Organicwine Europe Blogspot

Jancis Robinsons report on biodynamic wines

2011-09-20T03:33:00.001-07:00

"On paper it sounds completely crazy, or at least a wholemeal sandwich short of a picnic, but when you see the health of the grapes that result and, perhaps even more importantly, the vibrancy of the wines typically produced, it is increasingly convincing.

"It’s worth considering a few of the French producers who have gone over entirely to biodynamic viticulture: Lalou Bize-Leroy most famously in her great vineyard holdings that make up the Domaine Leroy in Burgundy; neighbours Jean-Louis Trapet of Gevrey-Chambertin, Anne-Claude Leflaive of Domaine Leflaive in Puligny-Montrachet and Dominique Lafon of Domaine Comtes Lafon of Meursault; Olivier Humbrecht of Zind-Humbrecht in Alsace and many others in Alsace such as Faller of Domaine Weinbach, Kreydenweiss and Josmeyer; Jacques Selosse of Champagne; Chapoutier of the Rhône valley; and Gaston Huet of Vouvray and, the great proselytizer, Nicolas Joly of Savennières in the Loire. These are not flower power sandal wearers. They are thoughtful, practical vine growers who are worried about the future of what we call ‘conventional’ farming on the planet and have seen that biodynamism works – even if they have no clue how."

Read more about biodynamic wines http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/winenews060206.html

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

Is there any point in shipping organic wines to Europe from abroad?

2011-07-12T04:59:00.000-07:00

The main ideas behind the organic movement were environmental protection, the health of humans and animals and the production of better and more natural organic food and wines.

In order to achieve this, chemical-synthetic pesticides, systemic pesticides (fungicides), herbicides and artificial fertilizers were banned from the vineyards. Good, serious organic vintners reduce the sulfur content in organic wine to a minimum and do not use any other questionable aids in the wine cellar.

Thus it seems paradoxical to transport organic wines from

South Africa

Australia

New Zealand

, the

USA

Chile

Argentina

and in doing so to pollute the environment with carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur, soot and particulate matter.

Of course organic wine dealers and many customers as well are interested in trying wines from other continents, but to be honest, how many wines would we be able to allocate to their origin if we were to do a blind wine-tasting. And there is no shortage of good European organic wines, quite the opposite is true. Due to their geographical and climatic diversity, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Austria and Germany, and other European countries as well produce a wide range of good and even excellent organic wines whose transport is considerably more environmentally friendly.

According to a report done by the UN and referred to by The Guardian, the carbon dioxide emission resulting from shipment by sea is three times higher than previously assumed. Thus the following amounts of carbon dioxide would be discharged into the air for the shipment of one bottle of wine:

Comparison between shipment by sea and road transport. Port of destination is Hamburg, delivery address Tübingen. This is based on a distance of 1,500 km for the transport by truck to the ports and from the port of destination to Tübingen. One bottle of organic wine weighs 1.4 kg.

Erich Hartl
hartl@weinpur.de
www.organicwinepure.com

Badia a Coltibuono - or one thousand years of organic viniculture

2010-11-19T12:14:00.000-08:00

Badia a Colbituono, the abbey of the good harvest, is one of the most famous producers of Chianti Classico and in addition possibly one of the oldest wine-growing estates in Tuscany. It was founded around 1100 by the monks of the Vallombrosa order close to Gaiole in Chianti. During Napoleon's rule, Badia a Coltibuono was secularized and governed to begin with by a French general.

In 1946, Michele Giuntini, a Florentine banker and the great grandfather of the current owners, the Stucchi-Prinetti family, took over Badia a Colbituono. It was his grandson Piero Stucchi-Prinetti and his wife Lorenza di Medici who realized what potential it had for winegrowing and agriculture, and they also recognized its economic importance, not only in itself but also for Tuscany. What other vintner has such valuable vines, which have been growing uninterruptedly in one's own vineyards for about a thousand years and have adapted perfectly to the conditions there? Based on the monks' written records, which were carried on afterwards, we know that no other vines have ever been planted there. It was easy to practice certified organic agriculture with these vines, since there are only sporadic cases of fungal diseases or pests.

As the first female president of the Consortium of Chianti Classico Producers (Chianti Storico), Emanuele Stucchi-Prinetti, along with her brothers Guido and Paolo, who run Badia a Colbituono together, set exemplary standards for biological viniculture in terms of sustainability, quality and tradition. Anyone wanting proof of this should visit Badia a Colbituono, book a cooking course there, attend a wine tasting session, eat at the restaurant or order the organic wine produced by Badia a Colbituono from us:

Chianti Classico

Chianti Classico Riserva

Chianti Classico Cultus Boni

Chianti Classico Sangioveto

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

Burnt Organic Grapes

2010-10-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

No, this is not an offer, but an alarming piece of new for us.

