ORGANIC GRAPES and ORGANIC WINE
Organic agriculture has been very well regulated within the European Union. The term ‘organic’ in relation to food products can only be used if the product has been organically produced and handled. There is however no ‘organic wine’. There is European legislation on the growth of organic grapes but there is no legislation on the process of organic wine making or vinification. Some private vineyards have got their own rules and regulations and check upon those conditions. There is need for European legislation for organic wine making. If it is possible for bread, why not for wine?

ORGANIC CULTIVATION OF GRAPES
The same core words come up for organic grape cultivation as well as organic fruit cultivation. The choice for mould resistant races, no chemical-synthetical pest control but a limited list of accepted means, mechanical weed control, organic fertilisation and so on….
The choice for a wine race causes its own difficulties. To receive an appellation or produce a wine of controled origin in the normal professional wine making one has to work with particular races. Unfortunately these are hardly resistent to moulds. For example, in Germany or Switzerland only a few mould resistent races are accepted within the appellations. France is even more strict and swears with the traditional races. Since the Wine Law of 1935 no new wine race has been introduced, fearing the gullying of the reputation of French wines. Because of this the majority of French vintners are condemned to, or choose to, spray pesticides (and herbicides) instead of prevention.

The mould resistent race “Sirius” has been allowed in Belgium for the “Hagelandse Appellation” (white wine). Other resistent races that are being used in Belgium are Phoenix, Biance and Orion for white wines and Regent and Rondo for red wines.

The other problem which occurs with mould resistent races is that this resistency does not last forever. The race loses its resistency or the mould mutilates. This means that just as much or even more usage of pesticides and herbicides are needed just like with the traditional races.


BIO VINIFICATION

There is no European law for organic wine making. This means that theoretically just as much conservations and adjustments can be used as with conventional wine making. However, if a vintner is taking the effort of growing organic grapes, he or she also wants to reach the additional value in their wines. This is the reason why most organic vintners follow the rules and regulations of private labels for organic vinification. Checks are being done by regulated organisations, but every (private) label has got its own regulations. This means that differences occur between labels which leads to a shattered situation in organic winemaking. For instance, the allowed amount of sulphite every label has its own limits

SULPHITE: “CHâTEAU MIGRAINE”

Professional vignerons or vintners claim that it is impossible to make wine without sulphite (SO2). In wine, sulphite is being used as a conservative and to prevent “wild” fermentation.

In conventional food, sulphite is added to (amongst others:) dried fruit, deep frozen vegetables, jam, fruit juices, tinned vegetables, candy and beers. In organic food sulphite is not allowed, apart from in wine and fruit wines (such as cider).

An overdose of sulphite can cause headaches and nausea. Some people are overly sensitive to sulphite and can only drink wines with a low percentage of sulphite. Asthma patients can be extra sensitive to sulphite. It is also said that it can block the function of vitamin B1, which is important for the neutralisation of alcohol in blood. Therefor it is understandable that there are regulations and limits to the amount of sulphite in wine.

The EU laws state the maximum amount of sulphite in all wines. White wine can contain more sulphite as red wine. For example: Red wine with less then 5 g/l residual sugar is allowed to contain 160 mg/l sulphite. In the private (organic) labels (see above) these limits are roughly halved.

No matter the maximum, the allowed amounts of sulphite in wine are too high to be healthy. The Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) is measured in mg/kg (milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight). For SO2 (sulphite) this is 0.7 mg/kg. If you weigh 60 kilograms and you like sweet white wine, the ADI means that you can drink 0.16 litres of conventional wine per day. It can be said that there is too much sulphite allowed in wine, especially if you consider the amount of sulphite that is added to other conventional foods. Therefore organic wine is slightly better and if you consider the ADI this would be nearly two glasses per day.

ALTERNATIVES FOR SULPHITE

Nowadays it is assumed that the addition of sulphite is a necessary evil. No product has been found or discovered yet that can replace sulphite and its functions. Is it possible to produce wine without sulphite? The theoritical answer is ‘yes’, but only at extremely tight hygienic conditions. These conditions are nearly impossible to reach for professional vinification.

It is very well possible though to reduce the amount of sulphite by an incredible margin. Good starting material (hand harvested grapes) have a lot less diseases. With mechanical harvesting the quality selection is less thorough, which leads to the use of ‘additives’. Oxidation (another thing which sulphite helps against) can be prevented by strict checks.
Let it be clear: Craftmanship, time and intensive labour all play part in reducing the amount of sulphite.

These days large appellations also offer organic wines, even champagne and sauternes. Well known “Châteaux” from big wine areas such as Elzas, Bordeaux and the Rhône and Loire valleys are changing to organic wine agriculture because of the quality. Certain terroirs are changing completely to organic agriculture. The appellation ‘les Baux de Provence’ is an example of a complete change to organic agriculture.

THE FUTURE FOR ORGANICS

Organic wine is more expensive than conventional wine, the added value is estimated to be in the region of 20 to 30 %. Labour costs are higher, the output is lower and there are much more risks both during the growing and at harvesting. But if you chose organic wine, it is not only better for your own health (no left-overs in the wine of chemical-synthetical pesticides and less additives), but also for the environment.

It is about time that there will be European legislation for vinification. In the short term the total sulphite percentage has to be mentioned on the label of the bottle for all wines. It is also a complete surprise why wine escapes of the obligation of putting all ingredients on the labels.

Source: This article is a summary of ‘Gezondheid! Biologische Wijn’ (Cheers! Organic Wine) first published in ‘Seizoenen’, October 2001, Sofie Hoste and Relinde Baeten, Velt vzw (Belgium).