Please show wineries that getting certified is worth it economically!
Please demand to see organic certification on your wine labels!

You are kidding right? The whole organic wine industry is a sham.


"St. Matthew" > wrote in message
om...
> Please show wineries that getting certified is worth it economically!
> Please demand to see organic certification on your wine labels!

"Vincent Vega" > wrote in message >...
> You are kidding right? The whole organic wine industry is a sham.

Huh? Those sulfites are horrible for people!

(St. Matthew) wrote in
om:

> "Vincent Vega" > wrote in message
> >...
>> You are kidding right? The whole organic wine industry is a sham.
>
> Huh? Those sulfites are horrible for people!

Once again, ALL WINES CONTAIN SULFITES. There is no such thing as wine
without sulfites. Wines can have no sulfites added, but sulfites are
produced when grapes are fermented. You get more sulfites from a glass of
orange juice than a bottle of wine. There are many reasons to buy organic
wine. Sulfites are not one of them. Anyone selling "sulfite-free wine" is
selling more than just wine.

Fred.

Nearly everyting you eat or drink has sulfites, either naturally
occurring, added, or both (most wine has both). Besides, sulfites are
not nearly as bad as what may get into the wine if SO2 is not used.

(St. Matthew) wrote in message . com>...
> "Vincent Vega" > wrote in message >...
> > You are kidding right? The whole organic wine industry is a sham.
>
> Huh? Those sulfites are horrible for people!

"AyTee" > wrote in message
om...
> Nearly everyting you eat or drink has sulfites, either naturally
> occurring, added, or both (most wine has both). Besides, sulfites are
> not nearly as bad as what may get into the wine if SO2 is not used.

Finally! A voice of reason.

In some areas organic wine certification is not recognized. Some wine
standards preclude organic production. As I understand it VQA is one that
today does not allow organic labelling but I heard that they are looking at
this issue.

Joe

"St. Matthew" > wrote in message
om...
> Please show wineries that getting certified is worth it economically!
> Please demand to see organic certification on your wine labels!

St. Matthew wrote:

> Please show wineries that getting certified is worth it economically!
> Please demand to see organic certification on your wine labels!

Why?

--
charles

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were
forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."
- W.C. Fields

Charles H > wrote in message >...
> St. Matthew wrote:
>
> > Please show wineries that getting certified is worth it economically!
> > Please demand to see organic certification on your wine labels!
>
> Why?

The reasons are plentiful, Charles:

http://www.wholelifetimes.com/OrganicWine.html


Wine That Speaks to the Soul

Some winemakers see themselves as soulful stewards of the land.
Surprisingly, their world class, pesticide-free wine may be
hiding on a shelf in your local market.

By Deborah Behrens

"Wine is farming." Richard Sanford spoke firmly, his voice resonating
with the quiet conviction of someone with deep spiritual connections
to the earth. "Fundamentally, I think it comes from the soul. It comes
out of an expression of how people feel they should be in the world."

For grape growers like Sanford, whose award-winning winery is located
in southern California's Santa Ynez Valley, organic farming is not a
marketing strategy dictated by political correctness. It evolved from
a personal dedication to fine winemaking, coupled with a deeply held
belief in responsible stewardship of the land.

The French call it terroir. Capturing it in a bottle is the yearly
Holy Grail of winemakers across the globe. Loosely translated, the
word means " a sense of place," or a vineyard's specific natural
attributes-soil, climate and geography-that conspire to produce the
unique taste of its grapes at the exact moment of harvest.

Imagine, then, the bouquet of a wine crafted by a man whose Taoist
environmental philosophies have created one of the world's most
respected Pinot Noirs-earning 91 points from Wine Spectator and rated
as one of "California's Best Wines of the Year" by The Wine News.

Sanford combines ruggedly handsome leading man looks with a Zen
master's poise. At age 62, he looks 10 years younger, with a boyish
charm and healthy vitality that belie his avid love of the outdoors. A
1965 U.C. Berkeley geography/geology graduate, he chose farming after
a stint in Vietnam because he wanted to be involved with "something
more earthly connected," and grape farming specifically, he said with
a grin, "because it seemed like a cool thing to do."

