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BANG FOR THE BITE
It is possible to find a decent bottle of organic wine for $10-$20.
COCKTAIL FACT
When Mount Vesuvius buried Pompeii in volcanic lava in A.D. 79, it also buried more than 200 wine bars.
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home › tip library › Organic Wine
Looking for wine that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside (and not just for the obvious reasons)?
The Bite
Next time you sip - or swill, for that matter - try out an organic wine. Good for the environment, a change from your regular wine beat, and great for your peace of mind.The Benefits
- Keeps the grapes free of pesticides: gallons of petroleum distillates and hundreds of pounds of pesticides are diverted from scenic wineries (and their residues from your wine glass).
- Supports smaller producing wineries - who generally make the best wines anyway.
- It's wine. It's good for your heart, your taste buds and your mental state.
Personally Speaking
We're a little wine-snobby (and of the wine-swilling variety), so to be honest, we were a little skeptical about the whole "organic wine" thing. Fortunately, we were proven wrong. Heather's current fave is Fattoria Lavacchio's 1999 Cortigiano - available through Geerlings & Wade - a Super Tuscan from just south of Florence that helps to curb her Italy cravings. Jen can't seem to remember what that great bottle the other week was called.Wanna Try?
Organic wine is more accessible than you'd think, but harder to identify for two reasons:
- According to the USDA's label requirements, wines with added sulfites can't be labeled "organic." And wines without sulfites can be relatively short-lived, so you may be getting organic grapes, just without the organic label.
- Because of the extra care required, organic growers generally see smaller yields in smaller vineyards and they make fewer cases.
So, just ask your own wine store what they recommend! Or, check out Frey Vineyards - perhaps the easiest to find of the US organic winemakers, even available at Costco!
Into armchair shopping? Good news: The Supreme Court has ruled that (most) states can no longer ban out-of-state wine shipments, making organic wine purchases online convenient and economical:
Aug 25,2005
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I haven't.
I always thought it was something in the air - some mad sweet magic that made it so that I could drink my first glass of wine at 11 am, and then have a few sips (glasses) with lunch, more for a late afternoon break, and finish up with a good amount with dinner, followed by a grappa or limoncello or amaro... And somehow, I can always wake up, refreshed and ready to go, early the next morning - a whole day of seeing and feasting and drinking and walking ahead of me.
But only in Europe.
Adrenaline and Sulfites
Truth is, my amazing tolerance during travel COULD be attributable to the adrenaline associated with jetlag and a change of pace. Or, it could simply be the lack of sulfites. See - when wine doesn't have to age terribly long, or travel long distances - when it is house wine, served in a litre carafe, poured from some stash in the back kitchen... they don't have to add sulfites. And sulfites - generally - cause at least a small amount of allergic reaction in most people that can manifest itself as headaches or stuffiness or nausea. Which sounds sort of like a hangover to me.
Organic Wines and Sulfites
So, lately I have been experimenting with the notion that if I drink wine without too much added sulfite, I MIGHT get to replicate my Italian lifestyle. And most organics - even if they have enough that they can't be labeled as organic - contain lower levels of sulfite (not to mention pesticides and other synthetic chemicals). If you want to give it a try with me (the organic-low-sulfite-drink-fest), go for any Italian red from Rosso Conero. The entire region is in a national forest, so the wines you get from there are - by default - organic. They might not be able to be labeled organic, but know that they are.
In the meantime, I am going to dream of my next trip to Italy, where you just request the house red (or it just shows up at your table), and you never know what you are drinking, and you never care, because it's the best thing imaginable - that indescribable magic floating in the air and in your glass.
-Heather... off to stay away from my stash of grappa...
Biter Comments...
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: Hugo Strasser | September 03, 2005 at 12:19 AM