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Don't Ask, Don't Tell The wine industry’s biggest secret is something that you’d think they’d want to brag about. |
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posted on April 01, 2007 |
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Just the idea of organic produce evokes yuppie fantasies of bountiful Whole Foods aisles, farmers markets and spa-smoothed shoppers clad in Jil Sander. Organic wine, on the other hand, has had trouble shaking its connection with long-bearded hippies and Greenpeace activists—not exactly the sophistication winemakers are going for. They’d much prefer that wine be associated with pleasure than, say, wheat germ. Even though the Organic Consumers Association reports that organic-wine sales rose 28 percent between 2004 and 2006, the fact that a wine is made organically has not yet caught on as a positive selling point. For example, no one in California makes a more natural wine than Tony Coturri of Coturri winery (he adds no yeasts, no sulfur—his wines are made of nothing but grapes), but you won’t find the word organic on his label. “I want my wine first to be perceived as good wine,” says Coturri. “If people like it and are inspired to go to the website, they can learn how it was made.” Makers of organic wine, he adds, are still trying to get over the stigma that their product tastes worse than conventional wines—presumably because what goes into it (or rather, doesn’t) is more important to its producer than taste. “If people have a bad bottle from Napa, they don’t condemn the whole region,” Coturri points out. “But one bad bottle of organic and they’ll never have another.” There’s a difference, however, between “organic wine” and “wine made with organic grapes.” For wines certified as “organic,” the USDA prohibits the use of sulfites, which are largely considered indispensable to winemakers as an antioxidant and antimicrobial agent—basically, they help wines age well. Lack of sulfites may contribute to organic wines’ poor reputation. (No one likes a wine that’s fallen apart on the shelf.) However, lots of well-respected wines that wouldn’t qualify as completely organic by the USDA’s standards are made with organic grapes. Napa’s Spottswoode, a top winery, has been certified as an organic farmer since 1990, but you won’t see the word “organic” anywhere on its label. As winemaker Jennifer Williams explains, to do even this, the USDA requires “organic grapes” be included in an ingredient list, which is something wine labels don’t normally have. Thus, the owners of Spottswoode decided to forgo advertising their organic practices altogether. DeLoach viticulturalist Ginny Lambrix farms organically but has not yet made the move to getting the vineyards certified as organic. “I’ve kept all the paperwork,” she says, “and maybe will get around to doing that in the near future.” But to her, the actual certification is not that important. “You can walk into a vineyard that’s farmed organically and really feel the difference. The soil seems softer and more filled with life.” She continues, “You want to linger there and ultimately, that can be communicated via the wine, whether it says ‘organic’ on it or not.” WHERE TO DRINK When Chris Tavelli and Celine Guillou (pictured above) opened Yield (2490 Third St., 415-401-8984) in Dogpatch last year, it became SF’s first “green” wine bar, serving only sustainable, organic and biodynamic wine. (Sustainable connotes eco-friendly but not certified practices; organic means “certified by the USDA”; biodynamic is an even more extreme, holistic approach to farming—though not subject to USDA regulations). “One of the reasons we wanted to open this bar was to publicize these wines that have gotten a bad rap,” says Guillou, who handles the business end while Tavelli, the former wine director of Millennium, buys the wine. The wine list maintains a manageable 40 to 50 selections. Tavelli gave us his current top picks: Sobon Estate Roussane A dry, white wine made with organically grown grapes from the Sierra Foothills. ($11/glass) Porter Creek Syrah This concentrated red is from a biodynamic producer in northern Sonoma County. ($61/bottle) Barra of Mendocino Muscat A rich and intense dessert wine, from organically grown grapes from Mendocino. ($11/glass)
Just the idea of organic produce evokes yuppie fantasies of bountiful Whole Foods aisles, farmers markets and spa-smoothed shoppers clad in Jil Sander. Organic wine, on the other hand, has had trouble shaking its connection with long-bearded hippies and Greenpeace activists—not exactly the sophistication winemakers are going for. They’d much prefer that wine be associated with pleasure than, say, wheat germ. |
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