Sanford is credited with proving to skeptics that grapes could be
grown in southern California's Santa Ynez Valley, where the soil and
climate compare favorably with that of France's Burgundy. With
then-partner Michael Benedict, he planted the region's earliest Pinot
Noir vineyard in 1971, and their first wines were released in 1976 to
international acclaim. He and Benedict parted ways four years later,
and Sanford founded Sanford Winery with his wife Thekla the following
year.

Sustainable Commitment

Nestled in the Santa Rita Hills, the Sanford Winery is a testament to
the Sanfords' commitment to the environment and sustainable farming.
They have been farming organically for 20 years and in 1999 were the
first winery in Santa Barbara to have its estate vineyards certified
organic by the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF).

Natural springs water all four vineyards. A miniature spring house in
the fields features a wall fountain adorned with the head of Bacchus,
the god of wine.

Not content simply to farm organically, Sanford honors his land by
preserving large portions of it. Nearly 650 acres of natural habitat
at each of the winery's four ranches are pledged as a conservation
easement, and 100 acres have been set aside in a land trust as an oak
woodland preserve.

The La Riconada vineyard is a refuge for endangered wildlife; since
1998, the Bird Research Group at U.C. Santa Cruz has rescued young
falcons across the state and released more than 30 there each summer.

Their red-tile roofed, mission-style wine facility at La Riconada is
believed to be the largest handmade adobe construction since the
California missions were built, the culmination of a 20-year dream. A
natural spring runs through the sprawling stone and stucco building,
facilitating feng shui energy flow. In the courtyard, a massive Buddha
statue faces one of Saint Guadalupe, inlaid in an exterior wall to
honor the spiritual philosophy of Sanford's largely Latino workers,
most of whom have been with him for years.

"It's been very exciting," he enthused. "I had thought about [the
building] for a long, long time. But the very cool thing is to see it
all working properly. For me, it's just a big game of figuring it all
out!" He grinned and laughed with the twinkling eyes of a kid who'd
just built his first treehouse.

The Organic Challenge

We city-dwellers who honor the land from a distance do so in part by
shopping locally for items that are a testament to our beliefs about
health and the environment. For example, in planning a dinner party,
we might shop for organic salad greens and grain-fed, free-range
chicken, to be followed by an organic fruit tart with flakey whole
wheat crust.

But in choosing wine to accompany such a feast, we're likely to choose
a familiar, top-selling brand a product farmed with more chemicals
than all the other food items combined.

This is a paradox the organic and organically grown wine industry
faces daily. Consumers who are willing to pay more to shop organically
just don't believe the same quality exists in so-called "organic"
wines. Many recall with distaste the early, unfiltered versions from
the 1980s when the industry was in its infancy. Others don't realize
that some of their favorite award winning vineyards are actually
farmed organically, but remain unlabeled as such for fear of negative
reaction.

What follows next is a classic Catch-22 scenario. Some winemakers want
to see more consumer demand before they commit to the labyrinth of
governmental regulations that control organic classification.
Consumers, on the other hand, simply haven't cared with enough of
their dollars to convince them.

Organic Semantics

Richard Sanford didn't used to care either. It took 10 years of
observing the effects of conventional spraying before he made the
decision to farm organically.

"I used to drive the tractor and do everything myself when I was
starting out," he said, speaking in the winery's conference room
which, like the adjacent tasting room and other company offices, is
made from an old barn transplanted from one of Sanford's four
vineyards. "I saw that the chemicals we were spraying on the earth
must be getting into our ground water, our resources. It's foolish to
think that the tons of chemicals we produce aren't integrated back
into the environment. We're just polluting ourselves.

