Good value organic wine

ruthie_2

I want to start drinking organic wine. Normally I pay around £3 a bottle for wine. The cheapest organic wine I have found starts at around £4 a bottle. I did a search to see if I could buy it by the box, but nothing came up.

Has anyone found a great value organic wine that they would recommend?

Cheers! Ruthie

Hook_2

ruthie wrote: »

I want to start drinking organic wine. Normally I pay around £3 a bottle for wine. The cheapest organic wine I have found starts at around £4 a bottle. I did a search to see if I could buy it by the box, but nothing came up.

Has anyone found a great value organic wine that they would recommend?

Cheers! Ruthie

Be wary of organic wines. Although the wines are made from organic grapes, the process in which wine is made means that it's pretty much impossible to have an organically produced wine, as opposed to organically grown.

When the wine is fermenting, in order to prevent it over-fermenting it is stopped by using sulphur. This is why labels on wine bottles now say "Contains sulphites". Using Sulphites obviously isn't organic, and at that point the wine stops being organic.

I worked in the bar trade until not long ago, and we did sell organic wine, that was also certified fairtrade - but the wine reps were always making sure that we understood it was organically grown, but not organically produced. I'm not aware of a winemaker who doesn't use sulphites although I'd love to be corrected so I can recommend to the place I used to run!

more_money_for_me

Not sure about the above, guess it depends on what the certiying body allow, soil association standards are generally pretty high. If you do want organic wine you could try vinceremos.co.uk or suma.co.uk who both do wines in bulk.:beer:

bigpaws23

I get one from the Co-Op, at the moment is is £2.99 a bottle for the red variety and it doesn't contain sulphites as fas as I remember.

Seren_2

I buy about 6 bottles of Sainsburys "SO organic wine" a week, have just read the small print at the back and it contains sulphates, didn't realise this.

Will try to find one without sulphates.

Hook_2

Seren wrote: »

I buy about 6 bottles of Sainsburys "SO organic wine" a week, have just read the small print at the back and it contains sulphates, didn't realise this.

Will try to find one without sulphates.

We've always been told that the wine was organically grown, but never realised why until a few weeks ago at a trade wine tasting. I believe that the soil certification allows the wine to be sold as organic wine, because it is grown organically, but if you're seeking to drink a truly organic wine that isn't possible because of the way it's produced. It's a bit of subtle distinction, and one that I imagine the wine producers aren't that interested in promoting!

I googled a bit about it, and found this website that offers insights onto organic wines. http://www.aboutorganics.co.uk/organic_food_drink/organic_wine_spirits.htm

Debt_Free_Chick

Interesting point about the sulphates.

But bear in mind that certain "artificial" substances can be used in the production of organic food. Organic food can be grown using the following

natural rock phosphate
calcined aluminium phosphate
copper
derris - a naturally occurring chemical extracted from the roots of several tropical and subtropical plant species
sulphur
soft soap

AFAIK, a sulphate or sulphite is derived from sulphur, which is certainly permissible for growing organic food - albeit, its use may be controlled by or need the permission of the certifying body (e.g. Soil Association).

Sulphur can be applied to the vineyard - which would mean that the grapes are organically grown, but that sulphur has been applied as a fungicide. Does this mean that the sulphates in organic wine result from the application of sulphur in the vineyard?

According to the Soil Association, their standards monitor the amount of sulphur dioxide added - but organic wine certified by the SA can include permitted amounts of sulphur dioxide.

Just curious ... if organic standards permit the use of controlled amounts of sulphur, is there anything to be concerned about? Bearing in mind that organic food can contain "other ingredients" too?

ailuro2

I have started buying wine produced at the Cairn O' Mohr winery which is around 15 miles from my home,and when buying from from shops I buy European rather than my old favourite Californian Zinfandel, as the penny dropped and I realised that every bottle of wine is close to 1KG that is flying halfway round the world to my dinner table- not quite as obvious as those American Apples I no longer buy.

http://www.cairnomohr.co.uk/

chloe-san

in september we visited the emidio pepe vineyard in abruzzo italy, the most incredible place and beautiful handcrafted organic wines (handcrafted in the literal sense) - their trebbiano d'abruzzo was served to the g8 this summer in tokyo on their organic day. you can buy direct it retails in new york at US 275 plus a bottle but you can buy depending on the year from 10 euros to 50 euros. click here for a a bit more information about them.

Cardelia

Hook wrote: »

When the wine is fermenting, in order to prevent it over-fermenting it is stopped by using sulphur. This is why labels on wine bottles now say "Contains sulphites". Using Sulphites obviously isn't organic, and at that point the wine stops being organic.

Not quite. The soil association permits the use of sulfites in the processing of wine, but only a limited amount. The exact figures are on their website if you want to look it up but the limit is far more stringent than for non-organic wine.

On a more general point, it's important to distinguish between sulfur and sulfites. Sulfites are compounds which are derived from sulfur, but just because sulfur is a permitted pesticide, that doesn't mean that sulfites are allowed to be used in food manufacture. They are for wine, but not necessarily for other foods.

competitionscafe

ruthie wrote: »

I want to start drinking organic wine. Normally I pay around £3 a bottle for wine. The cheapest organic wine I have found starts at around £4 a bottle. I did a search to see if I could buy it by the box, but nothing came up.

Has anyone found a great value organic wine that they would recommend?

Cheers! Ruthie

At £3 a bottle you are paying about 30p for the wine - the rest is duty and profit margin for the maker and retailer. :eek: Better to drink less and spend a bit more (as the duty/tax is a fixed amount). I use Stone Vine and Sun - they don't have many organic wines, but their catalogue marks those producers who produce to organic (and beyond organic) standards and biodynamic growers - for many small producers (Whose wines you will never find in supermarkets - they don't produce the volume) it is uneconomical to be organically certified (too expensive) but they adhere to organic standards (and often far better than that) - they just cannot use the word on their labels as they are not certified. http://www.stonevine.co.uk/

Vintage Roots is another good supplier and specialises in organic wine - again for £3/£4 you are out of luck but if you are prepared to pay a bit more try:

White:
Quinta do Côa Douro Branco 2006
Emiliana Org!nico Winemaker's Selection Novas Chardonnay/Marsanne/Viognier 2006

Red:
Château de Combebelle Syrah Grenache 2005

(all the above are around £7)
http://www.vintageroots.co.uk/