Posted
by Organic Wine Journal
on Aug 26, 2012
in Features
More on the wine labeling issue at Maker’s Table:
Speaking as a marketer, though, I understand the complexities of this choice. First, I know that many consumers don’t share this level of interest in how their wine came to be. Some may care more that a wine taste the same from one vintage to the next, and so may be more willing to accept additives or other interventions in order to achieve such consistency. That’s not truly an argument against ingredient lists, though, because these folks could ignore the lists if they chose—assuming they actually understand what all that stuff is.
Relatedly, wine labels listing bentonite, isinglass, polyvinylpolypyrrolidone, and similar compounds do run risk of unnerving the public, or at least leading it somewhat astray. I saw this first hand when I worked in consumer sales at Bonny Doon Vineyard, a winery dedicated to ingredient and process disclosure.
On one occasion, we sent to media samples of a red whose label stated that untoasted oak chips were used in the winemaking process. In his review, a writer remarked that the wine tasted too oaky to him, and that he’d wished we’d skipped the oak chips. These, though, had been used only to stabilize the anthocyanin during fermentation; they were in contact with the must for a short time, and did not add to the flavor profile of the finished wine. Moreover, the wine hadn’t spent much time in barrel during élevage, so I wondered whether the reviewer had mis-ascribed the grippy tannins of a young wine to something he’d read on the label. In this case, the oak chips disclosure was a ruby-red herring.
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Posted
by Organic Wine Journal
on Aug 25, 2012
in Features
Food Republic interviewed Paolo Bonetti, President of Organic Vintners, on whether organic wine standards should be changed:
“If wine does have added sulfur dioxide, it can be called ‘made with organic grapes.’ And this is the crux of the problem,” says Paolo Mario Bonetti, president of Organic Vintners, an importer of organic wines which led a petition to change organic wine standards. “99% of the wineries in the world use sulfur dioxide, but when they export it to America or when they sell domestic wine here, they can’t call it ‘organic’ – even if it’s made with all organic grapes. They can only call it ‘made with organic grapes,’ which suggests that the wine is made with only 70% organic grapes. So, consumers don’t know the product is actually closer to 100% organic.”
In 2009, Canada passed its own organic standards regulations and soon after the US signed an equivalency agreement allowing all products certified organic in Canada to be sold as such in the US. And vice versa with USDA organic products sold in Canada. The agreement applies to all products except wine. A wine sold as “organic” in Canada may have to be sold as “made with organic grapes” in the US. The EU passed its organic regulations last year and the USDA signed the same equivalency agreement with the EU that it has with Canada. Again, wine is the exception to the rule. SO2 is permitted in organic wine production in the 17 countries of the EU. And so these wines from Europe cannot necessarily be sold as organic in the US.
Bonetti’s company spent some $50,000 of its own money on the first petition and he’s considering raising money to fund it again in five years when the organic standards board installs new members. He believes that with the new EU regulations, he’ll have more fodder to prove that relaxing the organic wine standards is better for the industry and for international trade.
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Posted
by Organic Wine Journal
on Aug 24, 2012
in Features
Food Informants spent a week with Rudy Marchesi. Read the full story on Huffington Post:
Rudy Marchesi assumed ownership of Montinore Estates in 2006, but has had a hand in the estate since 1992 when he lead the fine wine department of the distribution house of Allied Beverage. In 1998, he began consulting on Montinore’s vineyard management, winemaking and marketing. He became Vice President of Operations in 2001 and President in 2003. Marchesi obtained the Demeter Biodynamic certificate in 2008, which certifies wines based on the strict principles of biodynamic farming. This process involves an organic approach that treats the soil with fermented manure, minerals and herbs.
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Posted
by Organic Wine Journal
on Aug 24, 2012
in Features
Congrats to Shinn Estate for having the ‘best bottles” on Long Island according to Fodor’s:
Shinn Estate, owned by restaurateurs Barbara Shinn and David Page, offers a zippy 2011 Rosé and white-blend called Coalescence ($16-$17) alongside terrific weekend entertainment.