"My wife Thekla said to me, 'Richard, we're growing all our food
organically. Why don't you just grow the grapes organically?' It was a
big challenge. We weaned ourselves off chemical herbicides and
pesticides in a matter of three years. Now the farming costs are
comparable to traditional farming costs. It's mainly a trade-off of
chemicals for labor."

Despite his organic pedigree, however, Sanford does not technically
produce "organic" wine. Nor does he, or anyone else interviewed for
this story, particularly want to be recognized in that category as it
is currently defined. And even if they did, they'd be prevented by
law. Whether a winery can call its wines "organic" versus "made with
organically grown grapes," or label them accordingly on the front
versus the back of the bottle, is determined by the United States
government.

Why? It boils down to one infamous word: Sulfites.

Sulfites' Bad Rap

The issue of sulfur dioxide as a food preservative came to the
national consciousness in the early 1980s when a number of consumer
illnesses and deaths of sensitive (usually asthmatic) people were
attributed to sulfite usage on fresh fruits and vegetables in
restaurant salad bars. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
subsequently banned most uses of it on produce and required that all
products containing sulfites have it spelled out on the label. Since
July 9, 1987, warning labels have been required on all alcoholic
beverages with at least 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulfites.

According to the FDA, one percent of the general population and five
percent of asthmatics are affected by sulfites. Despite those low
statistics, a residual fear of them has remained. In any event, all
wine contains naturally occurring sulfites as a by-product of
fermentation. Even wines that are labeled as having "no added
sulfites," and are thus permitted to call themselves "organic," such
as organic/no sulfite pioneer Frey Vineyards in Mendocino, may still
contain between 6 and 15 ppm.

Most fine winemakers believe that adding a minimum level of sulfites
in the form of sulfur salts or sulfur dioxide solutions during
fermentation ensures shelf stability; it helps prevent both oxidation
and bacterial growth while allowing aging-and the development of fine
nuances-to occur. But because they add sulfites, they cannot call
themselves "organic," but must instead say their wine is "made with
organically grown grapes."

"It doesn't work to have fine 'organic' wine at the present time,"
said Sanford. "Under the current rules, it would have no sulfites and
be very fragile. You'd look at it and it would oxidize.

"All our wines are grown organically. The only addition we have is
sulfur dioxide to protect against oxidation. Even though it's at very
low levels, we're unable to call it organic wine. But it is wine from
organically produced grapes."

Sante Losio and Bruno Allaire, wine consultants and creators of last
year's EcoWineFest 2003, the first international "organically grown"
wine festival, concur that it's difficult to make a quality wine
without some added sulfites. As importers of fine organically grown
wines from all over the world, they've seen what happens when you
don't.

"Organic wine that is truly alive can't be agitated," observed Allaire
and Losio. "It's more sensitive to light, change of temperature and
has a short shelf life. Wines that are "organically grown" are
permitted to add sulfur up to 100 ppm, which is less than 1%. Most add
less than a third of that, and are still way below the maximum 350 ppm
allowed in conventional wine growing."

Bion Rice, president of the award winning, organically farmed Sunstone
Vineyards and Winery in Santa Ynez, uses sulfur in the winemaking
process because, "We believe you have to do that in order to make
wines that have integrity and will ship well across the country."

"It's a commitment to quality and to our customers," Rice noted. " I
believe when they buy one of our reserve wines, they want to sit on it
for a while. They want to see it get to its optimum drinking. You
don't want to drink a wine when it's too young, so you have to use
sulfites. The day someone comes up with an alternative, they'll be a
billionaire overnight."

Rice found out the hard way in the late 1990s that "nobody really
cared" that they grew Rhone and Bordeaux varietals organically and
were completely biosustainable.

"We lost a lot of ground trying to communicate the difference between
environmental preservationism, which is what we're doing, versus being
an 'organic' winery," he said. "We are totally devoted to the land.
There's no Round-up (pesticide) anywhere. We weed everything by hand,
even around the tasting room facilities. It's a commitment we made
long ago that comes down to a personal philosophy."

