Robert Sinskey's Unofficially Organic Wine
by TreeHugger on 11.10.04
Organic wines suck. It’s hard to hear if you’re a proponent of sustainable agriculture. Trust me. It’s hard to say. But, the Organic part isn’t the problem. The truth is this: wines made without added sulfites suck. Sure, sulfites sound bad, but they have been added to wine, in some form or other, for as long as wine has been wine worth drinking. It’s a preservative, yes. But even Whole Foods, that sells nothing else containing...
...sulfites in the store, sells wine made with added sulfur. Why? Because Organic wines suck.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Please, don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting you
pooh-pooh wines made with organically-grown grapes. Organic viticulture is,
of course, incredibly important for the soil, for the planet, and (often)
for the wine. The issue here is that the USDA National Organic Program
sticks with the silly no-sulfite rule that doesn’t allow vintners who grow
and process their grapes according to all other standards of organics to use
the word “Organic” on the front of the label.
So, how are you to find a wine made with sustainably-grown grapes that
doesn’t taste like crap?
What you’ve got to do is hunt around the back of the label for the O-word.
You might see the words “made with organically grown grapes” or “made with
Organic grapes”, but that’s if you’re lucky.
Robert Sinskey Vineyards is one of the largest and most progressive organic
vineyards in Napa Valley, but their newest labels are restricted by a tangle
of regulations to saying no more about their growing practices than this:
“Ingredients: Organic Grapes”. It’s nonsense really, all this labeling (get
me on another day and I might say exactly the opposite) but Sinskey’s wines
are killer. You’ll find them on the lists at The French Laundry and Per Se,
and all of Jean-George Vongerichten’s spots. Or, at Sinskey’s insanely
gorgeous website: ::Robert Sinskey
Our pick: The 2001 Los Carneros Pinot Noir, $30.
[NOTE: But please, if think you’ve got a great bottle of true,
USDA-sanctioned, big-O certified vino, do send me a bottle or two. I’d be
happy to blind taste it with my seriously wine-savvy crew. And if it’s
better than bad, I promise to take back every word. Promise.] [by Tamara Holt]
Boy, this idiotic consipiracy is really out of hand.
Wine made without added sufites needs much more attention for storage. So, it is rarely found in stores, because they don't want to deal with it. In Italy and France, local wine is commonly sulfite free. And you can bring your bottles to be filled at the tap at the vitner. And, sulfite free wine, can be, amazing, in a way wine with sulfites added cannot.
For instance, Coates 2000 Sangiovese.
http://www.coatesvineyards.com/sangiovese.htm
The sulfite issue has achieved urban myth status,partly driven by the industy's attempts to deflect public attention from their practices. Start at the beginning:
They drank wine at the Last Supper. Agreed?
The periodic table of elements and inorganic chemistry knowledge, leading to synthesis of sodium metabisulfite (the sulfiting agent of choice), originates in mid-1800's, 18 centuries after the Last Supper. OK?
So its being argued that all wine sucked for 18 centuries. I don't think so!
Here's the deal. Sulfer (also spelled sulfur) is not likely to be measured very precisely, and the test used by USDA or FDA for that matter could well detect sulfer of non-metabisulfite or metabisulfate origin. Keep this in mind because organic growers ARE definitely allowed to used elemental sulfur powder in the vinyard as a pesticide. In fact this is quite common. Sulfur then builds up in the soil and is to varying degrees incorporated in plant tissue; or, it goes along for the ride after picking, being on the grape skins.
Furthermore, gypsum CaSO4, is commonly added as a soil amendment. It also is a natural mineral permitted by organic standards.
At any rate, all grape juice is going to have some sulfur as a result of permitted sulfer uses.
After that, metabisulfite is added to about 50ppm to the mashed grapes (mast) before fermentation. Purpose is to kill the natural yeasts, allowing selectively bred or possibly GE modified yeasts to get started and take over, doing their little fermentation thing much faster and cheaper! Here's where the cost thing crops up, because if they don't crank at fermentation the batch can go to vinegar rapidly. So its risk management in step I.
STOP for a breather....
During the remaining steps, vinters like to keep some metabisulfite present because it scavenges dissolved oxygen amost immediately...therefby shifting to the metabisulfate form . The latter does not scavenge once in final oxidative state, so they may need to add more metabisulfite just before bottling. Purpose of keeping oxygen out is to prevent coloration (darkening of clear wines), and prevent degradation of complex flavors by by chemical oxidation or through bacterial growth. Its a preservative in otherwords. And to keep the color and flavor without it means more stringent expensive quality control interventions perhaps. But mainly it means it can't sit around much in an open bottle.
IF you do not believe me try this simple experiment. Open a bottle of clear inexpensive, sulfited wine. Add about 2 milliliters of ordinary drugstore variety hydrogen peroxide to it (or 1 ml to a half bottle if you prefer. That will drive all metabisulfite to the sulfate form an keep it so, allowing oxygen to take action and begin the discoloration process. By the following day you'll see the shift. I can't taste the difference by the way.
I've experimented with doing this to wines that seem to have very high sulfite levels (I think some are way over the 50ppm mark) and give me a sinus headache as a result: no more than 2ml per bottle. Anecdotal evidence from one person is not very scientific but it did seem to help.