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What's an Organic Wine ? ........ Sustainable winemaking means growers abstain from using man-made chemicals and artificial fertilizers to improve life in their vineyards and in the wines they create. Some of the components of sustainable winemaking practices consist of using natural fertilizers, composting and the cultivation of plants that attract insects that are beneficial to the health of the vines. Sustainable practices in these vineyards also extend to actions that have seemingly little or nothing to do with the production of grapes such as providing areas for wildlife to flourish near vineyard sites (this provides vegetation for the animals, which keeps them from eating the grapes) and allowing weeds and wildflowers to grow between the vines (this stresses the vines and forces them to produce fewer bunches of grapes with a greater concentration of flavor) and using bio-diesel for tractors in the vineyards (which reduces harmful emissions among the vines). In short, sustainable winemaking means doing everything to limit the carbon footprint in the vineyard. Ultimately, sustainable winemaking encompasses the eco-system surrounding the vineyard with the goal that all the natural elements within the vineyard work in harmony with nature. [edit] Organic Winemaking Applying all the basics of sustainable winemaking and taking them one step further into organic winemaking you'll find some very significant differences, both in the winemakers approach and the end result in the bottle. Grape growing like any other farming is organic by origin. However, like most other methods of farming the vast majority of vineyards today are not organic. For many winemakers, especially at large wineries, it isn't cost effective to farm organically, and far too many things can go wrong throughout the year that can easily destroy crops. Chemical fertilizers promote large yields and chemicals can easily wipe-out vineyard destroying diseases. Vines that are chemically fertilized and regularly sprayed for various diseases with chemicals are absorbed through the roots into the vine's sap and passed through leaves, stems, fruit and finally, into your glass. Not only do you eventually ingest these chemicals, but by using them it also drastically reduces the natural terroir of the wine and diminish the wine's fruit profile in your glass. Organic wines are produced by using only organically grown grapes. No pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, chemical fertilizers, or synthetic chemicals of any kind are allowed on the vines or in the soil of the vineyards claiming to be organic. Strict rules govern the winemaking process such as hand-harvesting, the types of yeasts that can be used during fermentation and storage conditions in the vineyards of all imported and domestic wines that acquire certification. Organic winemakers abstain from all chemical substances used to stabilize conventional wines such as sulfites. It is important to remember that sulfites are a natural byproduct of the fermentation process and that it is impossible for any wine to be completely free of sulfites. Wines that are completely free of sulfites are an accident of nature–fermenting yeasts present on all grape skins generates naturally occurring sulfites. Organic wines may have naturally occurring sulfites, but the total sulfite level must be less than 20 parts per million in order to receive organic certification. The stricter government regulations for organic wine and the rejection of using added sulfites are, for all intents and purposes, the two key differences between organic and sustainable winemaking[1].