Organic Wines Uncorked: January 2021

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Organic Giants - Paul Dolan and Neil Collins - Friday Night at 5

Want to hear from two leading lights in the wine industry who have been at the forefront of eco-friendly wine growing practices for decades? Tune in Friday night at 5 pm for the latest in Tablas Creek's online tasting series (available on Facebook Live and YouTube - replay available on YouTube after the event).

This Friday night's session brings together two pioneers of organic farming in California - Paul Dolan of Truett Hurst and Neil Collins of Tablas Creek. Both wineries started out as organic estates and then certified as biodynamic.

Now both are involved in the newly formed Regenerative Organic Standard created by Patagonia. Dolan is on the board. Tablas was the first vineyard to be certified under the new standard in a 2019 pilot program.

All three standards start with a baseline of no synthetic fertilizer or pesticides, herbicides or fungicides in the vines. Biodynamic specifies a holistic approach to the vineyard property and the use of mineral and herbal sprays. The new regenerative and organic standard also include animal welfare and human resource requirements.

Get the event details here.

Learn more about regenerative organic farming at Tablas here.

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

Pages

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Paul Dolan, Organic and Biodynamic Pioneer and Industry Icon, in Conversation with Tablas Creek Winemaker Neil Collins

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Organic Giants - Paul Dolan and Neil Collins - Friday Night at 5

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