Organic Wine: It Isn't Easy Being Green

Nowadays, everyone can find fabulous organic foods, kitchen products, beers and even cocktails that they can feel good about buying and even better about consuming. But there's one thing that always seem to kill your buzz: organic wine. With a reputation for being expensive, short-lived and flavorless; most of us hesitate before reaching for that bottle and wonder if it's really worth it.

The word "organic" gets thrown around quite frequently nowadays, so it helps to know what exactly what organic wine is and how it is made. By law, wines labeled as organic cannot contain pesticides, artificial yeasts, chemical fertilizers or added sulfites. Most of these are things we wouldn't want in our food or drinks anyway...except the sulfites. To put the record straight, practically all wine contains sulfites (also known as So2 or sulfur dioxide), which are normal and natural byproducts of fermentation. Sulfites are actually preservatives which help stabilize wine, protect it from bacteria, keep it from turning brown and prevent it from turning into going bad (wines with no sulfites have a miniscule shelf life of about 6 months). For this reason, most winemakers add extra sulfites to their wines to keep the flavor fresh and guarantee that the wine will taste as the winemaker intended at the time of bottling. This is arguably the biggest factor in giving organic wines their bad name, since organic wines without added sulfites tend to be less flavorful and storage-worthy than their conventional counterparts. Technique: The upside to sulfite-free or no added sulfite wines? They may help you avoid the dreaded "red wine headache".

Although the taste of organic wine may not always match up to nonorganic wines, they do have their benefits in terms of both health and the environment. Most notably, since organic wines contain no "cides" (pesticides, herbicides, fungicides), you can stop worrying about ingesting chemical products and simply enjoy your glass. The use of chemical fertilizers and aforementioned "cides" also contributes to soil depletion, water pollution and can harm wildlife. To add to the problem, soils that have been sprayed with chemicals require stronger treatments each time since the bacteria they fight are growing more resistant. This means that chemical levels in vineyards today are at record highs, contributing more each day to environmental problems and finding their way into our bodies.

So do wine lovers have to choose between the delicious and the virtuous? Most sommeliers today seem to agree that organic wine has come a long way and that consumers don't have to sacrifice their health or their environment to kick back with a quality glass of vino.

"This is definitely a case of what is really old is new — the monks making wine in medieval times certainly did not have the advanced fertilizers, pesticides and chemicals that are available now. I have been really pleased to see the increased practice of organics, sustainability, biodynamics and just good sense in grape-growing and in winemaking at all levels around the world," states Belinda Chang, sommelier at the Modern in New York City."Much of it seems like commonsense: feed the soils naturally, take care of the environment, be mindful of the effects of what you do," Belinda says.

But what about the issue of flavor? Although she's never been in tasting pitting organic wines against conventional wines, Belinda believes that the biggest difference she has noticed is the "desolate rows in which a grower has used weed killer versus the rows with a healthy cover growing in between."

But some wine experts can taste a clear difference. "Without additives and extra sulfites, I noticed that organic wines just show a purity of flavor that you just don't get in some over processed wines," says Kym Apotas of Blue Angel Wines in Brooklyn, NY. Her wine shop specializes in organic wines, with seventy percent of the wines made using organic or bio-dynamic methods. Tip: For optimal flavor and wine drinking experience, Kym suggests letting organic wines open and breathe before drinking.

Now to the issue of actually buying organic wine. Luckily, many major producers like Robert Mondavi, Grigch Hills, Joseph Phelps and Frog's Leap have made the switch to organic growing and are getting it right with stunning bottles that showcase the region's finest grapes. Others, like Robert Craig, are taking a more eco-friendly approach to their wine making while not necessarily being labeled as organic. Tip: If you're on the fence about this issue, remember that wines with a USDA Organic seal will have no added sulfites while wines with a label reading "Made with Organic Grapes" are organically grown but do contain extra sulfites.

So there you have the sustainable truth. Time to taste for yourself (and don't forget to recycle the bottles)!

— Written by Lisa Curry

Photo credit: Robert Craig Winery

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