Organic Wine: What’s the Big Deal?
Brandon MarcWhat makes organic wine so special? Is it really that special? But wait a second… what IS organic wine? One hears vegetables described as ‘organic’ as if it were Mother Nature herself who conjured up the over-priced carrot in your shopping basket. So what about organic wine then?
‘One hears vegetables described as ‘organic’ as if it were Mother Nature herself who conjured up the over-priced carrot in your shopping basket.’
Simply put, organic wine is made from grapes that have been grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides. However, strictly speaking the wine making techniques used to produce organic wine can not be considered ‘organic’. It must also be noted that in most cases wine treated with sulphites is still regarded as organic. Though, the definition of organic wine does differ from country to country, and wine made from organic grapes but treated with sulphites is not considered organic in the United States.
So what do you think? Would you pay a premium for organic wine? With my background in biochemistry I find it difficult to justify the inflated prices of organic wines. If anything, I would rather support wine made without the use of sulphites as it’s these that are responsible for that unwelcome headache the morning after. But perhaps, without real reason, there are those who just like to say, ‘Hey, I drink organic wine!’
Cheers!
Brandon Marc
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Comments
Brandon Marc (Who am I?) Thank you for your insightful comment ed…
Sulphites as the cause of ‘wine headaches’ is the ‘traditional’ theory but, as you implied, has not been proven. Other possible culprits such as tannins, histamines and tyramines have been suggested… but like sulphites have yet to be proven. I will be writing a post on the topic soon, so look out for it!
I am very supportive of wine that reflects local terroir, whether the wine in question be organic or not. I can certainly understand that the challenges faced when producing an organic wine are great, and appreciate the effort required to put an organic label on the shelf.
I still maintain that at present I don’t see the ‘value’ that I would like to see in organic wines. However, I did not say that they don’t show potential and would love to see organic wines competing with the world’s best.
I think a healthy part of being a wine writer is allowing one’s arm to be ‘twisted’. I look forward to adding an organic wine to my next tasting… any good suggestions ed?
Cheers!
Brandon Marc
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ed (Who am I?) Great to hear back from you Brandon and congratulations on the site.
The challenge for the organic wine industry seems to be that for amount of great wines coming from the combined positive terroir aspects mentioned above there seems to be occasionally an organic wine seemingly created by “four hippies in the back yard” that now have the ability to call & market their “wine” as organic simply because of their agricultural practices and not for their winemaking skills.
These instances really hurt the organic wine sector when a consumer runs across “the bad one”, as they will tend not to visit the organic wine section again for years after the experience. I hope not, but fear you may have found one of these.
In our search for great organic wines of the world we love to look for the combination of rigorous certified organic agricultural methods and accomplished winemaking traits that combine to make a difference.
There are some examples that I believe really stand out from around the world.
Bodegas Iranzo (Spain’s oldest estate bottled winery) http://www.bodegasiranzo.com produces incredible Tempranillos and Bobal variety rosés from the southeast of Spain. What caught our eye is that Francisco Galbardón, the Director of Spain’s most prestigious winemaking school, is also the winemaker for these wines. Francisco is quite possibly the most knowledgeable person on the topic of wine in all of Spain and he has chosen to work with the organically grown grapes of Bodegas Iranzo for these creations.
I would recommend their 2004 VERTVS Tempranillo Crianza and 2007 Tarantas Bobal Rosé both from Bodegas Iranzo (and their dba Med-Wines)
Giancarlo Ceci’s Agrinatura (Europe’s largest producer of organics) http://www.agrinatura.net based in southern Italy’s Puglia Region did it right when Giancarlo ventured into organic grape and later organic wine production. He hired the talents of Italy’s famous young winemaker Lorenzo Landi to create the wines. These are Landi’s only organics.
I would recommend the 2004 Giancarlo Ceci’s Parco Marano Rosso and 2007 Agrinatura Chardonnay (86 points in November’s Wine Enthusiast).
Also you should enjoy the creations of La Cantina Pizzolato http://www.lacantinapizzolato.com from Veneto with their Organic Prosecco (recent Gold Medal winner in Denver International Wine Challenge), Organic Pinto Grigio and Organic Spumantes. Pizzolato produces by far Italy’s number one selling Organic wines. This tells me that if the Italians choose to enjoy Organic wine they are choosing these ones – a pretty good recommendation.
I hope you have access to and a chance to enjoy these “arm twister” revolutionary organic wines.
