Only a test!

Test.
Erich Hartl
hartl@weinpur.de
www.organicwinepure.com
JQWRZVHBCGJM
.

You don't have to pay a fortune for good organic wines

.

as Donatello Jasci proves with his Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2008, which was awarded with a silver medal at the organic wine competition at the Biofach - Mundus Vini in Nurenberg 2010.

Erich Hartl
hartl@weinpur.de
www.organicwinepure.com

.

Why is wine expensive or cheap?

.

One reason is the amount of grapes harvested per vine or per hectare of land.

Example 1: Here are three photos which show the difference between a quality-oriented and a quantity-oriented vineyard.

This is one of only two Tinta de Toro grapes on a vine in the Nuntia Vini vineyard. The average yield is 0.8 to 1 kg per vine. One bottle of wine produced from this vine costs more than € 25.00. Is this too expensive?

.

The result is a naturally pure wine, to which nothing except for sulfite has been added, but from which nothing has been removed. It has a high mineral content, a lot of resveratrol, and other phenols which are antioxidant and anticarcinogenic. With its full, concentrated taste, it provides true enjoyment and stores well.

Example 2: Here you can see a part of the yield of an Ugni blanc vine in the west of France. The owner of this vine will probably harvest more than 20 kg. The wine produced from this should cost no more than € 1. However a bottle will cost about € 5.00. A good bargain?

These white grapes look beautiful, but the result is a thin, insignificant, completely neutral wine with a very low mineral content. Presumably the sugar content of the grapes is so low that sugar has to be added to the must before fermentation. In the language of wine, this process is called "chaptalization", and it is done so that the alcohol content of the wine after fermentation will be high enough for it to actually be called a wine. Since so many grapes on the vine are unlikely to be completely ripe, they have a lot of acid, which has to be removed from the wine using the suitable compounds, or rectified concentrated grape must is added to it in order to neutralize the acidic taste.

Erich Hartl
hartl@weinpur.de
www.bioweinpur.de

Antibiotic in Argentinian Wines

.

The controlling authorities of the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate have found the antifungal agent natamycin in several Argentinian wines.

As is customary when discoveries of this nature are made, the controlling authorities have pointed out that natamycin in wine does not constitute a health hazard, but it is prohibited to add this antibiotic to wine.

Importers of wine and wine merchants - presumably supermarkets, since these are cheap wines - had made provisions for this and are having the wines tested in private laboratories.

It is assumed that rectified concentrated grape must was treated with this antibiotic. Concentrated grape must is added to inferior wines either before fermentation or is used to sweeten the finished wine.

Please bear in mind that good wines do not require concentrated grape must, but they do cost a bit more.

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

.

Organic Viticulture and Biodynamic Viticulture

.

Organic Viticulture

The terms "organic" or "ecological viticulture" can briefly be explained as a method which does not use any mineral fertilizer, chemical-synthetic and systemic pesticides (herbicides, fungicides, insecticides). As a result, it may be assumed that these substances, most of which are carcinogenic or suspected of being so, will not be present in wines from organic or ecological cultivation and will also not be in the ground water.

It would however be naive to believe that this means that all the organic wines on the market are of a superior quality. This can only be made possible with the help of further quality-oriented steps in the vineyards and the wine cellars.

Biodynamic Viticulture

Those restrictions in respect to the use of chemicals which apply to organic wine apply to biodynamic viticulture as well. From an anthroposophical viewpoint, agriculture, and hence a vineyard as well, can be seen as an individual entity which has its very own biotope with as large a diversity of animals, birds, insects and plants as possible. This means that many different plants should be cultivated and that hedges and trees should be planted at the sides of the roads. The effective treatment and the fertility of the soil is facilitated by the farm animals which are kept, consisting mainly of ruminants (cattle, but sheep and horses as well) proportional to the area being farmed. The manure from the farm animals is composted, along with any other organic substances which have accumulated, and used as fertilizer. In exceptional cases, it is permissible to buy and use manure from other farmers who also use ecological methods.

