Organic Wine Now

You are kidding right? The whole organic wine industry is a sham.

In some areas organic wine certification is not recognized. Some wine standards preclude organic production. As I understand it VQA is one that today does not allow organic labelling but I heard that they are looking at this issue.

Joe

Why?

Huh? Those sulfites are horrible for people!

The reasons are plentiful, Charles:

Wine That Speaks to the Soul

Some winemakers see themselves as soulful stewards of the land. Surprisingly, their world class, pesticide-free wine may be hiding on a shelf in your local market.

By Deborah Behrens

"Wine is farming." Richard Sanford spoke firmly, his voice resonating with the quiet conviction of someone with deep spiritual connections to the earth. "Fundamentally, I think it comes from the soul. It comes out of an expression of how people feel they should be in the world."

For grape growers like Sanford, whose award-winning winery is located in southern California's Santa Ynez Valley, organic farming is not a marketing strategy dictated by political correctness. It evolved from a personal dedication to fine winemaking, coupled with a deeply held belief in responsible stewardship of the land.

The French call it terroir. Capturing it in a bottle is the yearly Holy Grail of winemakers across the globe. Loosely translated, the word means " a sense of place," or a vineyard's specific natural attributes-soil, climate and geography-that conspire to produce the unique taste of its grapes at the exact moment of harvest.

Imagine, then, the bouquet of a wine crafted by a man whose Taoist environmental philosophies have created one of the world's most respected Pinot Noirs-earning 91 points from Wine Spectator and rated as one of "California's Best Wines of the Year" by The Wine News.

Sanford combines ruggedly handsome leading man looks with a Zen master's poise. At age 62, he looks 10 years younger, with a boyish charm and healthy vitality that belie his avid love of the outdoors. A

1965 U.C. Berkeley geography/geology graduate, he chose farming after a stint in Vietnam because he wanted to be involved with "something more earthly connected," and grape farming specifically, he said with a grin, "because it seemed like a cool thing to do."

Sanford is credited with proving to skeptics that grapes could be grown in southern California's Santa Ynez Valley, where the soil and climate compare favorably with that of France's Burgundy. With then-partner Michael Benedict, he planted the region's earliest Pinot Noir vineyard in 1971, and their first wines were released in 1976 to international acclaim. He and Benedict parted ways four years later, and Sanford founded Sanford Winery with his wife Thekla the following year.

Sustainable Commitment

Nestled in the Santa Rita Hills, the Sanford Winery is a testament to the Sanfords' commitment to the environment and sustainable farming. They have been farming organically for 20 years and in 1999 were the first winery in Santa Barbara to have its estate vineyards certified organic by the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF).

Natural springs water all four vineyards. A miniature spring house in the fields features a wall fountain adorned with the head of Bacchus, the god of wine.

Not content simply to farm organically, Sanford honors his land by preserving large portions of it. Nearly 650 acres of natural habitat at each of the winery's four ranches are pledged as a conservation easement, and 100 acres have been set aside in a land trust as an oak woodland preserve.

The La Riconada vineyard is a refuge for endangered wildlife; since

1998, the Bird Research Group at U.C. Santa Cruz has rescued young falcons across the state and released more than 30 there each summer.

Their red-tile roofed, mission-style wine facility at La Riconada is believed to be the largest handmade adobe construction since the California missions were built, the culmination of a 20-year dream. A natural spring runs through the sprawling stone and stucco building, facilitating feng shui energy flow. In the courtyard, a massive Buddha statue faces one of Saint Guadalupe, inlaid in an exterior wall to honor the spiritual philosophy of Sanford's largely Latino workers, most of whom have been with him for years.

"It's been very exciting," he enthused. "I had thought about [the building] for a long, long time. But the very cool thing is to see it all working properly. For me, it's just a big game of figuring it all out!" He grinned and laughed with the twinkling eyes of a kid who'd just built his first treehouse.

The Organic Challenge

We city-dwellers who honor the land from a distance do so in part by shopping locally for items that are a testament to our beliefs about health and the environment. For example, in planning a dinner party, we might shop for organic salad greens and grain-fed, free-range chicken, to be followed by an organic fruit tart with flakey whole wheat crust.

