Frankenstein organics is born

Unheralded and unnoticed, August 1st saw the birth of factory organics in wine. Of course most of us are too engrossed in the Olympics or whatever to have paid much attention.

What am I talking about ? The coming into force of the European directive on organic wine of course !

These new rules relating to organic wine were published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 8th March 2012 and are applicable as of August 1st 2012 (European Commission (CE) n° 203/2012).

It is now possible for a producer adhering to these new rules to label his wine as being organic, and not just 'produced from organically farmed grapes' as previously.

What is the difference and what are the possible consequences ? Well, to get an idea I will let you read the recent editorial from Le Rouge et le Blanc (no 105 Summer 2012), a French language periodical which specialises in what one might call 'real wine produced by real people'. I have translated this for you.

'Organics up for grabs


Organic agriculture, which used to raise knowing smiles before making a lot of people wince, has now become what the kings of marketing describe as a niche market. It is a niche which requires investment, because it is expanding. As for organic producers, having previously been out in the cold, they have now been invited to the party.


In a nutshell, through the new European rules adopted on 8th February and which come into force on the 1st August 2012, large wine producers and brokers (négociants) have succeeded in transforming ‘wine from grapes produced by organic agriculture’ as it has been known until now, into ‘organic wine’, with very relaxed wine making rules perfectly suiting their own production methods.


We already knew they wanted to have their cake and eat it, now they are after the baker’s wife too. How can that be the case ? The rules of organic agriculture have been maintained of course, and added to them are new measures such as the banning of sorbic acid and desulphuring, and the limiting of concentrations of added sulphites (1). But there is nothing new about harvesting methods, nothing new about use of yeasts, nothing about ‘thermovinification‘ (up to 70C) or about reverse osmosis....


‘There is now practically no difference between organic and conventional wines’ declared Michel Issaly, president of the influential confédération des Vignerons indépendants (Confederation of Independent Wine Producers). Mass market organic wine is born, and it has no particular respect for the living nature of wine.


This strategy increasingly marginalises those who have for a long time already been going much further quality-wise than simply ‘organic’. Those - ‘natural’ producers and others- who daily find themselves pushed out of the AOC door towards the emergency exit marked Vin de Table (or Vin de France...sounds much nicer!)...


The France of these wines is the one that defends with the greatest coherence and quality true wines of terroir. Some way must be found to make a real differentiation, in the vein of those winemakers working with amphorae (see Rouge & le Blanc no 105 p.38) who adhere to strict guidelines in terms of viticulture, winemaking and maturation in order to thwart any attempt at vulgar imitation which would allow the proliferation of false labels of vaguely ‘amphora’ wine.


‘Les idées s’améliorent. Le sens des mots y participe.’ (2)


François Morel


(1)Additions reduced by 30 to 50 mg/litre compared to non-organic wines, according to their residual sugar content: for reds 100mg/litre of SO2 instead of 150; for whites and rosés 150mg/litre of SO2 instead of 200...
(2)Lautréaumont, Poésies II.'

Le Rouge et le Blanc


Is this the opportunity 'natural' wine producers have been waiting for ? Perhaps.

There is also the new directive on allergen labelling which will force producers to come clean on some additives, such as fining agents.

Of course this does not go far enough - labelling showing a complete list of additives would be more appropriate, but it is a start.