Public demand for organic wine is great (part 2)

There are some growing pains in switching from conventional grape growing to certified organic farming. Many top wine producers choose to farm sustainably but they either don't want to commit to the three year transitional period to be come certified organic, or they want to keep their options open. In some cases, wines are referred to as organically grown or made with sustainably farmed grapes. Neither of these would be considered certified organic wines even though they may have been farmed organically. They may contain added sulfites (which is a no-no if you want to be certified organic) or they may use practices in the winemaking process that are not allowed in certified organic wines.

There is a human health aspect of growing organically. The synthetic pesticide sprays can be quite dangerous to farm workers. The good news though, is that the amount of toxic chemicals implicated in farm worker sicknesses/deaths and in public cancer rates, has been declining as farmers favor what the California Department of Pesticide Regulation calls "reduced-risk" pesticides--those being less synthetic pesticides and more natural preparations like those used in organic farming.

The end product from conventional grape growers that utilize synthetic pesticides may possibly have a health impact on consumers. In a 2008 study,researchers studying 40 wines from several continents found 35 of those wines contained traces of residual pesticides. Two of those wines were French award winners (at over $300 per bottle). The 5 bottles that were uncontaminated were made from organic grapes. One organic wine had traces of pesticides in it, which was attributed to a neighboring farm that used conventional pesticides.

The list of additives that are permitted to be in conventional wine is quite long and a bit scary. Tartaric acid, mega-red/mega-purple food coloring, calcium carbonate, diammonium phosphate, potassium metabisulfite, enzymes, copper sulfite...the list goes on and on. While not every conventional winemaker uses these products, it is nearly impossible to tell what goes into a wine without an ingredient label. This is one of the things that makes organic wines desireable. Read part 3 of this article series here.

Some online organic resources:

http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/new_farm
http://www.organic-center.org
http://www.ota.com
http://organicconsumers.org
http://organicconsumers.org
http://ifoam.org
http://omri.org
http://biochar-international.org