It is not just another beautiful vineyard that you are looking at but an organic one. Yes, they are organic vineyards and they are attracting allot of attention not just the idea of them but how high they rank against other wines. In fact, some of the top French Wines rankings include organic ones. Many of us do not know about organic wines and what makes it special. We have found some useful information about organic wines. Here is what we found :
What is an Organic Wine?
Following the creation by the USDA of NOP (National Organic Program), an organic wine is defined as "a wine made from organically grown grapes without any added sulfites". By this unfortunate restriction, the vast majority of what you and I have been calling organic wines can now only be referred to as "wines made from organic grapes" (or organically grown grapes), since they are allowed to contain up to 100 ppm of added sulfites.
While we support the efforts of the few winemakers who explore avenues to eliminate the use of sulfur dioxide, the truth is that wines without added sulfites are very few in number and very unstable in quality, giving the public a negative perception Organic Wines in general (Organically Grown I mean!)! The wine industry has the dubious honor of being the only one that cannot call its product "organic" even though it is made with more than 95% of organic components. [Even with 100ppm SO2 present in the wine, the highest permissible level, the product is still 99.99% organic!].
This is detrimental to the winegrowers who seek to market a consistently drinkable product and yet are discriminated against in a really unique way. It is also an annoyance for consumers and merchants alike who do not need more categories to confuse them! Moreover, note that a wine without sulfites should not be equated with an organic wine, since it is quite possible to make a sulfite-free wine with conventional (non organic) grapes.
The excessive attention given to this matter is perfect to distract the public from much more important issues like soil depletion and erosion, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, ecological impact, resistance to pests, chemical dependence, and product standardization to name just a few which plague the conventional way to produce grapes and other agricultural products!
An independent body of certification, itself duly accredited by the USDA, has the responsibility to control each winegrower, once or twice a year, to verify his adherence to the standards applied to organic farming, now recognized internationally. The fundamental idea behind organic wine is that making wine from grapes grown without chemical fertilizers, weed killers, insecticides, and other synthetic chemicals is better both for the planet AND for the wine drinker because all of these things can damage the soil and the plant, and can end up in the wine as residues.
Since the NOP standards are essentially derived from the ones already in existence in European countries we have not insisted to add this layer of administration to our already busy producers. It increases their costs and ultimately the price we and you pay without any visible benefit. The real issue though is that NOP forbids us to state that our wines are certified by our own system (in place for 30 years!) which is a clear abuse of power!
Explaining Organic Certification
Regardless of grape type, growing region, vintner or price point, certification is a very important process in both organic viticulture specifically, and organic agriculture in general. Organic certification protects the consumer from fraud, the vineyard from conventional shenanigans, and the health and longevity of the earth itself.
The current industry standard for viticulture is known as, “conventional viticulture practices”. These standards were established after World War II when industry and post-war agriculture put a primary focus on efficiency and disregarded (or ignored entirely) the concept of leaving an ecological footprint. In an efficiency driven, mass-production society, all industries were impacted and driven to produce the high volume and low prices. The previous agricultural model limited the use of chemicals and implemented predatory biodiversity. That model was replaced by the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides. With this new concept of agriculture came the disregard for the health of planet itself for many years to come.
Many years later, organic agriculture appeared on the horizon and growers learned that they could combat pests and retain their profit margins by producing a chemical free version of their products with the value-added premium of pesticide free. Unfortunately, this took some time to implement, and by the time organic agriculture became popular, conventional farmers mimicked their marketing technique but not fully the concept behind it. The general consensus was that there was a need for group(s) to oversee and ensure “organic” agriculture was actually what it claimed. At this point, organic was a concept, instead of a definitive term. It was easily co-opted as a marketing term without any substantive meaning. With the rise and implementation of third party organic certification groups, organic agriculture was now required to be practiced under strict guidelines and could no longer be marketed (or at least certified and labeled) as organic without adhering to these stringent policies.
Today, we have numerous honest and reputable third party certification agencies. In order for a given product to be labeled “organic” and be marketed with the much-desired organic label, producers have to stick to the guidelines. Getting to know a handful of the big certification companies and their guidelines (which are similar to one another) is a good idea. We’ve provided links below to some reputable third party organic certification organizations, as well as links to articles that can aid you in choosing an organic wine from the shelves on your own.
It’s important to remember that organic certification by a reputable third party is not an easy process. There are strict guidelines and time requirements for a vineyard to become organic, so in all likelihood, if a producer has gone through this lengthy process, they will proudly display a certification emblem on their label. Other terms can be misleading… “eco-friendly”, “natural”, “green” and “eco-conscious” aren’t legally defined terms. The terms to look for are: “wines made from organically grown grapes” or simply “organic wine”. These are the terms that matter. If an organic certification emblem is also present, then you’re getting what you’re paying for.
Reputable Third Party Organic Certification Companies
 | ECOCERT, France – http://www.ecocert.com/en ECOCERT is a very reputable organic certification company in France. Their certification process is subjected to supervision through the French Accreditation Committee (FAC). |
 | ARGENCERT, Argentina – www.argencert.com ARGENCERT is a highly credible and internationally accepted Argentine organic certification company. They are founded on reliability and transparency and are well known for both. |
 | AIAB, Italy – http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aiab.it%2F Founded in 1982 but not known officially as “AIAB” until six years later, this Italian organic certification company promotes organic through certification and community ties. |
 | BIOGRO, New Zealand -- hwww.biogro.co.nz A New Zealand based organic certification company; they certify organic wines as well as other organic agriculture and textiles as well. |
How do Organic Wines taste as compared to Conventional Wines?
Nowdays, French organic wines show up consistently among the top ten best wines of any region where they are represented, being cited in magazines as the most innovative, interesting and personalized products around. Surprisingly though, due to a relative lack of public awareness and trade recognition, this quality does not come at a big premium, compared to everything labeled "organic" nowadays!
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.
Organic vineyards choose organic methods to obtain the strongest and richest grapes possible, with the fewest detrimental effects on the environment, and their wines reflect that dedication to quality.
We hope this educates you on understanding organic wines and why they are different. A big thank you goes to theorganicwinecompany.com for their information and expertese in this field. If you would like to contact us with any questions or feedback you can reach us by email.
Thank you for visiting!
Joseph A Jones & The WellLife Team
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