listed first above– “At its most basic level, organic wine is made from grapes that have been grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides” is exactly incorrect?
All organic and biodynamic grape growers all over the world spray chemical sulfur or sulfur and copper on their vines to protect them from Powdery or Powdery and Downy Mildew (in rainy climates). Most refuse to discuss it. However, even Nicholas Joly and Domaine Huet acknowledge their use of these two chemical fungicides on their websites, although you have to search for the information. I looked at the websites of viturally every grape grower from around the world listed on your site and all except one completely avoided even mentioning their plant protection program.
This results in a “lie of ommission”. Your exactly incorrect definition, “At its most basic level, organic wine is made from grapes that have been grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides”, I assume is made out of ignorance of what it actually takes to grow Vitis vinifera grapes, because you don’t do it yourself and can’t possibly understand the terrible consequences of allowing these diseases to develop in your vineyard and destroy your crop.
You have a grape grower blogging their transition to “organic” and “biodynamic” grape growing on your site right now. Perhaps you can ask them to include their fungicide spray schedule as part of the blog. In full disclosure. If grapevine disease protection isn’t a fundamental component of viticulture and the primary issue in the organic/convential faux dichotomy, then I don’t know what is. Telling the truth will set one free.
I grow grapes for a living. I have studied grape pathology. I live it. I know grape patholgists as friends and colleagues. It has been my career for 30 years. I study it everyday of my life.
Sulfur and copper are both “synthetic” fungicides. Even the USDA’s National Organic Program acknowledes that by giving them special dispensation to be on the OMRI Products List, despite being “synthetic”. Why? Because they had to allow in some chemicals that actually work to prevent Powdery and Downy Mildew of grapevines, and these chemicals have been used since the 19th century. The National Organic Program developed its list of Allowed Chemicals, allowing in at least 26 separate “synthetic” chemicals, including sulfur, copper and petroleum (mineral) oil as fungicides.
All these producers in Champagne that you profile that are “biodynamic”……every one of them uses sulfur and copper. The fact that they don’t acknowledge it is a marketing ploy, pure and simple. Don’t talk about it, let the Organic Wine Journal define organic grape growing incorrectly, and probably the public will believe we don’t use chemicals to protect our vines from disease. We will dazzle them with all our homeopathic remedies and go on and on about our philosphy, while “where the rubber meets the road” out in the vineyard, we spray “synthetic” fungicides on our vines 10-14 times a year to do the real, necessary work–protecing our grapevines from disease.
If all the homeopathic remedies really did make the vines so strong and healthy that the grower could stop using synthetic chemicals for plant protection, they of course would. But they don’t, because these remedies don’t actually cause the vine to be resistant to disease. They are just as susceptible to the virulent diseases as before. So they need chemical protection.
I have offered before to help you understand the realities of grape growing. So far you have not taken me up on it. Your completely inaccurate definition of ogranic viticulture remains in place, propagating a lie.
I ask you, formally, in this public forum, to remove the lie and replace it with the truth. All organic and biodynamic grape growers every where use the synthetic fungicides their Certification programs allow them to use, as protective sprays, at regular intervals. In order to protect their vines from Powdery and Downy Mildew.
Thank you.
Larry
Hello Larry,
I appreciate your passionate response on our web site, though I can do without some of the hyperbole. We are not grape growers over here, as you claim to be, nor are we liars. If there’s one thing I’ve dealt with since starting this magazine is that none of the winemakers we deal with agree on anything. They each have their own methods, have their own definitions of what they consider organic and biodynamic, and could care less what the government or any other person’s take on it is.
The main problem is that they are the ones with the burden of certification – so they are forced into having these arguments and having their methods debated and then accused of “hey, did you know they’re really doing this?” I’ve heard sulfur and copper discussed and debated openly among winemakers at conferences and interviews. It’s not a big secret. Should they put it on their labels and make it part of their marketing strategy? I don’t know. Let’s see all the conventional wineries take the photos of pretty vineyards off their websites first and replace it with a list of every chemical they’ve sprayed, all the oak chips and lab yeasts they’ve bought and every piece of equipment they use in the winery to manipulate it.
None of the winemakers I’ve spoken with have this particular desire to be known as “organic.” They are forced to take on that name to separate themselves from the muck of chemical practices that are now standard. If every wine had to list every ingredient, chemical and process it went through on the label who do you think would lose out? Conventional wines would be avoided like the plague. You seem to think it took some high level detective work to find out about copper and sulfur, which, as you admit, is allowed anyway. Imagine if you turned that detective prowess on the conventional wineries. Where on their websites do they list everything they use?
Where I do agree with you is that we have not had an in-depth article on the site about copper and sulfur spraying. I invite you to send me the materials you want, and for that matter, I invite you to write an article on the subject if you wish. We have no problem with people expressing different views here.
Adam:
I am simply asking you to correct the misinformation you are propagating. All grape growers, conventional, organic or biodynamic use chemical fungicides to protect their crops.
You, on the other hand, clearly state that “organic wine is made from grapes that have been grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides”.
This is not true. It is not my opinion. If is a fact. It is not a disagreement about anthing. You should simply acknowledge it by stating that the only pesticides and fertilizers used by organic growers are those allowed by the NOP (in the US) and are OMRI Product Listed.
Best,
Larry
Very good information posted here by Larry.
By the way Adam, you did not answer Larry’s question regarding whether or not your words should be changed. Is the organic movement so insecure in their beliefs that they need to fall back on wishful thinking? If this statement were really true it would be a wonderful thing but the fact is – it isn’t. In comparing all forms of organic agriculture, the growing of organic wine grapes is one of the most chemical intensive. The dishonesty in the description of real organic methods does nothing but discredit the movement and perpetuates an underlying level of consumer fraud in the marketing of organic agriculture.