Shortly before the start of the grape harvest, a forest fire threatened the Domaine de la Triballe and the vineyards in several forest clearings. Olivier Durand told us during our visit two years that he was well prepared to face this danger, since he had large water tanks and had cleared the area around the house and the wine cellar of trees and bushes. Since Olivier and Sabine Durand were attending a wine fair in Brussels at the time, it was their daughters, the fire department and the firefighting aircraft who were able to prevent the fire from spreading to the estate.

In spite of this, several vineyards closest to the forest were destroyed. In addition, some of the vines and grapes which were damaged by the smoke and the extinguishing agents cannot be used for wine production this year. After several harvests with low yields, this is one more financial setback for the family, whose only comfort is that it could have been worse.

We will try to support them in the coming years.

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

Organic Wine from Genetically Modified Vines?

2010-06-10T04:58:00.000-07:00

At the moment, producing organic wine from genetically modified vines or grapes is not permitted, nor is it desired, and is presumably in the long run unthinkable.

In the remote future, it might be possible to dispense with chemical fungicides in conventional viniculture, fungicides which can cause cancer or are suspected of causing cancer. Even copper sulfate, which acts externally and is used in organic winegrowing, is harmful to the soil and thus the ground water as well.

The Chinese researcher Yuejin Wang, who works at the Yanling Forestry University (source: New Scientist) discovered that a wild Chinese vine contains 6 times more resveratrol than conventional grapes. Resveratrol not only made headlines recently as the key to a long life with its anticarcinogenic and cardioprotective effects, it also protects many plants, vines as well, against dreaded fungus and mildew such as powdery mildew and downy mildew (Oidium and Peronospora). However the amounts present in most varietals are not sufficient to protect them permanently against fungus.

By isolating the Vitus pseudoreticulata gene, which is the reason for the high resveratrol content, in the wild grapevine, and by transferring this to "normal" grapevines (vitis vinifera), it might be possible in the future to plant genetically modified vines in conventional and in organic viniculture which initially seems to provide a lot of advantages: fewer chemicals in viniculture, less environmental pollution, a higher resveratrol content in red wine particularly which would increase the positive effects on health in every respect. However, the consequences of genetically modified agricultural production have not yet been studied as a whole.

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

Organic Wine Guidelines

2010-06-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

Up to now, the European Union has failed to establish rules for producing organic wine. As a result, the term "organic wine" is tolerated but has not yet been defined by law. The reason for the delay in dealing with this in national and EU bodies could be the differing concerns of the wine-growing districts in Northern and Southern Europe, and the different goals of the market participants.

The consumers' wish to purchase organic wines which are not only tasty but also clean, residue-free, manipulated as little as possible, lightly sulfurized and not otherwise preserved or stabilized can as a rule be fulfilled more easily by the wine producers in Southern Europe, whose wines have more color, alcohol, tannins and resveratrol, which contribute to a longer shelf life. A further advantage is their climate, which is generally not as unsettled and is drier, meaning that the grapes are less affected by fungus and decay. They require a much lower sulfur content that do those of their neighbors to the north.

Due to the climatic influences, wines produced in Northern Europe have to contain more sulfur and have to be fined and stabilized additionally, according to experts. Consequently, they demand that a higher sulfur content be allowed in organic wine. There are however other contentious issues as well, such as mash heating for a better color, the use of selected yeasts and aroma yeasts as well as the use of further additives.

There is a third lobby, consisting of large import companies and bottling plants, whose goal is to purchase at the lowest price and the lowest level of quality. The producers of such wines may observe the winegrowing guidelines officially, but they can no longer consider the ethical, moral, social and qualitative aspects. These wines are for the most part transported in tank trucks to bottling plants in Northern Europe. The dubious quality of these wines is decreased additionally by the transport (frequent repumping, contact with air) and if financial risks are to avoided they can only be put on the market after additional sulfurization, stabilization and preservation.

Thus it is foreseeable that the outcome of the EU guidelines for organic wine will also be an unsatisfactory compromise. Anyone who is concerned about what pesticides are being used in the vineyard and what is being manipulated in the wine cellar will be determined to buy estate grown and bottled wine from good vintners and not wine bottled by anonymous merchants.

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

Why is wine expensive or cheap?

2010-01-18T20:37:00.000-08:00

One reason is the amount of grapes harvested per vine or per hectare of land.

Example 1: Here are three photos which show the difference between a quality-oriented and a quantity-oriented vineyard.

