Organic Wines Uncorked: Napa Grows Organic Production: Up 33% From 2020-2022

Monday, July 17, 2023

Napa Grows Organic Production: Up 33% From 2020-2022

While the U.S. wine industry lags way behind the three main wine producing countries in the EU, with a mere (estimated) three percent of organic wine grapes, compared to Italy, France and Spain (where an average of 18 percent of vine acreage is organic), Napa is zooming ahead of the rest of California in the number of organic vineyards.

That's according to the Napa County Ag Commissionser's most recent crop report in which the number of certified organic registrants grew from 99 in 2020 to 133 in 2022. (Acreage details were not available as neither the county nor the state counts organic acreage.)

Note: a few of these wineries were not entirely new, but re-registering under new ownership. (These are the Lawrence Family wineries indicted below.)

Here is a list of all the organic certifications registered in 2020-2022.

Alejandro Bulgheroni Estate

ARBORUM

Bartlett Family Vineyards

Bayard Fox Selections LLC

Bengier Family Vineyards

Brand NV, LLC dba Brand Napa Valley

Constellation Brands, Inc. dba To Kalon Vineyard

Cortina Vineyard Management dba Cathiard Family Estate

Dominus Estate Corporation dba Dominus Estate

Grateful Red, LLC dba Elusa Winery (Four Seasons)

Haynes Vineyard (Lawrence)

Heitz Cellar - Wildwood dba Heitz Wildwood (Lawrence)

Hoopes Vineyard

Hope Management, LLC dba One Hope Wine

Hossfeld Vineyards

Huneeus Vintners, LLC. dba Quintessa Winery

Jack Neal & Son, Inc. / Chaix dba Chaix

Jack Neal & Son, Inc./Barlow dba Barlow Vineyards

Jack Neal & Son/Sorenson

K&G Vineyards LLC (Wight/Clif Family) - 89 acres

Kongsgaard Wine

M.S. Torun

MacDonald Vineyard Management - 15 acres

New Pina Vineyard Management - Perliss Vineyard (2.6 acres)

New Pina Vineyard Management - Seven Stones Vineyard (3 acres)

New Pina Vineyard Management, LLC/ Clivi Vinea

Newton Vineyards (partially organic)

Oakville Hill Cellar dba Dalla Valle Vineyards

Opus One

Paradigm Winery

Princess Sophie, LLC dba Rachofsky Vineyard (grower)

Salvestrin Winery dba Salvestrin Wine Co. LLC

Sandpoint Wines LLC dba Young Inglewood Vineyards

Stony Hill Vineyard dba Stony Hill (Lawrence)

Talbot Enterprises, LLC dba Hayne Vineyard, Talbot Enterprises, LLC

Handling Only

Saintsbury LLC (Handling, for clients only)

TPWC dba The Prisoner Wine Company (Handling, for clients only)

No comments:

Post a Comment

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

Monday, July 17, 2023

Napa Grows Organic Production: Up 33% From 2020-2022

No comments:

Post a Comment

Organic Resources