Organic Wines Uncorked: IN PHOTOS: Biodynamic Wine Tasting at Demeter Short Course

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

IN PHOTOS: Biodynamic Wine Tasting at Demeter Short Course

What a pleasure it was to moderate the Demeter Short Course on Biodynamic Wine Monday at Maysara Winery in McMinnville, Oregon. One of the best parts of the day was the wine tasting at the end of the program, which featured an awesome lineup of Pinot Noir and (amazing) new releases from each winery.

The awe-inspring Maysara Winery, built on a grand
scale from oak and stone from the site along
with barrel staves, was a breathtaking setting.

Winemaker Chris Williams with his 2012 Pinot
Noir Rastaban - Brooks' old vines (in this
bottle) were planted 1974-77 and
are among the oldest in Oregon.

Cooper Mountain Vineyards vintner Barbara Gross poured
Pinot Noir from the winery's Meadowlark vineyard and old vines.

Maysara winemaker Tahmiene Momtazi poured a selection of
her Pinots

Montinore Estate red wine winemaker Ben
Thomas poured the estate's Reserve Pinot Noir

Dan Rinke from Johan Vineyards poured some
new releases that hit a home run including
a natural sparkling wine and a skin fermented
Pinot Gris (an orange wine)

Washington winemaker Paul Beveridge of Wilridge
Winery poured his exotically diverse wines including
Nebbiolo and Zweigelt

Sarah Hedges Goedhart, winemaker at Hedges
Family Estate in Washington's Red Mountain AVA
displays her first certified Biodynamic Wine -
a 100% Cab called Le Haut Cuvee

The outside of Maysara - as grand as the inside

Oregon in March...and three weeks ahead of normal bud break

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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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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

IN PHOTOS: Biodynamic Wine Tasting at Demeter Short Course

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