But in choosing wine to accompany such a feast, we're likely to choose a familiar, top-selling brand a product farmed with more chemicals than all the other food items combined.

This is a paradox the organic and organically grown wine industry faces daily. Consumers who are willing to pay more to shop organically just don't believe the same quality exists in so-called "organic" wines. Many recall with distaste the early, unfiltered versions from the 1980s when the industry was in its infancy. Others don't realize that some of their favorite award winning vineyards are actually farmed organically, but remain unlabeled as such for fear of negative reaction.

What follows next is a classic Catch-22 scenario. Some winemakers want to see more consumer demand before they commit to the labyrinth of governmental regulations that control organic classification. Consumers, on the other hand, simply haven't cared with enough of their dollars to convince them.

Organic Semantics

Richard Sanford didn't used to care either. It took 10 years of observing the effects of conventional spraying before he made the decision to farm organically.

"I used to drive the tractor and do everything myself when I was starting out," he said, speaking in the winery's conference room which, like the adjacent tasting room and other company offices, is made from an old barn transplanted from one of Sanford's four vineyards. "I saw that the chemicals we were spraying on the earth must be getting into our ground water, our resources. It's foolish to think that the tons of chemicals we produce aren't integrated back into the environment. We're just polluting ourselves.

"My wife Thekla said to me, 'Richard, we're growing all our food organically. Why don't you just grow the grapes organically?' It was a big challenge. We weaned ourselves off chemical herbicides and pesticides in a matter of three years. Now the farming costs are comparable to traditional farming costs. It's mainly a trade-off of chemicals for labor."

Despite his organic pedigree, however, Sanford does not technically produce "organic" wine. Nor does he, or anyone else interviewed for this story, particularly want to be recognized in that category as it is currently defined. And even if they did, they'd be prevented by law. Whether a winery can call its wines "organic" versus "made with organically grown grapes," or label them accordingly on the front versus the back of the bottle, is determined by the United States government.

Why? It boils down to one infamous word: Sulfites.

Sulfites' Bad Rap

The issue of sulfur dioxide as a food preservative came to the national consciousness in the early 1980s when a number of consumer illnesses and deaths of sensitive (usually asthmatic) people were attributed to sulfite usage on fresh fruits and vegetables in restaurant salad bars. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) subsequently banned most uses of it on produce and required that all products containing sulfites have it spelled out on the label. Since July 9, 1987, warning labels have been required on all alcoholic beverages with at least 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulfites.

According to the FDA, one percent of the general population and five percent of asthmatics are affected by sulfites. Despite those low statistics, a residual fear of them has remained. In any event, all wine contains naturally occurring sulfites as a by-product of fermentation. Even wines that are labeled as having "no added sulfites," and are thus permitted to call themselves "organic," such as organic/no sulfite pioneer Frey Vineyards in Mendocino, may still contain between 6 and 15 ppm.

Most fine winemakers believe that adding a minimum level of sulfites in the form of sulfur salts or sulfur dioxide solutions during fermentation ensures shelf stability; it helps prevent both oxidation and bacterial growth while allowing aging-and the development of fine nuances-to occur. But because they add sulfites, they cannot call themselves "organic," but must instead say their wine is "made with organically grown grapes."

"It doesn't work to have fine 'organic' wine at the present time," said Sanford. "Under the current rules, it would have no sulfites and be very fragile. You'd look at it and it would oxidize.

"All our wines are grown organically. The only addition we have is sulfur dioxide to protect against oxidation. Even though it's at very low levels, we're unable to call it organic wine. But it is wine from organically produced grapes."

Sante Losio and Bruno Allaire, wine consultants and creators of last year's EcoWineFest 2003, the first international "organically grown" wine festival, concur that it's difficult to make a quality wine without some added sulfites. As importers of fine organically grown wines from all over the world, they've seen what happens when you don't.

"Organic wine that is truly alive can't be agitated," observed Allaire and Losio. "It's more sensitive to light, change of temperature and has a short shelf life. Wines that are "organically grown" are permitted to add sulfur up to 100 ppm, which is less than 1%. Most add less than a third of that, and are still way below the maximum 350 ppm allowed in conventional wine growing."