What's On the Label

Since certification affects what a winery can put on the front or back
label of a bottle-making an organic bottle easier to spot on the
shelf-consumers who want more labeled organic wines in their stores
need to show wineries that getting certified is worth it economically.

"Until consumers become educated enough to demand to see organic
certification on wine labels," said Allaire, "you're not going to see
an increase in organically produced wines."

Winemakers who want to label their wines in any organic category face
a gauntlet of certification requirements and fluctuating governmental
regulations. Beginning in October 2002, the federal Organic Food
Production Act required that California wineries could only use the
terms "organic" or "organically grown" if their wine growing practices
could pass its organic certification standards as outlined in the new
regulations. The National Organic Program (NOP), under the USDA, is
responsible for implementing the "Rule," as it is now called, and
accredits a mix of private and public certifying agents in each state
to carry out certification procedures.

Under NOP standards, in order to label your wine "organic," it must
contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients, and no added
sulfites. To label "made with organically grown grapes," it must
contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients, and only up to 100ppm
of added sulfites. To be able to put either phrase on the back of the
bottle, you must be an "organically certified grower." To put it in
prime position on the front label, you must be an "organically
certified processor" as well.

In California, the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) is
considered one of the most revered and respected in the United States.
All the wineries mentioned in this article were already CCOF certified
before the Rule went into effect. Fetzer's Bonterra Vineyards is among
the very few that have both types of certification. Sanford Winery
mentions that its vineyards are certified organic on the back of its
new premium label. Sunstone Vineyards, though CCOF certified, notes it
on only a third of their offerings.

"Some people say they're organic, but don't have certification,"
Richard Sanford stated. "I think it's a cop-out. Certification takes
three years of abstention from using any chemicals. People talk about
sustainability as not necessarily being organic, but organic makes
consumers pay a lot more attention."

Histamine Hangovers?

Some winemakers contend that naturally occurring histamines (which
dilate the blood vessels in the brain), chemical residuals and other
additives used in conventional winemaking to enhance flavor and
bouquet are the real culprits for consumer headaches and illness, not
sulfites. Many conventional wines contain more than 50 ingredients,
including flavorings, forbidden by law in wines grown organically.

Flavorful grapes don't need them. A wine that boasts a strong French
Oak nose may actually be trying to cover up poor quality fruit,
explained Rice. "That's a dead giveaway for me. If a wine tastes like
wood chips, you'd have to ask, 'Why would they do that to a really
good Chardonnay?'"

Sanford, who believes winemaking is a "nice metaphor for life,"
concurred. "What we're trying to do is achieve balance," he observed,
gently swirling a garnet glassful of his acclaimed 2000 La Riconada
Pinot Noir. "Intensity of fruit, plus just enough acid to balance the
amount of fruit. Regrettably, many winemakers use the same formula for
different fruit characteristics [and] end up having oak-y water."

Wine Lovers Unite

For now, consumers who purchase an organic head of lettuce for two to
three times the price of one grown conventionally do not yet see the
same price/value equivalency for organically grown wines. And unless
consumer demand for certified organically grown and labeled wine
increases dramatically, it will remain an expanding, but boutique
category.

"People don't see wine as a living product," said Rice. "You buy the
head of lettuce because it's alive. A bottle of wine is hidden behind
dark glass. But I also think the category is going to become more
popular because the big players are behind it now."

Sanford remains committed but skeptical regarding public demand.

"There hasn't been any premium on even saying 'organic.' The reality
is, that as a fine wine producer, it used to be a death knell to have
organic on the label. People perceived it as being not very good. But
I'm very proud of it and think people deserve to know how their food
has been treated.

"People aren't willing to pay a premium for organic at the present
time," he concluded. "I don't know that they are as compelled to drink
organic wine as buy organic produce, because in doing so, they would
greatly limit their choices. I think the category has to grow a lot
before consumers take it seriously."

End of article.

L.A. writer, filmmaker and playwright Deborah Behrens' recent cover
stories include WLT's Mariel Hemingway and Sir Ben Kingsley for LA
Stage.