Organic Wines Uncorked: Rutherford Dust Society Tasting

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Rutherford Dust Society Tasting - In Photos

The Rutherford Dust Society held its annual tasting for trade and press today with several hundred people attending.

There was exquisite if sparsely distributed food - tiny bites prepared by Meadowood, sumptious when you could find them, but delivered parsimoniously to the crowds - and toilets that one would not expect to see in a posh (primarily) Cab tasting event -
portapoddies in an outdoor loading area adjacent to the Beaulieu barrel room. Paradox city.

Highlights/new to me:

Jody Hill of Caspar Estate

Caspar Estate - a knockout Cabernet from legendary Julien Fayard, who used to work with Phillip Melka, the French guru, after working in renowned French Bordeaux houses. Restrained. It's the boutique winery's third vintage and will be released this fall. Highly recommended for those who want to see that Napa's not just about fruit bombs. Only 320 cases. It's $325 for a 3-bottle box.

Tres Sabores Rose

Tres Sabores 2010 Zin

Tres Sabores - Rose and Zin were knockouts.

The 2010 Zin from Tres Sabores (their Zin is always noteworthy) is a particularly fine vintage. It will be released later this year.

Sampling Raymond's estate Cab

Raymond Vineyards - Certification completed as of May 2013! Another great winery goes organic and biodynamic in the vineyard. Spicy notes in the Cabernet.

Flora Springs - Also completed 100% certification of two of its estate vineyards (for its estate wines). Four of Flora Spring's current wines are from organic vineyards including its flagship Trilogy.

EVENT IN PHOTOS

Shari Staglin of Staglin Family and Cory Gowan of JJ Buckley

David Heitz of Heitz Cellars

Frog's Leap's Sauvignon Blanc on offer

Frog's Leap's winemaker Paula Moschetti with the Rutherford Cabernet

Julie Johnson of Tres Sabores

No comments:

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

Pages

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Rutherford Dust Society Tasting - In Photos

No comments:

Post a Comment

Organic Resources