Some domestic, conventional wines can include GMO yeast and other processing ingredients. The rigorous Non-GMO-Project Verification process requires authentication of every ingredient used throughout the entire winemaking process.
Authors like Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman champion intelligent eating that will help us all live longer. I wonder, though, when those guys sit down to a meal with wine, do they drink organic? I’d like to think so. Laura Klein, publisher of Organic Authority, told me that people who eat organically would also be likely to drink organic, natural or sustainably-produced wine.
This may be shocking for many wine lovers out there, but there is a loop hole in the wine labeling system that allows wineries to omit an ingredient list.
At Friday’s vote, an impassioned debate arose whether the board was responsible for the allergic properties of sulfur dioxide. “‘Organic’ isn’t necessarily synonymous with an allergen–free zone,” pointed out NOSB chair Tracy Miedema. “Organic should be about agriculture, first and foremost.”
The time has come. Organic wine consumers now have the power to help change the USDA’s definition of Organic Wines. The change will bring about a huge resurgence in consumers’ opinions about organic wines. Not only will consumers be less confused, but they will be reassured that the wines they are consuming are truly organic!
CCOF stands for California Certified Organic Farmers and is an organic certification program that certifies over 1,300 different organic crops and products ranging from apples to livestock to wine. Many vineyards choose to become certified with CCOF because it has similar certification standards in the vineyard as USDA and allows the vineyards to have a recognizable symbol on their wine labels. What it does not cover is certification in the winery, which has its own set of rules regulated by the USDA with, but at the very least it give consumers the confidence that their wines are “Made with Organic Grapes.” …
It may surprise many people, but the labeling laws for the wine industry are tricky and can truthfully be quite confusing for a consumer.
