Organic and Natural Wines from Southern Italy that are Included in Raffle Item
If you get headaches or feel sick after drinking conventional commercially made wines (or scientific wines), you may want to consider natural or organic wines which do not use chemicals or pesticides in the vineyard and use minimal or no additives in the cellar. As described below, natural wines do not use selected yeasts to convert sugar into alcohol, rather natural wines are made with indigenous yeasts. Natural and organic wines add small amounts of sulfites (between 10 ppm to 75 ppm), which is far less than the 350 ppm allowed by USA standards. After the list of wines there is a discussion of natural and organic wines.
White Wines
Pretosia 2018, Albanello, Gulino (organic)
Zirpoli 2018, Coda di Volpe, Fiorentino (organic)
Conlebucca 2018, Falanghina, FloraMi (natural)
Rose Wine
Isca Rosa 2019, Aglianico, Verrone (organic)
Red Wine
Ragis 2013, Aglianico/Piedirosso, Le Vigne di Raito (natural)
Cardemone 2017, Piedirosso/Tintore, Reale (natural)
Zer05 2016, Primitivo, Regina Viarum (natural)
Stupor Mundi Riserva 2013, Aglianico, Carbone (organic)
Titolo 2016. Aglianico, Elena Fucci (organic)
Irpinia Aglianico 2011, Aglianico, Salvatore Moletierri (organic)
Taurasi Riserva 2007, Aglianico, Perillo (natural)
Taurasi 2013, Aglianico, Antico Castello (organic)
The wines listed above are produced by Southern Italian small family owned farms that produce low intervention wines made with organically grown grapes. What is the definition of a producer of low intervention wines? Non-interventionist winemakers use as few additives as possible and as little manipulation as they can. http://www.morethanorganic.com/definition-of-natural-wine (“More than Organic”). As More than Organic notes winemakers have to compromise at some point. Where and why they compromise depends upon what they are trying to achieve and how much they are prepared to risk in order to achieve. There are certain elements that compromise a total non-intervention wine, but as More than Organic notes that making a “perfect natural wine” is difficult to achieve. Sometimes winemakers will achieve this “perfect natural wine” but many times winemakers have to improvise in order to prevent the wine from spoiling. Winemakers that adhere to a natural process will intervene minimally and only when necessary.
Organic wines are not necessarily natural wines, but natural wines are organic. Organic definition pertains mostly to methods and procedures in the vineyard – i.e. no chemicals or pesticides, only organic or natural fertilizers and integrated pest management processes are used. Organic wines are required to have far less sulfites than conventional wines. Natural definition pertains to the winemaking procedure in the cellar. Non-intervention or natural winemakers do not use additives, or as pointed out above, if necessary, use additives in the least amount of quantities required.
In the United States 76 different additives are permitted to be used to manipulate wine. Here are a few of the additives: tartaric acid to boost the acidity in white wines, sugar to adjust alcohol, egg whites or bentonite to clarify wines and remove tannins, fish bladder to remove proteins, yeast and other organic particles which are in suspension in wine making, nonindigenous or cultured yeasts, powdered tannins for texture and astringency, gum arabic to soften tannins and reduce astringency to make a red wine more silky or the magic potion Mega Purple. Mega Purple is a concentrate made with the rubired grape, a hybrid grape grown exclusively in San Joaquin Valley, CA. A couple of drops of the gooey concentrate is added to red wine to add color, make the wine sweeter and cover up flawed flavors. It is prevalent in wines produced in large quantities at a low-cost and even some high-end wines. The wine conglomerate, Constellation Wine Company produces Mega Purple and reportedly sells over 10,000 gallons of it per annum. Although few wineries will admit to the use of Mega Purple, based on its annual sales, it is widely used.
Of the 76 additives, how many are added to natural wines? Some natural wine makers add none (a “perfect natural wine” which as noted above is a goal that is not always achieved) and others may add sulfites to preserve the wine at bottling at an amount far below permissible amounts that can be added to biodynamic or organic wines. Natural wine makers will never add tannins or products to clarify wines.
A distinguishing feature of natural wines is the use of native or wild yeasts from their own grapes resulting in spontaneous fermentation, whereas non-natural wines use nonindigenous yeasts for a controlled fermentation. Luigi Moio, a leading wine consultant and a winemaker, takes the position that the distinction between wild yeasts and selected yeasts is overstated. https://vinoway.com/approfondimenti/vino/interviste/item/7551-luigi-moio-un-lievito-selezionato-non-ha-niente-di-chimico-%C3%A8-un-lievito-naturale.html In this Vino Way magazine article Luigi Moio stated the following:
Yeast plays a minor role in this process, particularly in the vinification of reds. Moreover, to make a wine that is an expression of a territorial identity, one must avoid olfactory deviations, and it is possible to do so even without the use of a selected yeast, although this ensures greater safety and better alcoholic fermentation. A selected yeast has nothing chemical, it has nothing strange, it is a natural yeast that has been isolated from others present in nature and categorized.
Selected yeasts are more reliable than wild yeasts, thus lessen the risks associated in the fermentation process. Natural winemakers are willing to take the risk that organic and conventional producers are not. There are many selected or commercial yeasts available for winemakers. Some selected or commercial yeasts are flavored, hence, results in the olfactory deviations that Luigi Moio says must be avoided. Moio and other organic winemakers that we have met use “neutral” yeasts; the same cannot be said of all winemakers, however.
