Organic Wines Uncorked: Organic Pride Panel and Tasting at Slow Wine Fair 2023 | 19% of Italy Vines are Organic + It Has 51 Organic Districts

Monday, February 27, 2023

Organic Pride Panel and Tasting at Slow Wine Fair 2023 | 19% of Italy Vines are Organic + It Has 51 Organic Districts

Slow Wine Fair is not exclusively devoted to organically grown wines, but they are a highlight of the event, and some of the most outstanding examples were on display during the Organic Pride tasting this morning.

Vice curator and session moderator Gabriele Rosso led the Organic Pride tasting

The lineup featured wines from a wide variety of regions, ranging from the Cilento coast in Campania to the Italian-Slovenian border.

While all six wines were outstanding, if I had to highlight three I would pick the #2 and #3 wines in the tasting and the last wine #6 - which had many many advantages, among them that it was a 2008 vintage wine.

More to come later. For the moment I'm off to the next adventure here at Slow Wine Fair 2023.

A shoutout to my two interpreters who so graciously translated the Organic Pride
panel for me (since it was delivered only in Italian). Grazie a mille!

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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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Monday, February 27, 2023

Organic Pride Panel and Tasting at Slow Wine Fair 2023 | 19% of Italy Vines are Organic + It Has 51 Organic Districts

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