Bion Rice, president of the award winning, organically farmed Sunstone Vineyards and Winery in Santa Ynez, uses sulfur in the winemaking process because, "We believe you have to do that in order to make wines that have integrity and will ship well across the country."

"It's a commitment to quality and to our customers," Rice noted. " I believe when they buy one of our reserve wines, they want to sit on it for a while. They want to see it get to its optimum drinking. You don't want to drink a wine when it's too young, so you have to use sulfites. The day someone comes up with an alternative, they'll be a billionaire overnight."

Rice found out the hard way in the late 1990s that "nobody really cared" that they grew Rhone and Bordeaux varietals organically and were completely biosustainable.

"We lost a lot of ground trying to communicate the difference between environmental preservationism, which is what we're doing, versus being an 'organic' winery," he said. "We are totally devoted to the land. There's no Round-up (pesticide) anywhere. We weed everything by hand, even around the tasting room facilities. It's a commitment we made long ago that comes down to a personal philosophy."

What's On the Label

Since certification affects what a winery can put on the front or back label of a bottle-making an organic bottle easier to spot on the shelf-consumers who want more labeled organic wines in their stores need to show wineries that getting certified is worth it economically.

"Until consumers become educated enough to demand to see organic certification on wine labels," said Allaire, "you're not going to see an increase in organically produced wines."

Winemakers who want to label their wines in any organic category face a gauntlet of certification requirements and fluctuating governmental regulations. Beginning in October 2002, the federal Organic Food Production Act required that California wineries could only use the terms "organic" or "organically grown" if their wine growing practices could pass its organic certification standards as outlined in the new regulations. The National Organic Program (NOP), under the USDA, is responsible for implementing the "Rule," as it is now called, and accredits a mix of private and public certifying agents in each state to carry out certification procedures.

Under NOP standards, in order to label your wine "organic," it must contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients, and no added sulfites. To label "made with organically grown grapes," it must contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients, and only up to 100ppm of added sulfites. To be able to put either phrase on the back of the bottle, you must be an "organically certified grower." To put it in prime position on the front label, you must be an "organically certified processor" as well.

In California, the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) is considered one of the most revered and respected in the United States. All the wineries mentioned in this article were already CCOF certified before the Rule went into effect. Fetzer's Bonterra Vineyards is among the very few that have both types of certification. Sanford Winery mentions that its vineyards are certified organic on the back of its new premium label. Sunstone Vineyards, though CCOF certified, notes it on only a third of their offerings.

"Some people say they're organic, but don't have certification," Richard Sanford stated. "I think it's a cop-out. Certification takes three years of abstention from using any chemicals. People talk about sustainability as not necessarily being organic, but organic makes consumers pay a lot more attention."

Histamine Hangovers?

Some winemakers contend that naturally occurring histamines (which dilate the blood vessels in the brain), chemical residuals and other additives used in conventional winemaking to enhance flavor and bouquet are the real culprits for consumer headaches and illness, not sulfites. Many conventional wines contain more than 50 ingredients, including flavorings, forbidden by law in wines grown organically.

Flavorful grapes don't need them. A wine that boasts a strong French Oak nose may actually be trying to cover up poor quality fruit, explained Rice. "That's a dead giveaway for me. If a wine tastes like wood chips, you'd have to ask, 'Why would they do that to a really good Chardonnay?'"

Sanford, who believes winemaking is a "nice metaphor for life," concurred. "What we're trying to do is achieve balance," he observed, gently swirling a garnet glassful of his acclaimed 2000 La Riconada Pinot Noir. "Intensity of fruit, plus just enough acid to balance the amount of fruit. Regrettably, many winemakers use the same formula for different fruit characteristics [and] end up having oak-y water."

Wine Lovers Unite

For now, consumers who purchase an organic head of lettuce for two to three times the price of one grown conventionally do not yet see the same price/value equivalency for organically grown wines. And unless consumer demand for certified organically grown and labeled wine increases dramatically, it will remain an expanding, but boutique category.

"People don't see wine as a living product," said Rice. "You buy the head of lettuce because it's alive. A bottle of wine is hidden behind dark glass. But I also think the category is going to become more popular because the big players are behind it now."

Sanford remains committed but skeptical regarding public demand.

