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Types of organic wine categories
Wednesday January 13, 2010
So what does the wine industry mean when it classifies a wine as ';organic' and how does the process differ from that of conventional wine making.
The basic definition of organic wines is wine that is produced using organically grown grapes, although it actually extends far beyond this with the wine having to be produced through a process that excludes any practices that could be deemed as damaging to the environment, producers themselves and the consumer. What this means is that organic wine prohibits the use of any pesticides, dangerous additives, herbicides while also encouraged to expand biodiversity.
When it comes to the regions that produce organic or biodynamic wines, many of the leading wine producers are now operating to the organic standards including several growing regions across Australia, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, Chile, Austria, Canada, and the United States with there now being over 450 biodynamic wine producers globally.
As it stands now, for a wine to be deemed "biodynamic" it must comply with the standards of the Demeter Association which acts as the internationally recognised certifying body. However standards can differ between different nations. For example, in Australia the final level of preservative permitted to be within the final product is 50 per cent of what can be used under conventional Australian food standards for wine. However, in the US regulations are far stricter with no preservatives able to be found with wine labelled "organic".
Yet while that is the definition of organic wine, there are several smaller categories within the organic wine banner that a consumer can use to differentiate further.
They include:
- 100 per cent Organic - this is only apply to wines that have used only organic processes throughout the entire process with no added sulphite
- Organic - wines that have a minimum of 95 per cent of their ingredients from certified organic sources. However there may be small measurements of sulfur dioxide added.
- Made with Organic Grapes - wines with a minimum 70 per cent of their grapes from organic sources, although sulfur dioxide may be added.
Of course in Australia, labelling laws dictate that if the amount of preservative is less than 10 ppm than there is no requirement for labelling of preservative additives.
So why the need and demand for organic wine, what do other wines contain that differ so much from this biodynamic process?
It's all about the level of preservatives used within the wine making process with the commonly added preservatives being Sulphur dioxide (preservative 220), also known as SO2, Potassium metabisulphite (preservative 224) and Ascorbic Acid (300) can also be added which is limited white wine. The purpose of adding preservatives to wine is that is protects the wine against oxidation and bacterial spoilage with these preservatives able to be added anywhere from the harvest of the grapes to the bottling process.
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