In an ever changing world of being more aware of what we eat, it wasn’t long before we began to look at the things we drink. We have wine at many occasions. Wine with dinner, with friends, with ourselves while watching TV, listening to music, or while we work, OK, while I work.
Let’s talk about healthy wine, meaning from healthy grapes. Let’s attempt to decode the world of “organic wines” and what makes it organic, as well as sulfites and its use or purpose when it comes to wine. If a wine contains sulfites, does it mean that the wine is not organic?
Organic wines- are wines made from organic grapes. The USDA definition for organic food is as follows: “Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; petroleum-based fertilizers or sewage sludge-based fertilizers; bio-engineering; or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled “organic”, a government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards.”
Types of Organic
- 100% Organic- Refers to wines that are produced with grapes that are certified 100% organically and do not have any added sulfites.
- Made with organic grapes- These wines may have sulfur dioxide added as well.
- Biodynamic Farming- a technique that utilize the vineyard’s natural resources to cultivate the highest quality grapes possible without the use of pesticides, fungicides, herbacides, synthetic fertilizers or growth stimulants. A vineyard that is certified biodynamic meets and typically exceeds the standards and regulations for organic certified farming.
- Sustainable Farming- To keep or maintain, implies long-term support of permanence. As it pertains to agriculture, sustainable describes farming systems that are “capable of maintaining their productivity and usefulness to society indefinitely without severe or irreversible damage to ecosystem health.
Wine and Sulfites
- NSA wines (no sulfites added)- fermenting yeasts present on all grape skins generate naturally occuring sulfites in amounts ranging from 6 to 40 parts per million (ppm). Totally sulfite-free wines are therefore an accident of nature but wines low in sulfites or free of added sulfites do exist. Wines can be labeled as “NSA” if no sulfites have been added and the total does not exceed 10 ppm per bottle. These wines are usually made with organic grapes.
- Vegan wines- a vegan wine has more to do with a process than a type of wine. First understand that conventional and organic wine makers use ‘animal products’ during production to clear or ‘fine’ the wine, to keep it from turning cloudy or to remove off tastes. The fining agent acts as a magnet and collects the unwanted matter in the wines which sinks to the bottom of the tank. Then the clear wine is racked or decanted off the sediment into a clean tank. Since the wine is finally filtered at the time of bottling, no traces of the fining agents are left in the finished product. Fining agents of animal origin commonly used are egg, egg whites, egg albumin, casein (milk protien), gelatin (derived from animal bones), and isinglass (derived from fish). In order to make the wine vegan acceptable other fining agents are used that do not contain any animal product, one example would be bentonite clay.
In conclusion, we would like to advise you to taste the different grapes, brands, and styles to find the wine for your palate. This spring & summer we will have a small selection of organic with sulfites as well as organic no sulfites added wines. Feel free to add a comment or a question and remember “Let Your Palate Be The Guide”.