"There hasn't been any premium on even saying 'organic.' The reality is, that as a fine wine producer, it used to be a death knell to have organic on the label. People perceived it as being not very good. But I'm very proud of it and think people deserve to know how their food has been treated.

"People aren't willing to pay a premium for organic at the present time," he concluded. "I don't know that they are as compelled to drink organic wine as buy organic produce, because in doing so, they would greatly limit their choices. I think the category has to grow a lot before consumers take it seriously."

End of article.

L.A. writer, filmmaker and playwright Deborah Behrens' recent cover stories include WLT's Mariel Hemingway and Sir Ben Kingsley for LA Stage.

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (St. Matthew) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

Once again, ALL WINES CONTAIN SULFITES. There is no such thing as wine without sulfites. Wines can have no sulfites added, but sulfites are produced when grapes are fermented. You get more sulfites from a glass of orange juice than a bottle of wine. There are many reasons to buy organic wine. Sulfites are not one of them. Anyone selling "sulfite-free wine" is selling more than just wine.

Fred.

Nearly everyting you eat or drink has sulfites, either naturally occurring, added, or both (most wine has both). Besides, sulfites are not nearly as bad as what may get into the wine if SO2 is not used.

Finally! A voice of reason.

Decide where you want to post, no crossposting please...

There is a confusion here, organic wines are just wines made from organically grown grapes. Once those grapes are harvested, you can do anything you want, within the area regulations, including acidify, chaptalise, add sulphites, use reverse osmosis, add yeast cultures. And yes, most organically grown wines contain added sulphites.

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Well, if you actually read that article, it shows that even Sanford disdains "organic" wines, with no added sulfites. Coturri Zin, anyone?

Personally, if pesticides are your concern, I'd pay less attention to wines labeled "organic" and take a look at the fine makers who using biodynamie. Which I think is part crazy, but lots of good makers make good wine. Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

Agreed Dale.

But much of what these winemakers practice boils down to using common sense. The mystical mumbojumbo gives it all a colourful folky feeling, but in the end it all amounts to : does the winemaker really care about the wine he is making and the people who will drink it?

The organic label alone is no guarantee of quality, I have tested organic wines that range from the atrociously undrinkable to sublime. The only guarantee is that the winemaker is following some rules; these may have nothing to do with making good wine... some of these pesticide-free wines may kill you...

In the biodynamic crowd, like I said, I dislike the weird pseudo-science about it, but almost all biodynamic growers seem driven by a desire to make truly great wine.

Our occasional AFW contributor Francis Boulard has some of his Champagne vineyards undergoing conversion to biodynamics. Not surprisingly, ALL his vineyards make good wine... ;-)

In Champagne, which as we all know always has bubbles, the same goes for Selosse, De Sousa and I think even Jerome Prevost.

Alsace seems to also be a fertile ground for biodynamics (Ostertag, Kreydenweiss, Frick, Deiss, Ostertag, Ginglinger, Weinbach, Meyer, Baur).

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Mike, you should know that the rules on this vary from continent to continent; further, the common useage of the term "organic wine" does not necessarily match regulations and also varies with location. It's my understanding of EU regulations that there is officially no such thing as "organic wine" because only unprocessed produce can be "organic". So grapes can be organic but wine can't under the law. Wine made from organically grown grapes can state that fact on the label and label may also carry a certification from one of several organic organizations. As you say, in Europe these wines are often referred to as "organic" by the buying public.

The rules in the US are always shifting so I may be giving outdated information but at least in the past, the rules (as they often are) are different. Here, there *is* (or has been, at least) such a thing as officially "organic wine". This demands not only that the grapes be grown organically but that no chemicals (sulfites being the most prominent of these) are allowed in the winemaking process. I'd say it's clear from the original poster's comments about sulfites that it is in this sense that he means "organic". As in Europe, wines that are made conventionally (i.e., with sulfites) but use organically grown grapes are allowed to note that fact on the label but cannot call themselves "organic wine".

- Mark W.

Point noted Mark, thanks.

Precisely due to these differences, it is hard to compare organically griwn wine or any produce that claims to be organically grown. Even here in Europe, different countries have very different standards, yet all may bear the AB label. This is, to say the least, confusing to the consumer.

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link