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Brandon Marc (Who am I?) Wow ed! Thank you for your comprehensive answer 
Some very relevant information for the benefit of the My Wine Cellar family.
I will be sure to select one of your ‘arm twisters’ for my next tasting, and might even post the results right here on My Wine Cellar…
Cheers!
Brandon Marc
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If anything, I would rather support wine made without the use of sulphites as it’s these that are responsible for that unwelcome headache the morning after.
– you’ve a bio-chemist background and you really want to drink a wine made without any sulphur???? Rather you than me!!
You think you get headaches from sulphites? Why do you think its sulphites that are responsible rather than other things in wines?
Anyway, if you do get headaches from sulphites then there is a Professor of Enology at UC Davis who want to hear from you. See http://waterhouse.ucdavis.edu/winecomp/so2.htm
He says “The medical literature has virtually no reports on sulfites inducing headache” and he states “Sulfites do not cause headaches!!! There is something in red wine that causes headaches, but the cause has not yet been discovered.”
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Brandon Marc (Who am I?) Hi Peter,
Perhaps what I should have said was wine with lower sulphite contents… of course sulphites are an essential part of winemaking helping ‘control’ the fermentation.
But thank you for ‘keeping me on my toes’
Regarding my opinion of the effects of sulphites please refer to my statement to Ed below:
‘Sulphites as the cause of ‘wine headaches’ is the ‘traditional’ theory but, as you implied, has not been proven. Other possible culprits such as tannins, histamines and tyramines have been suggested… but like sulphites have yet to be proven.’
So, I guess that makes me in agreement with Proffesor Davis then!
Brandon Marc
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Sulphites causing headaches is not a traditional theory.
No-one had ever heard of sulphites in wine until the pointless warning appeared on labels. That happened in the US as a by-product of an anti-alcohol campaign, and soon Americans were blaming any ill effect on sulfites. They’d even post on forums that they’d been to Europe and drunk wines there and never had any ill-effect, reason being that Europeans didn’t put sulfites in wine. Of course, the only difference was that European wines didn’t have the message.
Now the EU has insisted on the same warning and — guess what — now Europeans and South Africans are blaming sulphites.
It’s statements like If anything, I would rather support wine made without the use of sulphites as it’s these that are responsible for that unwelcome headache the morning after. that propagate the myth and do no favours to anyone.
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Brandon Marc (Who am I?) Point taken Peter
The intention of Wy Wine Cellar is certainly not myth propagation, but rather to foster healthy discussion within the global wine community with focus on the South African wine industry.
Please see my post entitled ‘Wine Headaches: The Truth’ scheduled to be published this week friday 14th Novemeber…
Brandon Marc
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What I like about your blog is you’re not afraid to state opinions or be controversial.
And it’d be a shame to let any posts slip by without a comment to keep you on your toes.
So what do you think of Systembolaget??
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Brandon Marc (Who am I?) What do I think about Systembolaget? Well, if it’s controversy you wanted you asked the right question
The Swedish alcohol monopoly is a strange beast, with as many advantages as disadvantages.
What I will say is that I certainly miss stopping by my local wine cellar/boutique to pick up a bottle of wine for dinner.
Systemet (as it’s affectionately known) might have a large range of wines on offer, but for the enthusiast like myself you just don’t find the labels you want on the shelves.
Brandon Marc
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I cannot think of a single advantage of the Systeema*. It is now a very different beast than when I was working in Stockholm. Gosh, it is now like a proper shop, but I have so many bad memories of it I long for its death.
OK, just the one. If a wine isn’t in the Systeema then there’s no point looking anywhere else for it because there isn’t anywhere else. None of the fun of checking out different wine stores, making quirky finds and bargains.
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Brandon Marc (Who am I?) There has been talk of government abandoning the system alltogether, but if this ever materialises it’s surely a long way off.
Systemet is just another reflection of Swedish society… control, order and boring monotony. Perhaps one advantage could be the fairly moderate prices… relative to other European countries of course!
Brandon Marc
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Brandon, you are a biochemist and you still believe that sulfites cause your wine headaches?
Be very careful, then, with pizza crust as you will find more sulfites but no Government Warning.
Anytime a grower takes enough care of his land to have it certified as organic by an internationally accredited agency that says quite a lot about the importance of the terroir associated with a particular wine. There is definite value in wine from vines that are not chemically addicted to pesticides for survival.
Time will tell. Great wine critics of the world will one day discover some of the best wines in the world will be produced from certified organic chemical free terroir.