Organic Wines Uncorked: Personal Wine Buyer & Private Tastings

DRINK MORE ORGANICALLY GROWN WINES

We'll help you!

• Guided Wine Country Tours
• Personal Wine Buyer Services
• Private Tastings

TOURS - NEW!

We're starting to offer tours on AirBnb's Experiences. But you can book your own tour directly through me here. Email: winecountrygeographic at gmail.com for info.

GET A PERSONAL WINE BUYER

Are you interested in drinking more organically grown wines, but don't know which ones are the best value or quality for you?

We are now offering wine buying advice and recommendations. We'll recommend table wines, fine wines and more for you based on your budget, types of wine varietals you like and other factors.

You can get tips on which wines are the best values or highest quality. We'll also help you decide which wine clubs might offer you the best deals.

We specialize in helping you buy wine for an entire year, based on your household's needs.

Knowing the vast wealth of U.S. wines from organic vines as we do, we're happy to share our knowledge and advice.

To schedule an appointment, please go to our calendar at: https://calendly.com/pamstrayer.

PERSONAL WINE BUYING PACKAGE: A YEAR OF WINE

A Basic Planning Package ($100) includes:

• Introductory Phone Call (15-30 min.)

Tell us about your wine likes, dislikes and budget. We'll discuss your preferences and needs. Don't know much about wine? We'll help you explore. Know a lot about what you like? We can help you discover more.

• Research (30 min.)

We know most of the 1,300 U.S. wines made from organic or biodynamic vines. We'll come up with suggestions that meet your goals.

• Wine Recommendations (15-30 min.) - Phone Call and List

After the research phase (and there may be some back and forth emailing and calling during that phase), we get back to you with some initial suggestions. After conferring, we'll provide you with a suggested list of wines for a year's worth of drinking.

Need more? Additional time may be added (for an extra fee).

We pretty much guarantee you will a. discover new wines and b. get the best deals. The $100 fee should pay for itself many times over.

MINI CONSULT

A shorter version of the above ($50) includes:

• Call and ad hoc research (30 min.)

GIFT A PERSONAL WINE BUYING PACKAGE

• Don't know what someone wants? Give them the gift of a wine buying session with us. Email for more information.

Email us or call us at 510.213.9525.

RESTAURANT - WINE CONSULTING

Need help with recommendations? We can help with that, too - separate fee schedule for consulting by the hour.

Email us or call us at 510.213.9525.

PRIVATE TASTINGS

Looking for a special opportunity to taste wines from a wide variety of producers? We can create a private tasting (in your home or other location) for you and a select group to learn about and enjoy organically grown wines from top table wine or fine wine producers.

This also makes a great gift.

Email us or call us at 510.213.9525.

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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