by Ellen Kaye

Tony Coturri balks at the idea of slapping a "certified organic" label on his wines. Although his is probably the only winery in California that could qualify as 100% organic, Coturri believes that making natural wine should "just be what you do." If he had his way, winemakers would be forced to list all their ingredients on the bottle—sulfites, fungicides, herbicides, pesticides, yeast additives—the whole lot. And what would the Coturri bottle say? "Just Grapes."

Organic wines are becoming all the rage these days, though they've been around for years. Coturri has been making natural wines since 1979.

"Terroir is the hot buzzword now," says Coturri, "but 20 years ago I was a so-called idiot."

A recent lunch with Coturri and his crew at his winery in Glen Ellen in Sonoma County proved the opposite to be true. Of course, the nine open bottles on the table, all with an earthy, black richness that can only come from an un-manipulated grape, probably helped. Like a good chef, Coturri lets his ingredients speak. It's winemaking by getting out of one's own way.

But even with more choices available than ever before for the average wine buyer, the natural wine world is still a confusing one to navigate. For a wine to be labeled as USDA Organic, certified organically grown grapes, to which no sulfites, have been added must be used.

Not many wines qualify. If a wine is labeled "made with organically grown grapes" (or, as with French wines, "bio"), that means a small amount of sulfites was probably added. Then there are the biodynamic growers who follow the principles of Rudolph Steiner, which involve aspects like lunar and cosmic rhythms, and the burying of cow horns. But even they can add a moderate amount of sulfites.

So what's the deal with sulfites? Sulfur Dioxide is actually a natural component in all wines, present in negligible amounts. More is added by most winemakers, as it prevents oxidation and acts as a preservative. Conventional wisdom says that there is a small percentage of people—around 1 in 100, and mainly asthmatics—who have an adverse reaction to sulfites. But Tony ascribes to his own conspiracy theory, which tends toward a wine industry that turns a deaf ear to the possibility of wider health problems associated with the additive.

When it comes time to shop, how do you know what's what? Find a wine merchant who knows their stuff. Even if a wine label doesn't scream "organic," what's inside might be perfectly natural.


Five Recommended Organic Wines:
Coturri Crane Vineyards Syrah ‘03
Cousin Pur Breton ‘03
Marcel Lapierre Morgon ‘04
Foradori Teroldego ‘03
Chateau Maris Minervois ‘04