This is one of only two Tinta de Toro grapes on a vine in the Nuntia Vini vineyard. The average yield is 0.8 to 1 kg per vine. One bottle of wine produced from this vine costs more than € 25.00. Is this too expensive?

The result is a naturally pure wine, to which nothing except for sulfite has been added, but from which nothing has been removed. It has a high mineral content, a lot of resveratrol, and other phenols which are antioxidant and anticarcinogenic. With its full, concentrated taste, it provides true enjoyment and stores well.

Example 2: Here you can see a part of the yield of an Ugni blanc vine in the west of France. The owner of this vine will probably harvest more than 20 kg. The wine produced from this should cost no more than € 1. However a bottle will cost about € 5.00. A good bargain?

These white grapes look beautiful, but the result is a thin, insignificant, completely neutral wine with a very low mineral content. Presumably the sugar content of the grapes is so low that sugar has to be added to the must before fermentation. In the language of wine, this process is called "chaptalization", and it is done so that the alcohol content of the wine after fermentation will be high enough for it to actually be called a wine. Since so many grapes on the vine are unlikely to be completely ripe, they have a lot of acid, which has to be removed from the wine using the suitable compounds, or rectified concentrated grape must is added to it in order to neutralize the acidic taste.

Erich Hartl
hartl@weinpur.de
www.bioweinpur.de

Antibiotic in Argentinian Wines

2009-12-17T20:25:00.000-08:00

The controlling authorities of the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate have found the antifungal agent natamycin in several Argentinian wines.

As is customary when discoveries of this nature are made, the controlling authorities have pointed out that natamycin in wine does not constitute a health hazard, but it is prohibited to add this antibiotic to wine.

Importers of wine and wine merchants - presumably supermarkets, since these are cheap wines - had made provisions for this and are having the wines tested in private laboratories.

It is assumed that rectified concentrated grape must was treated with this antibiotic. Concentrated grape must is added to inferior wines either before fermentation or is used to sweeten the finished wine.

Please bear in mind that good wines do not require concentrated grape must, but they do cost a bit more.

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

Organic Viticulture and Biodynamic Viticulture

2009-11-12T11:05:00.000-08:00

Organic Viticulture

The terms "organic" or "ecological viticulture" can briefly be explained as a method which does not use any mineral fertilizer, chemical-synthetic and systemic pesticides (herbicides, fungicides, insecticides). As a result, it may be assumed that these substances, most of which are carcinogenic or suspected of being so, will not be present in wines from organic or ecological cultivation and will also not be in the ground water.

It would however be naive to believe that this means that all the organic wines on the market are of a superior quality. This can only be made possible with the help of further quality-oriented steps in the vineyards and the wine cellars.

Biodynamic Viticulture

Those restrictions in respect to the use of chemicals which apply to organic wine apply to biodynamic viticulture as well. From an anthroposophical viewpoint, agriculture, and hence a vineyard as well, can be seen as an individual entity which has its very own biotope with as large a diversity of animals, birds, insects and plants as possible. This means that many different plants should be cultivated and that hedges and trees should be planted at the sides of the roads. The effective treatment and the fertility of the soil is facilitated by the farm animals which are kept, consisting mainly of ruminants (cattle, but sheep and horses as well) proportional to the area being farmed. The manure from the farm animals is composted, along with any other organic substances which have accumulated, and used as fertilizer. In exceptional cases, it is permissible to buy and use manure from other farmers who also use ecological methods.

Whereas the changeover from conventional viticulture (using chemicals) to organic viticulture takes two and a half to three years, the period stipulated for biodynamic viticulture is six to seven years. It is not until this time that the chemicals used in the soil have decomposed and the soil has obtained the desired vitality with sufficient microorganisms. The reason for this long changeover period can be attributed to a theory developed by Rudolf Steiner, an anthroposophist and the founder of biodynamic agriculture, which maintains that fungal diseases of plants (which cause the most damage in viticulture) are the result of an imbalance between the soil and its environment. In order to restore the balance and to obtain a healthy soil fertility, the farmers use 8 biodynamic compounds, most of which they produce themselves. They are numbered from 500 to 507 and consist of the following components:

500 Horn Manure - Cow manure is put into a cow horn and buried in the ground during the winter, in the spring it is mixed with water and stirred making a vortex movement (this process, known in homeopathy, is called dynamization) and sprayed onto the vineyard in small homeopathic doses in order to improve the soil.

501 Horn Quartz - Finely ground quartz is put into the horn of a cow and buried in the ground during the summer. During the next stage of vegetation it is dynamized with water and sprayed onto the vines to improve the photosynthesis.

Compounds 502 -507 are based on compost, to which the blossoms of yarrow, camomile, dandelion as well as oak bark or the juice of valerian blossoms are added in order to increase the activity of the microbes in the compost.

