Written by Jennifer Gregoire
Thursday, 24 September 2009 16:04
The word organic seems like a relatively new term. However, historically all wine was produced organically, but since there was no such thing as non-organic, there was also no need to label wine as organic. But today walk into any wine store or even grocery store and you can start seeing bottles labeled as organic. What does this mean? Does it mean its better? Should we choose the organic wine or the one we usually get that isn't labeled organic? So many questions for one little bottle of wine.
To begin with, all wine comes from grapes grown from the ground. Modern farming has introduced us to the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides that are added to the soil and plants to ensure that they grow strong and without loss of any portion of the crop due to Mother Nature and her wily ways. But the use of all these chemicals isn't necessary for the plant to grow or for a great bottle of wine to be produced. Instead the use of these chemicals are the direct result of the commercialization of modern farming that demands the farmer produces as much of his product as possible for as little cost as possible.
Chemicals ensure a consistency to the product the farmer can produce. With an organic crop there is greater potential for some of the crop to be lost due to bugs and weeds since it is not all hopped up on chemicals. This is risky business for most farmers, which is why the practice of using chemicals has been so widely accepted.
Once the grapes leave the ground and head to the winery they are met with processing that takes them even farther away from being "organic". The non organic processing can involve reverse osmosis, excessive filtration and possibly even the addition of oak chips as a flavor additive. By contrast, organic grapes receive little or no manipulation and are often harvested by hand, rushed to the winery to be crushed, fermented on native yeasts and only low levels of sulfites are added (or none all).
Often we have to pay more for the organic bottle of wine because of the cost of the certification process that the wine maker has to go through to attain the "organic" label. Many wineries that produce organic wine choose not to be certified organic because of this added cost and therefore are not able to label their wine bottle as such. If you do happen to enjoy a particular wineries' wine but prefer to drink only organic wine, you should research that winery to see if they are in fact one of the few who produce organic wine without being certified.
Many people think that there is no taste difference between organic and non-organic, which may be true. But the reality is that the content is very different. You can choose to either put chemicals in your body and on our soil or you can choose not to. The point in being educated on what is and what isn't organic is to help you be able to make that decision. Most of us have a vague idea of how our food is processed, but that vague idea stems from farming practices of decades past. To truly understand what you put in your mouth today, you must educate yourself on how food is processed, the reality of which often looks nothing like the image we have in our head.
Whichever decision you may make, let your education on organic and non-organic wine be your guide, not the price, not the fancy label, or the expensive advertisement. Instead base your decision on your personal preference when it comes to which wine you prefer to drink. Be that a preference in taste, farming practices or the region the wine comes from. You make your decision with every bottle of wine you purchase, choose wisely.
