Organic Wines Uncorked: What Foreign Country Likes a USDA Organic Label? Surprise

Sunday, July 17, 2011

What Foreign Country Likes a USDA Organic Label? Surprise - It's China

Katrina Frey stands next to wine headed for China

As more U.S. and other global producers find a market for their wines in China, one wine type - USDA Organic - is a new standout, as Redwood Valley's Frey Wines is finding out.

Winemakers have been clever in marketing their wines - rock stars have privately branded labels from Parducci, for example, and even the New York Times is marketing "Australian BBQ Grill" wines in today's paper. Tales abound of Chinese restauranteurs swooping into Napa and buying $35,0000 of wine (at full retail prices) and then heading home to mark them up 100%+. Or Chinese have been known (as others) to recycle the label of an expensive wine onto a not so expensive one.

But few are following the yellow brick road to Chinese markets via the organic path.

Frey Vineyards Ltd. Executive Director Katrina Frey says the Chinese, with so many labeling scandals on food labeling in their own country, feel more secure with a USDA certified organic label on Frey's wines, which are being imported into China.

Frey's distributor says that wine marketing is done in China via dinners in which the wines are sampled.

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Wines We Cover

We publish information about wines grown from certified organic or Biodynamic vineyards that are generally made with sulfites (which are usually added in small amounts to preserve the wine).

That includes these certification types:

ORGANIC WINE CERTIFICATIONS

• Made with Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites (i.e. a normal range)

Winery: certified organic facility

Labeling: front or back label

• Ingredients: Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: up to 350 ppm of sulfites (same as for any non organic wine)

Labeling: back label only

BIODYNAMIC® CERTIFICATIONS

• Biodynamic Wine

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; no additives of any kind

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back label; Demeter logo may appear

• Made with Biodynamic Grapes

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native or organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; limited number of additives permitted

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back

Note: unlike organically grown wines, for which there is a category called "Ingredients: Organic Grapes," wines sourced from biodynamic grapes may not make any biodynamic claim on the bottle label. Bottle labeling is reserved for Demeter certified wines only.

SULFITES IN CONTEXT

According to U.C. Davis, the average among all wines in the U.S. (as well as globally) is 80 ppm.

WHAT THE USDA CALLS ORGANIC WINES

Unlike any other nation, the U.S. oddly imposes a no sulfite restriction on wines in order for them to be called Organic Wine. These wines are also called NSA or NAS wines (which stands for "No Sulfites Added" or "No Added Sulfites.")

From the above description, one can see that there are in fact three types of organically grown wines:

1. Organic Wine (less than 15% of all organically grown wine)

2. Made with Organic Grapes

3. Ingredients: Organic Grapes

The vast majority of wines from organic grapes are labeled Made with Organic Grapes, Ingredients: Organic Grapes or are blended with nonorganic grapes and unlabeled.

Fine winemakers do not generally make wine without sulfites and a number of large wine retailers like BevMo do not sell wine in the category of "USDA Organic Wine."

With rare exceptions, this blog does not cover what the USDA calls "Organic Wine."

We are hopeful that the USDA will revise the categorization of organically grown wines and make NSA or NAS wines a category of their own.

This would put the U.S. in accord with the rest of the world, where "Organic Wine" means a wine from certified grapes made within limits on sulfites (generally under 100-150 ppm).

Organic Wines Uncorked

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Sunday, July 17, 2011

What Foreign Country Likes a USDA Organic Label? Surprise - It's China

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