Organic Wines Uncorked: A Love of Old Vine Zin: Wine Icons Jancis Robinson, Wine Writer, and Paul Draper, of Ridge Vineyards, at the Old Vine Conference in Napa

Thursday, November 6, 2025

A Love of Old Vine Zin: Wine Icons Jancis Robinson, Wine Writer, and Paul Draper, of Ridge Vineyards, at the Old Vine Conference in Napa

So much was said at the beautiful opening session of the Old Vine Conference held Oct. 31 in Napa. Enjoy it for yourself here.

Or click on the transcript on YouTube for text version.

(I've also written about it for a forthcoming issue of a wine publication and will post that story link when it is released. Sign up at pamstrayer.substack.com [FREE] to be notified when it launches.)

(That newsletter is for only the articles I write for various publications [i.e. not my blog, or organic news which are released on my other substacks.])

Ridge has converted every old vine vineyard it owns to organic certification, thanks to the amazing efforts of its vineyard director David Gates, who was also a founder of the Historic Vineyard Society in California. (It does not own Pagani Ranch which is not organic in practice or certification).

I have been going on the Historic Vineyard Society's annual trips (region based) for years and recommend supporting them.

The Jancis-Paul conversation is, no pun intended, one for the ages. Enjoy. And tune in to forthcoming videos from the Old Vine Conference that will soon be posted on their YouTube channel.

You can view long form videos from panels now posted (from the conference livestreams). Shorter, segment videos will be posted soon.

Many of the participants including Turley, Ridge, Sandlands, Bedrock and others have certified organic vineyards and top quality wines perfect for your holiday table.

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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, November 6, 2025

A Love of Old Vine Zin: Wine Icons Jancis Robinson, Wine Writer, and Paul Draper, of Ridge Vineyards, at the Old Vine Conference in Napa

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