Organic Wines Uncorked: Dec. 10-11 (This Weekend) in Santa Barbara: Bottle Signing with Jim Clendenen

Friday, December 9, 2011

Dec. 10-11 (This Weekend) in Santa Barbara: Bottle Signing with Jim Clendenen

Au Bon Climat winemaker Jim Clendenen

Want a SIGNED bottle of wine? Winemaker Jim Clendenen, who makes some organically grown wines, will be in his Santa Barbara tasting room this weekend from 1-4 pm on both Saturday and Sunday to pour wine and sign bottles.

Clendenen is famous for making Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays with great finesse and balance.

Some of the wines from Clendenen Family Vineyards are made from certified organically grown grapes. (Clendenen has about 6 different labels - only this one is organic.) The organically grown list includes Pinot Noir (which he's famous for), Chardonnay (also famous for), and the Syrah/Viognier blend. These range in price from $35-60.

Not all of the wines available in the tasting room are in the online wine shop listings on his web site so be sure to contact the tasting room in Santa Barbara for more information about library wines.

If you can't make it this weekend, you can stop in any time for tastings, The fee to taste is $10.

Here's the tasting room location: 813 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101.

Note: The winery does not offer vineyard tours; it is open twice a year for warehouse sales (in spring and fall) for one day only.

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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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Friday, December 9, 2011

Dec. 10-11 (This Weekend) in Santa Barbara: Bottle Signing with Jim Clendenen

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