Understanding the differences between Organic Wine, Biodynamic Wine, Natural Wine

Organic wine? Biodynamic wine? Natural Wine? You hear these terms more and more, whether in the press, on television or at your wine merchant, but you still don't know what they really mean. We help you see things more clearly.

Organic Wines

Let's start with the simplest and probably the best known, organic wines . Organic wines are wines from organic farming that meet certain specifications according to the organic label they have - We are therefore talking about organic viticulture.

Wine growers are prohibited from using fertilizers and chemicals such as pesticides or insecticides on vines and vineyards. To treat frequent vine diseases, winegrowers therefore use treatments based on sulfur or Bordeaux mixture against mildew for example (based on copper).

It takes at least 3 years to obtain organic certification, during this time the vineyard is in organic conversion, it complies with organic regulations and it is monitored by the certification body which ensures that it correctly complies with the specifications. loads.

The most widespread labels in France are the Ecocert certification and the “AB” Organic Agriculture label.

Biodynamic Wines

Biodynamic wines are produced using biodynamic agriculture; the principles of this agriculture can be applied to both vine growing methods and wine making. Biodynamics considers that the vine, the soil and the earth form a whole and that their balance must be preserved.

The use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides is prohibited throughout the wine estate (a wine must first be organic, before it can claim to be biodynamic). Where biodynamics goes further than classic organic farming, it is in the application of the solar and lunar calendars to work the vines, the use of native wine yeasts and fining without inputs. The use of sulfur is also lower than in organic wines.

The best-known label in France for biodynamics is the Demeter label. Many winegrowers also respect these principles but do not have certification (often due to lack of financial means), in which case you must ask them directly or follow the advice of your wine merchant (that's what we're here for).

Natural Wines

Officially Natural Wines do not exist, that is to say that there is currently no certification or official specifications which label natural wines . However, there is the Natural Wine Association which brings together dozens of farmers who have defined the rules and obligations that natural wines must respect:

• Organic or biodynamic cultivation
• Harvest by hand
• Use of indigenous yeasts for fermentation (i.e. yeasts naturally present in grapes)
• No input during winemaking, apart from a little sulfur (sulphite)

The doses of sulfur used are even lower than in organic or biodynamic agriculture. Here is an example of the doses authorized for a red wine:

• Wine in conventional agriculture: 160mg/l of sulfur
• Wine from Organic Farming: 100mg/l of sulfur
• Biodynamic wine (Demeter): 70mg/l of sulfur
• Natural Wine: 30mg/l of sulfur

To ensure that the bottle you have chosen is indeed a “natural” wine, it must already be certified organic or biodynamic and that it uses very little sulfur, so ask for advice directly from the winemaker or from your wine merchant.

Organic wines, biodynamic wines, or natural wines , find our entire selection here and treat yourself!