If you’ve been trying to buy more organic items lately but have had trouble finding organically grown wines, we’ve got a dirty little secret for you.
Although you’ll never know it from the label, a big percentage of wines these days would probably qualify as organic, or at least come close. Grape growers for years have been using more sustainable practices in their vineyards. But the marketing experts have decided that for most wines, buyers would see an organic designation as a negative, so most of those efforts are kept silent.
Some of that is changing, but our plans for a tasting of only organic wines had to be adjusted to add those with sustainable farming practices and even fair-trade certified. Even then we had to visit three stores to get a full lineup. A little research, however, found several other wines that would have fit but weren’t on the shelves when we went shopping or were out of our price range, including those made by Frog’s Leap, Grgich Hills, Rubicon, Bonny Doon, Root 1 and Hall.
When we had a full slate of wines, we invited over our good friends Emma Downs and Jeff Melton, and while our kids played superheroes, we got to work tasting.
First was Snoqualmie 2008 Columbia Valley Naked Riesling ($12.99). We first tried Snoqualmie wines a few years ago and have always loved them. While not all their wines are organic, the Naked Riesling is made from organic grapes. We thought it had just a touch of sweetness, with lots of honey flavors, and was nicely acidic in the finish, making it good with food.
Emma thought it was too sweet, however, and Jeff thought it a little too acidic. “It’s pleasant, and then it kind of burns,” he said.
Next was Wandering Grape 2008 Chile Sauvignon Blanc ($9.99), which is fair-trade certified and sustainably grown. Dan called it a “nice, zippy little wine,” and Krista agreed. It is a light-bodied wine with mouthwatering acids that would make it a great summer wine or perfect with spicy Thai food.
Emma picked up on the acids right away.
“This tastes a little bit like shag carpeting,” she said. “It’s drying my tongue out.”
Then came Benziger Family Winery 2006 North Coast Sauvignon Blanc ($9.98), which was an amazing deal for an American sauvignon blanc. Regular readers will know that we’re rarely impressed with domestic sauvignon blancs because too often they taste watered down and have almost no flavor. Not this one – it seemed sturdy for a white wine, and had tons of acid and a long, long finish. Wow.
Emma said this wine transformed on her tongue – juicy in the beginning and dry at the end.
After that we opened Los Cowboys 2009 Mendoza Torrontes ($9.97), another fair-trade certified wine. We’ve fallen in love with torrontes, and this one only added to the romance for Dan. It had lots of flavors we’re not used to in wine but was marked mostly by its heavy rose petal flavors. It was different and interesting, especially when we first opened it. While Krista was intrigued by the flavors, ultimately she decided she didn’t really like it. The rose petals were a little too thick for her, and there was a saltiness in the finish that turned her off.
Jeff remarked on how thick it felt when he drank it, and Emma called this flamboyant white “the Lady Gaga of wine.”
Then came a disappointment, but one we saw coming from a mile away: Frey 2006 Mendocino Chardonnay ($9.98), which was not only organic but said it had no added sulfites. Sulfites are an important preservative in wine, and when we saw that this wine had none and was 4 years old, we immediately feared it would be ruined. It sure was. There’s nothing wrong with not adding sulfites, but those wines need to be drunk immediately upon release. This one, for example, should have been consumed in the spring of 2007.
After that were the red wines, starting with Los Cowboys 2008 Mendoza Malbec ($9.97), which was fair-trade certified. It had some nice cedar notes, was a little bit smoky and had some pepper at the end, but it was also just a bit salty, like Gatorade.
“I like this one because it’s smooth,” Emma said. We agreed it would be a decent wine for a red wine beginner to try.
We then tried Wandering Grape 2007 Argentina Malbec-Merlot ($10.99), which at first seemed smooth, deep and dark until we realized it was red wine with training wheels: If you drink only white wines, this is the red wine for you, because it has so little structure and no tannins.
But it reminded Jeff of an old friend: “It reminds me of a Chianti,” he said.
Finally, we opened the most expensive wine of the night, Benziger Family Winery 2006 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon ($21.99), which was sustainably grown. If you’re looking to splurge, this wine was worth the price – it was rich and luscious and smooth and creamy and spicy and dry all at the same time, with flavors of cocoa, fruit, cream and blueberries. Yummy!
“It reminded me of a Bordeaux or something,” Jeff said. “It seems like it would go good with a steak.”
We couldn’t agree more. So in the end, were these wines better than those that are not certified as organic or sustainably grown? Well, there’s really no answer for that. Some of these were good; some not so good. That’s true of any type of wine on the shelf.
Cheers!
