Organic Wines Uncorked: From Oakville to Calistoga, Napa Vintners Certified 265+ Acres Organic In the Past Year

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

From Oakville to Calistoga, Napa Vintners Certified 265+ Acres Organic In the Past Year

You might be seeing more CCOF signs on Napa roads.

Between June 1, 2023 and June 1, 2024, Napa vintners certified 265 acres of vines organic.

• Larkmead certified the largest number – 116 acres – in September of 2023 – in the Calistoga AVA.

• Kelham Vineyards certified 48.5 acres on June 10, 2023 in the Oakville AVA.

• White Rock Vineyards (off the Atlas Peak road) certified 36 acres March 4, 2024.

• Baldacci Vineyards certified 25.3 acres in April of 2024.

• Corison certified 19 acres on June 12, 2023 in Rutherford and St. Helena.

• Darms Lane, April 9, 2024, 13 acres in Oak Knoll District.

• Fantesca certified 8.65 acres on Oct 11, 2023 in the Spring Mountain District.

In addition, Markham announced on Earth Day that it is certifying its 15 acre Hopper House vineyard organic.

A Special Callout to Oakville: Becoming an Organic Cluster

Kelham Vineyards is part of a growing organic cluster in Oakville. As you can see in their map above, Kelham is one piece of a jigsaw puzzle of certified organic estates.

Many of the surrounding wineries are also certified organic.

For more on Oakville's growing number of organically grown vineyards, and other organic topics in Napa, visit our new substack newsletter (!) at organicallynapa.substack.com.

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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, June 19, 2024

From Oakville to Calistoga, Napa Vintners Certified 265+ Acres Organic In the Past Year

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