We are a very strange society. We poison the world in order to have everything immediately and, at the same time, we want only natural things on our tables. From palm oil, now everywhere, and bogeyman of the moment (so much so that some food advertisements claim not to use it) to wine that must be organic and sulfite-free. But what does organic mean and what are sulfites? Since some years there are debates about the use and abuse of terminologies such as "organic" or "biodynamic" or the simpler "natural" to be matched to wines produced, but it is necessary to make some clarifications in order not to confuse the ideas of final consumers. On the shelves of wine shops we can find industrial, artisanal, organic, biodynamic or natural wines, however in labels there are no clarifications about this matter, so that it is believed the legislator will have to intervene as soon as possible in order to make things clear and avoid the use and abuse of terminologies in a "casual" way.
The difference between organic wine and free wine (as Oscar Farinetti, patron of Eataly, has recently called it) is all in the reduction of the chemical part that takes place both in the vineyard and in the cellar, arriving - obviously - in the certification of the wine. It is called free wine because it is self-disciplined by those producers who do not intend to submit to the rules dictated by the European Community. Everything, if we want to be precise, is more about the additional costs that would be involved in case the concept of "freedom" would be applied. Organic wine, on the other hand, presents itself to the consumer as a mark of absolute quality, derived from a reduction of chemical substances and sulfites, as well as the reduction of water resources used in addition to the adoption of organic culture techniques with natural pesticides, therefore adopting a production philosophy in harmony with the territory. With the term natural wine we refer, instead, to a category of wines which, in addition to the organic philosophy, do not have any additive substance to the must, be it acidity regulator, sulfur dioxide or any other adjuvant. Sulfites, however, are added in order to prevent oxidation or bacterial derivations. Lastly, there are biodynamic wines which differ from each other because they are produced according to the phases of the moon and according to cultivation practices which are still being defined in Europe.
All this by following the indications of the philosopher and esotericist Rudolf Steiner, creator of the concept of organic farming. In the many controversies about the use of the terms "natural", "organic" or "free" FederBio states that, as opposed to the purely organic ones, not all the "free" vineyards are - to tell the truth - exempt from the use of insecticides and fungicides and, as for the use of sulfites, the current regulation provides, for organic wines, a maximum threshold of 100 mg/l for red wines and 150 mg/l for white and rose wines; more or less 50 mg/l less than traditional wines. In the end, as in all the things, let's try to do the best thing, that is consuming quality wine, in the correct way, without being fooled by labels that can hide unjustified prices.