Whereas the changeover from conventional viticulture (using chemicals) to organic viticulture takes two and a half to three years, the period stipulated for biodynamic viticulture is six to seven years. It is not until this time that the chemicals used in the soil have decomposed and the soil has obtained the desired vitality with sufficient microorganisms. The reason for this long changeover period can be attributed to a theory developed by Rudolf Steiner, an anthroposophist and the founder of biodynamic agriculture, which maintains that fungal diseases of plants (which cause the most damage in viticulture) are the result of an imbalance between the soil and its environment. In order to restore the balance and to obtain a healthy soil fertility, the farmers use 8 biodynamic compounds, most of which they produce themselves. They are numbered from 500 to 507 and consist of the following components:

500 Horn Manure - Cow manure is put into a cow horn and buried in the ground during the winter, in the spring it is mixed with water and stirred making a vortex movement (this process, known in homeopathy, is called dynamization) and sprayed onto the vineyard in small homeopathic doses in order to improve the soil.

501 Horn Quartz - Finely ground quartz is put into the horn of a cow and buried in the ground during the summer. During the next stage of vegetation it is dynamized with water and sprayed onto the vines to improve the photosynthesis.

Compounds 502 -507 are based on compost, to which the blossoms of yarrow, camomile, dandelion as well as oak bark or the juice of valerian blossoms are added in order to increase the activity of the microbes in the compost.

Furthermore, in biodynamic viticulture all the work done in the vineyards or in the wine cellars is carried out according to the pattern of cosmic rhythms and the position of the stars. Maria Thun's lunar calendar, with its days for sowing and planting, is also taken into account.

What organic viticulture and biodynamic viticulture have in common is that in both systems it is permissible to use small amounts of copper and sulfur to combat fungal diseases.

It has been our experience that many winegrowers change from conventional viticulture to organic viticulture to begin with and then switch to biodynamic viticulture. However very few of them have become as intensely involved with Rudolf Steiner's theories, anthroposophy and biodynamic viticulture as Nicolas Joly has. When such well-known names as Madame Bize-Leroy from the Domaine Leroy, Romanée-Conti, Domaine Leflaive, Château Beaucastel, Domaine Marcoux, Peter Sissek, Perez Palacios, Bertrand Sourdais embrace the concept of biodynamic viticulture and proclaim openly that this method has continuously raised the quality of their wine, it would be very foolish to allege that their reasons for this are of an ideological nature. It is for the same pragmatic reasons that our winegrowers practice biodynamic viticulture. The wineries to which I am referring are Fuchs-Jacobus, Sander and Stutz in Germany, the Domaine Eugen Meyer, Domaine Zusslin, Domaine de l'Ecu, Clos de la Coulée de Serrant, Domaine Jean-Claude Rateau, Domaine de Marcoux, Château Romanin, Cazes, Château Falfas, Château Vieux Pourret in France, the Fattoria Cerreto Libri in Italy and the Nikolaihof in Austria. They are members of the Demeter Assocation or of "Biodyn", the Association for Biodynamic Viticulture.

For anyone wanting to learn more about biodynamic viticulture, I recommend Nicolas Joly's books entitled "Wine From Sky to Earth", "Biodynamic Wine Demystified" and "What is Biodynamic wine ?"

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

.

Le FIGARO awards the Jas d'Esclans rosé the Coup de Coeur

.

.

Le FIGARO publishes regular reports on outstanding wines produced in France, as do all the other French daily papers, and these are written by Éric Beaumard, the best sommelier in France, whose full-time job is managing the restaurant in the famous Hotel GEORGE V in Paris.

In the October 27, 2009 issue, Éric Beaumard presents 13 of his favorite wines (Coup de Coeur). One of these is the Côtes de Provence rosé from the Domaine du Jas d'Esclans. Since we have been selling the wines produced by the Domaine for many years, we are not surprised, but are delighted that other experts have confirmed our opinion of these wines.

The new vintage of this wine will be available again starting April 2010

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

.

Why do some of our organic wines contain the fragrances of macchia or garrigue?

.

When we describe the fragrance and the aromas of our organic wines from the Mediterranean area, from time to time we use the terms "garrigue" or "macchia." This almost impenetrable vegetation, typical of the entire Mediterranean area, is 2 to 3 meters tall, and consists of gorse, rosemary, rockrose, tree heath, greenbrier, arbutus and myrtle (in Sardinia there is a liqueur made of myrtle). Around noon and in summer, when the temperatures are high, this vegetation exudes a multitude of fragrances which are known as the very distinct, spicy-resinous, dry scent of the macchia or the garrigue. Those vines and grapes which are grown quite close to this vegegation seem to take on the scent of this fragrant "perfume," which makes it very slightly discernible in the wine later on, giving it a pleasant taste. The following wines are good examples of this:

La Chapelle de Romanin

Seguret, Clos du Joncuas

Côteaux du Languedoc, Domaine de la Triballe

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

.