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Posted
by Organic Wine Journal
on Aug 21, 2012
in Features
Fox Business did a profile of Randall Grahm:
Start with the grape-growing methods of medieval French monks. Add in a spiritual science called “biodynamics,” which was formulated in the 1920s by German philosopher Rudolf Steiner and spawned the international organic movement. Mix together with artisanal techniques that promote heirloom fruits and vegetables, protect water tables and maintain nutrients in soil — and you have the wine that has become Randall Grahm’s life’s work.
After three decades in the wine business, at age 59, Grahm has committed to producing vin de terroir, or “wine of place” (from the French terre for “earth”) in the New World. This Old World model cultivates grapes that so intensely express the alchemy of a specific place — climate, geology, soil, water, biodiversity, biochemical composition, ecosystem — the wines produced from them offer consummate originality and quality that can’t be reproduced anywhere else.
“The holy grail is to make a completely differentiated product,” says Grahm. “In this new weird economy, you have to either do something more efficient than anyone else, [more] cost-effective, or you must produce an utterly distinctive product. From an agronomic standpoint, that’s wine that expresses a sense of place. It’s unique, costly, tedious and risky. But, ultimately, if you achieve it, you’ll have something infinitely precious.”
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Posted
by Organic Wine Journal
on Aug 14, 2012
in Features
Here at Organic Wine Journal we’ve had a number of winemakers argue for listing the full ingredients on the back label of a wine bottle (you didn’t think it was just grapes, did you?). A recent piece in the New York Times addresses the issue:
What if the label actually listed the ingredients? There might not be room for them all. Well, maybe on a magnum.
No, wine isn’t just fermented grape juice. The European Union permits 59 things to be added to it, some of them seemingly innocuous (water), others icky (“lactic bacteria,” “edible gelatine”), still others downright scary-sounding (“ferrous sulfate,” “polyvinylpolypyrrolidone”). The United States permits many of these things, plus a few dozen more.
Yet unlike makers of, say, yogurt or soft drinks, winemakers are required to disclose only one additive, sulfur dioxide, via that nearly ubiquitous footnote that reads, “contains sulfites.”
At a time when consumers are demanding more transparency about the things they eat and drink, there is still a distinct lack of veritas in vino. Unless you have an unusually sophisticated palate — “I’m getting hints of betaglucanese here, with a note of potassium ferrocyanide, followed by a nice touch of urease on the finish” — it can be difficult to tell what’s actually in the wine.
Over at Eater.com our friend Talia Baiocchi interviewed people from all sides of the wine business to ask what affect this would have:
Greg Harrington MS | Founder & Winemaker, Gramercy Cellars, Walla Walla
Are you for or against listing the ingredients added in the production of wine on a bottle’s back label?
I don’t have a problem listing ingredients, but I am positive there will be misconceptions about the ingredients. At Gramercy we use cultured yeasts, malolactic bacteria, nutrients (such as nitrogen) and vitamins for fermentation. Sulfur is used for stabilization. The regiment is designed to ensure clean and strong first and secondary fermentations and to protect the wine as it ages. I do think many wineries are afraid of the perception of the long list of additives they would have to list on the label. Is it wrong to use these additives? I could absolutely debate it both ways. But what is the goal: A more natural wine or a better tasting wine?
Read both the Times story and Talia’s interviews for some great info about this issue.
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Posted
by Organic Wine Journal
on Aug 7, 2012
in Features
From Do Bianchi:
A few days ago I received this email from [Alessandro] Bulzoni, an important Roman wine shop on Viale Parioli.
“I’m writing you to let you know about what happened to me last week: two agriculture ministry officials came [to my shop] to notify me that the sale of ‘Natural’ wines on my shelves was illegal. They wrote me up and they will be fining me. They might even charge me with a crime. The issue was advertising the sale of wines without certification.”
Read the full post.
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