FYI – pesticides is a term technically used to describe any material used to control pests – both plant and animal. Copper, sulfur and mineral oil are all pesticides and are all approved for organic production. None of which by the way, are used in their natural state
“We have no problem with people expressing different views here.”
Really?
What happened to my last post? The heading says 24 responses but only 14 posts are shown.
You did not respond to Larry’s request to remove the misleading information in the heading. Why the obfuscation?
Sorry things aren’t done to your liking or on your timetable here Dr. Steiner. I responded to Larry, both here in the comments and by email, and even invited him to do an article detailing his point of view. As I stated previously, I do think the Organic Wine Journal would benefit from a piece on copper and sulphur spraying and that will be forthcoming. If we see a reason to change our basic primer on organic wine after that we will do so.
Adam,
Its great you responded to Larry and that you’re open to posting a piece on sulfur and copper spraying – that’s all well and good.
But as the leading blog on organic viticulture and winemaking shouldn’t you be leading the way here? Your boiler-plate definition is flat out false and should be clarified. Do you disagree Adam? Do certified organic growers of wine grapes spray pesticides or not? You may think this is a bothersome detail that you’ll address when you (yawn) feel the energy to do so…but I’m a grape grower and a winemaker – and I like to think that the appeal of small artisanal wine producers is that we are presenting a sincere and honest product. What you’re practicing is good old fashioned corporate USA consumer fraud – plain and simple. If you disagree please respond and state your case which you have not clearly done.
Secondly,
You frame the debate earlier on this page using the old, hyperbolic, false dichotomy of organic versus conventional. Do you really believe this? There are literally hundreds of small, family owned and operated wineries around the country that use careful, sustainable practices and are gentle stewards of their land and are not organic. These producers need not be grouped into your all-inclusive evil conventional category. In fact I think Larry makes the case that sustainable growers just might be as safe if not safer than those certified organic growers who are spraying heavy metals. Perhaps what you are describing should be termed mass-produced or industrial. Please do not disparage the non-organic small farmer.
Let’s do away with all this verbiage and let each producer of any food product from the farmer, cheese maker, winemaker, butcher, baker to the restaurateur and all not mentioned state exactly what they are putting into their products and let the consumer decide what they want. The producer can defend and explain what they are doing. But full disclosure must be made.
Adam:
This represents the fungicide usage pattern for virtually all organic and BD growers in rainy climates in Europe, the US and New Zealand.
Direct from the Domaine Huet website.
Results Page
“After 10 years of experience, I find the results achieved to be extremely encouraging. Having applied the method described (Biodynamics) above to our vines, we find that they are in perfect health, they do not suffer from mildew, nor oidium, nor mites or vine pests and this without using any chemicals.”
Vinification Page
“The only products we use to protect the vines are the Bordeaux mixture (made by adding slaked lime to a copper sulfate Soilution), sulphur powder, and plant-based preparations such as horsetail, nettle and yarrow.”
http://www.huet-echansonne.com/MaisonHuet/MaisonHuet_vinif.php?LangueSite=EN
On one page their vines are perfectly healthy with no disease using no fungicides. On another page they claim they use “only” copper and sulfur for disease protection. Well, what else does one need?
I think its time that you changed your definitions of “Vineyard Practices”.
Or you risk loosing credibility.
Larry
“Organic until something happens” – looks like a familiar quote. And yes it is practical, unless otherwise an effective organic farm plan is in place. Sometimes, suddenly the plants gets infected with some insects or whatever that may destroy it and no natural antidote is available, you will simply be forced to use pesticides or loose the whole cropping. Maybe if the technologies will be more established and the options wil be more defined we can go for pure organic farming.
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Guys, I am an organic vigneron and I support the ongoing use of copper and sulfur in the organic standards.
Why?
First of all they are not “toxic” when used correctly. Copper and sulfur are both vital nutrients for soil, plants, animals and humans. Both are non sytemic – ie they do not kill disease from the inside, like systemic fungicides. Reliance on systemics is like reliance on antibiotics in humans, rather than natural remedies and balanced mineral intake, fresh food etc. You can get copper and sulfur supplements for your own health. Farmers use both copper and sulfur on soil. Gypsum, which is calcium sulfate, is applied to soil at the rate of tonnes per hectare. Copper is much smaller doses but its only now occurring in excessive levels in old vineyard soils where its been used for centuries with poor technology and therefore overdoses of it. Today its used at only kilograms per hectare.
The downsides? Theres no denying that mites are adversely affected by sulfur and microbes on the leaf surface are affected by copper. Thats why both are usually used within a broader, biological program – we only use copper and sulfur in the first half of the growing season, then we move to microbial sprays, herbal, other minerals etc.
This contrasts with systemic fungicides. Last season in Australia fungicide resistance became widespread – ie they were used so much that they no longer worked and growers returned to using sulfur and other contact fungicides that dont suffer from resistance because they are non systemic. So much systemic fungicde was used that Australia ran right out of stock mid season! If you spray systemic fungicides 14 times in a season, how can you be sure that there are no residues in the fruit? Chemical residues not only affect the wine fermentation but may break down into more toxic compounds thus affecting consumers.
If you take a purist approach and ban copper and sulfur, rather than listing them as approved, but “restricted” organic inputs, you basically kill off organic grape growing and consumers all end up with no way to avoid, with certainty (certification), these residues.
You can be a small, boutique, “sustainable” grower and choose not to get certified in order to keep your chemical options open. You can also say organic methods dont work – if you have tried them. But there no need to get on this site and bag out organic farming. We are offering consumers something that is a better option than no certification.
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