2008

Organic wines may contain sulfites

There are no organic wines. The winemaking process cannot be organic but it can be respectful. There is organic farming, there are sulfites and there are US so-called "organic wines".

Conventional wine growing

Wine growers buy lots of pesticides. 'Terra Vitis' is not a label of organic farming. It is the label of Integrated Pest Management Agriculture. This approach puts a cap on the use of pesticides. It enables conventional agriculture to proclaim their will to reduce their adverse effects on environment. Here is more about the chemicals in wine and their effects on the body.

Organic growing

The growing of grapes can conform to organic farming. Organic farming is defined by regulation (country-specific) or independent certification. It basically avoids chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides.

Herebelow are some certification organisations. They are roughly ordered from loose specification to stringent requirement:

• On the US market, for a wine to be labeled 'Organic' and bear the USDA organic seal, it must be made from 95% organically grown ingredients. It thus may contain up to 5 % produce from conventional farming. Certification is handled by state, non-profit and private agencies that have been approved by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

• A European Union regulation states that only foods containing at least 95 % organic ingredients may use the new EU organic logo. This Regulation entered into force on 1 January 2009. It allows the 'accidental or technically unavoidable' GMO (or GE food) up to 0.9 % in products thus labeled. GM produce may notably reach fermenting grapes.

• 

  AB is a logo owned by the French state. It stands for 'Agriculture Biologique'. Products can be labelled with this mark when they contain more than 95 percent organic components, were produced or processed within the EU, and were certified by one of the inspection bodies accredited by the State agency.

• ECOCERT is a company which delivers organics or biodynamics certificates in France.

• Nature & Progrès is a French association.

• 

  Demeter is a global independent organisation for biodynamics.

Organic farming is better for the local biosphere. This includes people: organic viticulture harms vineyard workers less -- much less than conventional viticulture.

In itself organic growing does little for the taste of the wine to be consumed.

Your wine is not organic

Once the grapes are farmed organically, the wine is made. If it is made in a 'natural' fashion, the label usually does not say 'organic' or 'natural'.

The organic grapes can also be turned to wine with the conventional means. This includes:

Harvest machine in Michigan
© 2007, by jwinfred, (license)

  mechanical harvesting

  addition of commercial yeasts

  pomace pummeling

  addition of sulfites.

Many wines labeled 'organic' are actually made with conventional methods: only the grapes are organic.
 

Contains sulfites

Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is the most widely used and controversial additive in winemaking. Its main functions are to inhibit or kill unwanted yeasts and bacteria, and to protect wine from oxidation.

Oxidation is the reaction of wine with oxygen. It can alter its colour and odour (tending to make wines darker and dryer) and is often dismissed as a fault. Moreover any wine authorities will tell you that it is impossible to make a wine which ages well without using sulphur dioxide. This is just not true. The SO2 drastically inhibits the process of oxidation. The alterrnative is to control oxidation.

There are four points at which sulphur dioxide is commonly used in conventional winemaking, although the winemaker may choose to make further additions if he is feeling nervous.

• Picking

  Sulfur is applied in the form of metabisulfite to inhibit the action of wild yeasts and prevent oxidation. It means the grapes don't have to be rushed to the winery.

• 

  Grape crushing
  © 2006, by Fuzzychops

  Crushing

  Sulfur is added to prevent fermentation from beginning with ambient yeasts before cultured yeasts can be added. Commercial yeasts are bred to be more resistant to SO2.

• Fermentation

  Sulfur is applied at any point during fermentation, but most commonly at the end to stop or prevent malolactic fermentation. A natural winemaker has to wait for the malo to finish naturally.

• Bottling

  Sulfur is added to prevent oxidation or any microbial action in the bottled wine. In sweet wines there is the danger that fermentation will restart.

A natural wine maker would only ever use sulphur dioxide at bottling, only in white wines, and only in very small quantities. Using none at all is risky.

According to the Guidelines for Labeling: Wine with Organic References from the U.S. Dept. of Treasury - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms:

SULFITE STATEMENT
"100% Organic" products cannot use added sulfites in production. Therefore, since no added sulfites are present in the finished product, the label may not require a sulfite statement. In these cases, a lab analysis is necessary to verify that the wine contains less than 10 ppm of sulfites.

The legislation of the European Union imposes a similar indication since 2005. Food ingredients that must be labelled include:

Sulphur dioxide and sulphites at concentrations of more than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre expressed as SO2.

Organic wines

The idea with natural wines is to stop considering that a person is making the wine. The vintner is rather accompanying the winemaking. A natural wine is one with:

Grapes are hand picked at Telford Farm, MI
© 2005, by corremadrid

1. organically-grown grapes
2. harvested by hand
3. rushed to the winery
4. fermented on native yeasts
5. no rape pummeling
6. low levels of sulfites (or none at all)

The USDA's NOP (National Organic Program) labels "organic wines" wines made from 100% organically grown grapes that have been vinified totally without the use of added sulfites. It specifies that even naturally occurring sulfites (found in every wine, natural or not) must be under 10 parts per million. So this labelling satisfies the items 1 and 6 of the list above. Such "organic wines" may contain GMO.

Such wines cannot be organic because of winemaking. You'll find more information on natural wines vs. conventional winemaking at More Than Organic.

Differences in taste

A wine made for organic grapes can taste conventional : the palette includes some standard aromas.

A natural wine has an emphasis on fruit (but not impact). It is one of the alternatives to taste standardization. Please read more on such considerations in my wine tasting manifesto.

You can discover different tastes if you buy recommended wines near you. They can be found via the search box at the top and bottom of any page.