You’ve
invested in that eco-friendly hybrid car. You’ve shopped at
your local Farmer’s Market for fresh, organic veggies. You’ve
purchased energy-efficient light bulbs and installed those bamboo
floors. You diligently recycle. Now try visiting your local wine
shop to seek out another sustainable produced product: Organic &
Biodynamic Wines.
For starters,
what does Organic Wine mean? 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. The wine should
then be made with 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.
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. To make the
claim on its label, a wine must be made with at least 70 percent
organic grapes, according to the Organic Consumers Association.
There’s no official seal for “wines made from organic
grapes”, so you’ll have to read the label or ask the
wine store owner where to find them.
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.”
Some wine experts say the absence of added sulfites causes organic
wines to change flavor after it’s bottled and is the reason
organic wines often don’t taste as good as their conventionally-bottled
counterparts. However, wine lovers who aren’t concerned about
sulfites shouldn’t focus on whether the bottle carries the
organic seal, and instead should just look for wines made from organic
grapes. So, why should consumers care about & choose organic
wines? Well, let's take a look at the alternative. Conventional
wine are the result of conventional agricultural practices, adopted
in large part over the past 50 years, have stripped the minerals
essential for healthy crops from the soil, necessitating the increasing
use of artificial help to replace what has been lost. In fact, according
to conservative estimates, seventeen insecticides, fumigants, and
herbicides are currently being used in conventional wine grape production.
The cornerstone
of organic farming is the soil. Maintaining a healthy, biologically
active soil is the main objective for an organic farmer. In the
vineyard it means cultivating the soil and planting cover crops,
instead of applying herbicides. It means using natural fertilizers,
such as composted animal manure, versus chemical fertilizers. Organic
growers use no synthetic growth-regulators (such as Alar). As for
not using pesticides, the organic alternative is to encourage natural
predators of insect pests instead of using poisonous insecticides.
Organic farmers promote "biodiversity" and allow plants
other than vines to grow in and around the vineyard. Biodiversity
helps regulate the vineyard soil by attracting beneficial insects,
spiders and predatory mites, as well as provide shelter and food
(pollen, nectar and other bugs), and replaces the need for chemical
pesticides or insecticides. What cannot be fully controlled through
biodiversity can still be managed organically, through the use of
naturally occurring plant or mineral extracts, which leave no residues
in the soil.
To answer the
problem of weeds, conventional farmers use chemical weed killers.
The organic alternative is to allow the weeds to grow, and mow them
periodically so that the cut weeds rot back into the ground, thus
providing organic fertilizer.
There is no
doubt that growing under organic conditions protects the environment
and the people that work in the vineyards from the adverse effects
of pesticides, herbicides and insecticides. Organic is more than
simply a way of farming. It is also a philosophy. As Ralph Waldo
Emerson once said "We did not inherit the Earth from our forefathers,
we are borrowing it from our descendants."
Organic wines
are one of the hottest trends in restaurants today, according to
a report last week from the National Restaurant Association, and
French organic wines show up consistently among the top ten best
wines of any region (when available), being cited in magazines as
the most innovative, interesting and personalized products around.
One theory for this outstanding quality is that organic vineyards
have more natural resistance to poor weather or pestilence, and
therefore tend to perform better in poor vintages than non-organic
ones. Additionally, many organic vineyards hand pick their grapes,
rather than using mechanical pickers. This allows only the ripest
and healthiest bunches to be picked, with the minimum amount of
stress/damage to the vine, fruit or soil. Best of all, due to a
relative lack of public awareness, this quality does not come at
a big premium, and organic wines are often some of the best deals
out there.
So next time
you are buying wine whether in a restaurant or at your local wine
store, Instead of just thinking red, white or pink when making your
next wine purchase, try thinking Green.
Suggestions:
White Wine –
Terra Sana Vin De Pays Charentais 2006 – France – Retails
around $9.99
Red Wine – Lolonis Ladybug Old Vines Red Cuvee V non-vintage
– California – Retails around $10.79
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