Organic Wines Uncorked: Highlights form the Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa: Day 1

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Highlights form the Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa: Day 1

The second annual Heirloom Expo got off to a fine start today at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa. I took more than a hundred pictures of the fun, but decided to select just a few to share from today.

Tomorrow I'll be returning to visit more of the expo, and focus on seeing what's in the Biodynamic area.

Lily Films was the expo - and selling swag along with THEIR NEW DVDs of SYMPHONY OF THE SOIL!
Must See! Screen Wed. at noon...or save yourself the gas money and buy the DVD.

Very funny bee teeshirts....choose from Worker, Drone or Queen Bee!

From the Sonoma State University Slow Food booth...I want this as a bumper sticker :)

That's what it's all about...

The incredible Hall of Flowers displays probably more than 1,000 kinds of heirloom varieties - a real treasure trove.
As important a collection as the Smithsonian.

Slow Foods founder Carlo Petrini was the keynote speaker for the first of the three days of the festival.
He has humor, soul and a wonderful way with the audience which gave him a standing ovation.

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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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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Highlights form the Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa: Day 1

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