Furthermore, in biodynamic viticulture all the work done in the vineyards or in the wine cellars is carried out according to the pattern of cosmic rhythms and the position of the stars. Maria Thun's lunar calendar, with its days for sowing and planting, is also taken into account.

What organic viticulture and biodynamic viticulture have in common is that in both systems it is permissible to use small amounts of copper and sulfur to combat fungal diseases.

It has been our experience that many winegrowers change from conventional viticulture to organic viticulture to begin with and then switch to biodynamic viticulture. However very few of them have become as intensely involved with Rudolf Steiner's theories, anthroposophy and biodynamic viticulture as Nicolas Joly has. When such well-known names as Madame Bize-Leroy from the Domaine Leroy, Romanée-Conti, Domaine Leflaive, Château Beaucastel, Domaine Marcoux, Peter Sissek, Perez Palacios, Bertrand Sourdais embrace the concept of biodynamic viticulture and proclaim openly that this method has continuously raised the quality of their wine, it would be very foolish to allege that their reasons for this are of an ideological nature. It is for the same pragmatic reasons that our winegrowers practice biodynamic viticulture. The wineries to which I am referring are Fuchs-Jacobus, Sander and Stutz in Germany, the Domaine Eugen Meyer, Domaine Zusslin, Domaine de l'Ecu, Clos de la Coulée de Serrant, Domaine Jean-Claude Rateau, Domaine de Marcoux, Château Romanin, Cazes, Château Falfas, Château Vieux Pourret in France, the Fattoria Cerreto Libri in Italy and the Nikolaihof in Austria. They are members of the Demeter Assocation or of "Biodyn", the Association for Biodynamic Viticulture.

For anyone wanting to learn more about biodynamic viticulture, I recommend Nicolas Joly's books entitled "Wine From Sky to Earth", "Biodynamic Wine Demystified" and "What is Biodynamic wine ?"

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

Le FIGARO awards the Jas d'Esclans rosé the Coup de Coeur

2009-11-05T07:50:00.000-08:00

Le FIGARO publishes regular reports on outstanding wines produced in France, as do all the other French daily papers, and these are written by Éric Beaumard, the best sommelier in France, whose full-time job is managing the restaurant in the famous Hotel GEORGE V in Paris.

In the October 27, 2009 issue, Éric Beaumard presents 13 of his favorite wines (Coup de Coeur). One of these is the Côtes de Provence rosé from the Domaine du Jas d'Esclans. Since we have been selling the wines produced by the Domaine for many years, we are not surprised, but are delighted that other experts have confirmed our opinion of these wines.

The new vintage of this wine will be available again starting April 2010.

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

Why do some of our organic wines contain the fragrances of macchia or garrigue?

2009-09-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

When we describe the fragrance and the aromas of our organic wines from the Mediterranean area, from time to time we use the terms "garrigue" or "macchia." This almost impenetrable vegetation, typical of the entire Mediterranean area, is 2 to 3 meters tall, and consists of gorse, rosemary, rockrose, tree heath, greenbrier, arbutus and myrtle (in Sardinia there is a liqueur made of myrtle). Around noon and in summer, when the temperatures are high, this vegetation exudes a multitude of fragrances which are known as the very distinct, spicy-resinous, dry scent of the macchia or the garrigue. Those vines and grapes which are grown quite close to this vegegation seem to take on the scent of this fragrant "perfume," which makes it very slightly discernible in the wine later on, giving it a pleasant taste. The following wines are good examples of this:

La Chapelle de Romanin

Seguret, Clos du Joncuas

Côteaux du Languedoc, Domaine de la Triballe

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

Organicwine-Europe blogspot

2008-04-16T12:15:00.000-07:00

Organicwine-Europe Blogspot

This blog is to introduce Weinhaus Hartl, which has been established in 1983. It is Germany's first and oldest independent importer and retailer of pure organic wines.

Beeing in the center of Europe and using modern logistic methods, we can ensure a quick, safe, reliable and competitively-priced delivery to Great Britain, Netherlands, Belgium, Danmark, Sweden, Finland, or any other country within the EU.

Combined with safe payment systems, we can offer you a large number of fine organic, biodynamic and kosher wines from Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Italy and Israel at affordable prices.

Visit http://www.organicwinepure.com/ where present all our organic, biodynamic and kosher Wines.

In future blogs we will provide more informations about organic wines. We will inform you about all our awardwinners and we will explain how to examine and taste wine the right way, how to enjoy and judge Wines. But we invite you also to write about your experiences with organic wines.

Erich Hartl
hartl@weinpur.de
http://www.organicwinepure.com/