hello Bottlers.
As you all know the inventory in our shop tilts heavily in the direction of wines made in a naturalist style, and favors winemakers who espouse organic and often biodynamic farming practices. For some of our guests this is an important distinction and a reason they are loyal to us. For others not so much. In either case, it seems to me that each of us ought to understand and be able to explain the ins and outs of this approach, so in this note I’m going to take a stab at sorting some of it out.
Small “o” organic often just means that a wine grower employs methods consonant with those that were in place before industrial chemicals aimed at treating pests and disease and increasing soil fertility were developed and widely put into use.
Capital “O” Organic means that the farmer practices organic agriculture as defined by legislation, and that she conforms to, reports to, and is monitored by a certification authority.
Historically, the organic (wine) world has acknowledged a distinction between work in the field and work in the cellar. So, pest/disease control and soil management are issues for the field and chemical/mechanical interventions applied to grapes or wine after harvest are associated with cellar work. In the U.S. it is possible to have organic certification applied to fruit yet not from the wine made from that fruit . In these cases, a wine may be labeled “made from organic grapes” and still not be an “organic wine.”
Why the fine distinction? Mainly because of the use of sulfur in the cellar. In the U.S., the application of sulfur to unfermented grapes, grape juice, or finished wine disqualifies the end product from being labeled organic.
The use of sulfur (responsible and otherwise) is widespread in winemaking. It’s a practice that goes back to antiquity, and without sulfur it is frankly impossible to make the kind of fresh, fruity, durable wines that consumers expect (whether they ought to expect wine to have this character is another matter).
Sulfur is widely used in both red and white winemaking, though reds can generally do with less. The difference in the character of wines made with and without sulfur is often quite dramatic.
There are very, very few wines made in the U.S. that are made entirely without added sulfur, and therefore qualify to to be labeled “organic wine” rather than “made from organic grapes”. There has been quite a bit of talk recently about whether the U.S. should relax its rules somewhat and allow some modest sulfur content in wines labeled organic (as the EU has done; more on this below). This would at least address the rather odd situation where we have consumers asking for “organic wine” and wondering why they cannot find it when they read so much about organic (and biodynamic) winemaking.
The European Union have recently changed their rules in a way that reflects this more reasoned approach. Now an EU red wine may be labeled organic if it contains less than 100 mg/l (milligrams per liter) of sulfites; 15o mg/l is the new maximum for white wines. See my postscript on the difference between sulfur and sulfites.
Here’s how the EU in Council Regulation 834/2007 in part describes organics: Organic production is an overall system of farm management and food production that combines the best environmental practices, a high level of bio-diversity, the preservation of natural resources, the application of high animal welfare standards and a production method in line with the preference of certain consumers for products produced using natural substances and processes.
Clearly, it’s possible for a grower/winemaker to adhere to this standard without being certified by an authority. Let’s also note that while a given grower may strive to farm organically, in some vintages this may simply not be an option. Rot is a particularly difficult problem in some parts of the wine-growing world, especially where the climate tends to be damp. New England is one such place; Bordeaux another.
Faced with devastating losses from mildews, a grower may prefer to temporarily step away from a strictly organic regime and make use of fungicides in order to save the crop and perhaps avoid a bankruptcy. One can hardly criticize such an effort, assuming it’s carried out in good faith, but if you’ve gone to the trouble to submit to certification, the repercussions of ‘backsliding’ in this way can be seriously detrimental.
In our database, a producer who adopts this more reasoned approach is described as farming “conscientiously.” I doubt that many of our guests understand these very sensible reasons for either not seeking certification (it’s also expensive, by the way) or for not being rigidly doctrinaire about following it – simply because they haven’t had it explained to them. My experience is that once these factors have been presented, guests are typically understanding. Non-organic wine is better than no wine at all, wouldn’t you say?
With the above information in hand, you should be in a position to explain to guests (1) why even winemakers in sympathy with organic farming practice may choose not apply for organic certification; (2) that a U.S. wine “made from organic grapes” is not the same as “organic wine;” (3) that a European wine may be made in accord with organic principles and still contain some added sulfur.
Please email or speak to me if anything here isn’t clear or if you have questions.
-Stephen
Postscript: Sulfur is a chemical element (and therefore naturally-occuring) that has long been useful in winemaking as an anti-bacterial and anti-oxidant agent. Sulfites are a class of sulfur compounds that are generated spontaneously in fermentation. A wine with “no sulfites” is thus almost impossible to guarantee. Wines to which no sulfur has been purposefully added by a winemaker may be said to have “no added sulfur.”