Controversial new laws governing organic wine in the EU came into force at the beginning of the month, though there are those who claim the new regulations, the EU’s first of their kind, do not go far enough.

The organic wine regulations are the culmination of twenty years of negotiations and will mean wine in the EU can be certified as organic for the first time; previously producers could only state that wine had been made from organically grown grapes.

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However, organic vintners who strive to create wine with an absolute minimum chemical input have said the new laws could mislead consumers as they currently stand. Although sulphur dioxide levels in organic wine must be 30 to 50 per cent lower than in conventional wine to be certified as such, ‘natural wine’ aficionados have said this level remains too high.

In the UK, certification body the Soil Association sets stricter limits and natural wine producing cooperatives and certification bodies in other parts of the EU have also tended to work to stricter regulations. Whereas some producers have said that the new rules represent a universal starting point from which the organic sector can move forward, others have panned the legislation as a hindrance in their attempts to achieve a paradigm shift towards a more sustainable agricultural model.

Christine Saurel, spokesperson for a biodynamic winery in the South of France told wine industry magazine Decanter, “Even if you use organic yeast, you are not organic… If you know that what you are doing in the vineyard is to improve life, this will improve the natural yeast in your grapes. I understand why they [European Commission] are doing it, but it can’t be just a rule. You have to change your mindset.”

Under the new wine laws, wines from the EU certified as organic cannot contain sorbic acid or be subject to desulphurisation. Levels of sulphites in wine “must not exceed 100 mg per litre for red wine (150 mg for non-organic wine) and 150 mg per litre for white or rose wine (200 mg for non-organic wine)”. The same rules apply covering use of chemicals on grapes.

Other major wine producing regions, including the United States, South Africa, Australia and a number of South American countries already have strict labelling laws covering organic wines.

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