WHY DRINK ORGANIC WINES?
By most accounts, certified organic foods now make up about 5% of supermarket sales, and are an $18 billion industry. But why drink organic wines? Like consumers, wine growers have been moving towards organic farming for over a decade for health and environmental concerns, and because it makes sense to farm sustainably for the benefit of future generations and vineyard productivity. In California alone there are now some 12,000 acres of vineyards (almost 5% of the states total) certified by third party organizations like California Certified Organic Farms (CCOF); and there are nineteen wineries certified as producers of Organic Wines (i.e. wines farmed organically and vinified without additional sulfites). It is also worth noting that over 90% of vineyards up and down the West Coast are farmed sustainably, without any certification. The days of routine, rampant use of chemicals are long gone, and practices like cover cropping to establish organic mulching and foster beneficial insects,
