Organic Wines Uncorked: Long Meadow Ranch Acquires Stony Hill - Napa's Best Chardonnay to Become Organically Farmed

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Long Meadow Ranch Acquires Stony Hill - Napa's Best Chardonnay to Become Organically Farmed

In a startling bit of news Monday morning, Long Meadow Ranch, a large, family owned, integrated food and wine producer, and Stony Hill Vineyards, the iconic Spring Mountain Chardonnay producer, announced that Long Meadow Ranch will acquire Stony Hill.

To read all about the reasons for the sale - and the long term friendships that underlie it - read Monday's Chronicle article by Esther Mobley. It warms the heart to hear that the famous Chardonnay producer will be handed over to family friends, not a corporation. And not just any friends, but committed to organic friends.

Long Meadow Ranch, long a major advocate and exemplar of certified organic farming in Napa, will be converting the 30 acres of Stony Hill vineyards on Spring Mountain to organic farming.

Stony Hill has always been my (and many others') favorite Napa Chardonnay. It's grown on limestone soils, unique in Napa. I've always lamented - when drinking it - that it wasn't organic. Now, in three years, if all goes well, it will be.

Read about the rest of the bigger story about Long Meadow Ranch here.

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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, August 29, 2018

Long Meadow Ranch Acquires Stony Hill - Napa's Best Chardonnay to Become Organically Farmed

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