I get asked quite frequently “Do you have any organic wine?”. And every time, I never know how to answer. Usually, I follow up with my own question: “What do you mean by organic?” It may sound silly, but a surprisingly large number of people don’t fully understand what is organic. You see, when most people ask me this question, what they are really asking is, “Do you have any sulfite-free wine?”. For those of you who don’t know, sulfite-free wine is any wine that has “No added sulfites.” It’s not really sulfite-free, but has significantly less sulfites than most wine. Unfortunately, there are very few quality wines in this category. However, when the term organic is broadened to include any wine produced in an organic way (sustainable, biodynamic—see entry at end of newsletter, or organically farmed) there are a plethora of wines that are well worth drinking. To make matters even more confusing, most of these terms aren’t exactly regulated so it can be very difficult to ascertain the precise meaning. Hopefully I’ll be able to clear up a few things, though, this month, as I tried to pick out a range of wines that fit into this wonderfully ambiguous organic category.
