Organic Wines Uncorked: Sonoma's Organic Vineyards Growth Slows Dramatically

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Sonoma's Organic Vineyards Growth Slows Dramatically | Hovering at 4 Percent

PERCENTAGE OF ORGANIC VINES IN SONOMA

I was delighted to be on Sam Coturri and pals' most excellent podcast last week, and Sam asked me what percentage of vineyards in Sonoma are organic. So I decided to tally it up today.

My unofficial count (better than nothing because the govt. does not count organic wine grape acreage, sadly) showed a total of 2,332 acres. Out of 57,000 acres (2022 county crop report number), that means Sonoma's organic acreage is 4 percent.

It's gaining, but nothing like in Napa, where it's closer to 14 percent, adding close to 1,000 acres this year alone thanks to Jackson Family's Napa conversion of 667 acres (which has not been replicated at scale in Sonoma).

SONOMA ORGANIC VINEYARD TRENDS

After a few years of significant growth in which several 200+ acre vineyards in Sonoma went organic–including Gundlach Bundschu and Donum Estate–2023 saw a tiny increase in organic acreage in the county with just 40 acres of newly certified organic vines.

In 2021, Donum added 202 acres to the county's organic acreage followed in 2022 by GunBun with 264 in 2022.

But in 2023, only 40.5 new acres were added - or roughly just 20 percent of the new growth seen in 2021 and 2022.

Furthermore, many vineyards surrendered their organic certifications.

2021
Donum	202
Hanzell	46
Hobo + WINE	12
Mendoza	4
		264

2022
DesForges	5.5
Grist	68
New Puli	1.9
Abbots Passage	40
Vineburg LLC dba Gundlach Bundschu Winery	264
		379.4

2023
RAEN	7
Bazzano	15
Fifth Hill (Ned Hill)	13
Sophie James	5.5
		40.5

DECERTIFICATION

While a wet year in 2023 might be blamed for suspending organic certification in 2023, only four growers or wineries –Bartholomew, Benovia, Bucher, and Cassata–left organic certification in 2023.

	2020-2023
Brereton	NA
Charlie Smith	NA
Bucher Farms	38
Bartholomew	22
Cassata Sonoma	21
Amapola Creek (in 2020)	20
Benovia Winery (Cohn Vineyard)	18
Larson Family Winery	15
Belli Vineyards	12
	146

Two steps forward, one step back?

Meanwhile, Ridge Vineyards continues to hold the top spot with 266 acres of organic vines, followed by Donum and GunBun.

Other major organic players include Benziger and Eco Terreno each with 100 acres and Hamel which has 97.

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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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Thursday, December 28, 2023

Sonoma's Organic Vineyards Growth Slows Dramatically | Hovering at 4 Percent

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