Organic Wines Uncorked: Wine & Spirits Top Picks: Restaurant Wines from Organic Vines

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Wine & Spirits Top Picks: Restaurant Wines from Organic Vines

Wine & Spirits published its Top 50 Restaurant Wines list in its newly released April issue, which includes five organically grown wines.

All five in the top 50 were from Napa: Frog's Leap Winery, Turley Wine Cellars, Heitz Wine Cellars, Robert Sinskey Vineyards and Grgich Hill Estate. In individual wine sections, Storybook Mountain Vineyards and Calera also joined the list.

The wine survey covered 218 restaurants in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2013.

In individual wine sections, the wines broke out this way:

Cabernet Sauvignon
Heitz Wine Cellars (which wine was not indicated; certifications on its wine vary), 10th most popular
Grgich Hill Estate, 30th most popular

Pinot Noir
Calera - Mount Harlan de Villiers, jointly 14th most popular
Calera - Mount Harlan Jensen, jointly 14th most popular
Robert Sinskey Vineyards - Carneros, 20th most popular

Sauvignon Blanc
Frog's Leap, 10th most popular

Zinfandel
Storybook Mountain, Eastern Exposure, 3rd most popular
Frog's Leap Winery, 5th most popular

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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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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Wine & Spirits Top Picks: Restaurant Wines from Organic Vines

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