Whole Foods Market to Carry First Sulfite-Free Wines from Italy and SpainJanuary 13th, 2012 - Jill Ettinger
Whole Foods Market, the nation’s leading supermarket chain focused on organic and natural foods, household and personal care items, announced that it will become the first national retailer to carry USDA certified organic NSA (no sulfites added) wines from legendary wine-making regions in Italy and Spain. Read More:Whole Foods Market to Carry First Sulfite-Free Wines from Italy and SpainGMO Wine Coming to a Carafe Near You… SoonJuly 1st, 2011 - Jill Ettinger
University of Florida scientists have developed grapes used in wine production that are more resistant to insects and fungus, in what may lead to the first commercially available genetically modified wine. Read More:GMO Wine Coming to a Carafe Near You… SoonGo Green Expo Comes to L.A. This WeekendApril 13th, 2011 - Jill Ettinger
Go Green Expo makes its third appearance in Los Angeles this weekend at the LA Convention Center with hundreds of vendors and dozens of speakers, films and performances for the whole family. Read More:Go Green Expo Comes to L.A. This WeekendArgentinian Restaurant Recycles 5000 Wine Bottles Into CeilingMarch 3rd, 2011 - Jill Ettinger
Turn Organic Wine into an Elegant SauceSeptember 6th, 2010 - Barbara Feiner
Drinking organic wine: a pleasurable way to help protect your heart. Cooking with organic wine: a quick way to add sophistication to any dish. One of the easiest, but underutilized, ways to glaze meat, fish and seafood, salads and veggies, and desserts is to make a wine reduction sauce. As the name implies, you’re simmering wine over a low heat until it reduces by half and becomes syrupy: Read More:Turn Organic Wine into an Elegant SauceOrganic Beer is Bubbling Up in New ZealandMay 18th, 2010 - Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese
Go to your local vegan restaurant and you’re sure to find organic booze. They usually come in brown bottles with artsy labels. And the organic beer trend is not only picking up steam in the United States, but a brewery in New Zealand is changing the countries perception of what good ale is. Mike’s Organic Brewery is seeing a major up tick in sales, especially as more and more young people get hip to organic – those whippersnappers sure love their hooch! Special beers or “craft beers,” like organic brews, are getting popular in New Zealand. So much so that Mike’s is having a hard time keeping local stores stocked. Instead of slogging back pint after pint, people in New Zealand are drinking fewer beers when they go out, so they want a higher quality cocktail. Organic beers are a lot like micro-brews. They’re all pretty different; usually stouter and darker, not watery like conventional drinks. Mike’s brewery mixes it up, offering a porter, strawberry ale, pilsner, and others. And they’re so popular one retailer had to place an emergency order days after the store received it’s first delivery. I chill out in New York City a lot and at my favorite vegan joint they sell a few organic beers. They taste interesting and they do the job too – wink, wink. Image Credit: Mike’s Organic Brewery Read More:Organic Beer is Bubbling Up in New ZealandDo Certified Organic Wines Contain Sulfites?December 14th, 2009 - Laura Klein
The National Organic Program (NOP), has set the same standards for wine as it has for food. USDA certification is strict. It guarantees that grapes are grown without synthetic pesticides or chemicals; and the wine is processed without added sulfites or sulfur dioxide. Bottom line, you can’t add preservatives to certified organic food products or wines. And sulfites are considered by the USDA a preservative. Certified organic wines, can have naturally occurring sulfites (all wines contain naturally occurring sulfites as a byproduct of the fermentation process), but the total sulfite level must be less than 20 parts per million. So for the for those who are super-sensitive to sulfites (asthma sufferers, for example), certified organic wines are the way to go. If sulfites are added to the wine and the total count of sulfites in the wine is taken above 10 parts per million, it must make the statement, “Contains Sulfites.” There are four wineries in California that take the additional step of processing their wine without added sulfites and are certified organic. They are Frey Vineyards, Coates Vineyards in Orleans, La Rocca Vineyards in Forest Ranch, and Organic Wine Works. If you want to buy organic wines that don’t contain added sulfites, my top tip is to read the label. The ingredients and process used to make the wine will determine the label it carries. Check out our articles and videos on organic wines: Red Organic Wine Tasting – Episode 19 Wine and Cheese Tasting – Episode 23 Organic Vines for Better Wines Interviews with Two Italian Organic Winemakers Organic Wine – Crush and Fermentation – DIY wine making.August 17th, 2009 - John Klein
We measured the grapes and found they had a sugar level of 24 to 25 which would give them a potential alcohol of 12.5% which is right where we want it, these organic grapes were picked at just the right time by Charlie Barra of Barra of Mendocino to have this perfect sugar level. We also measured the acidity which came out to .76 and the pH 3.3 to 3.4 as well as the relative gravity which was 1.092 to 1.096 which were all desirable measurements. That night I started the yeast in 50% juice and 50% water and added the yeast to the grapes ever waiting patiently in the trash cans the next morning. This process of fermenting the grape juice with crashed wine berries is known as maceration, during this process the red wine acquirers its structure and color. As a general rule of thumb, the longer the juice and grape solids are in contact, the more tannin and color that will be extracted, and the more full-bodied and colored a red wine will be. Maceration can take from 3 to 21 days but there is a lot to get into for the ease of this wine we macerated the wine till the yeast fermented all or most of the sugar which for this wine was 9 days. While the wine is fermenting in the trash cans the yeast will raise the solid grape parts to the top, thus you need to punch down the solid grape parts, you can easily do this with an oversize spoon or paddle all you’re doing is just pushing the solid grape mass down into the grape juice. I love punching down the grapes for it releases amazing aromatic smells of a winery, you truly know you’re making wine at this point. The fermentation process will vary based on the temperature that the grapes are at. I measured the grapes specific gravity percentage of alcohol and temperature on a daily basis to know when we would be ready to press the grapes. For this organic zinfandel it took nine days till it was ready to be pressed. If you want to read the first part of the series : Organic Wine – A Tasting – DIY wine making.You may also be interested in these other articles about wine: Interviews with Two Italian Organic Winemakers New Credit Cards Won’t Charge the EnvironmentDecember 22nd, 2008 - Gerald "Gerry" Pugliese
Now, for you charge-oholics, there’s a new card out there, you can feel a lot better about using. Sorry, it doesn’t have a magical spending limit. It’s biodegradable. This Discover card is made from biodegradable PVC. Meaning, after it spends 5 months in water, dirt, compost or whatever’s in a landfill, it breaks down 99%, leaving no toxic effects on the environment. However, your credit rating is another story. Discover encourages people to wait until their current card expires before placing an order. Biodegradable cards are only 1 of Discover’s green innovations. The company’s also making an effort to convert to paperless billing statements and setup a company-wide recycling program and employee rideshare website. Via inhabitat. Read More:New Credit Cards Won’t Charge the EnvironmentPennsylvania Wine Week Includes Organic Wine TastingsMay 7th, 2008 - Barbara Feiner
The state’s annual Wine Week kicks off today with the first-ever Wine Festival in Hershey, followed by the Sixth Annual Pittsburgh Wine Festival tomorrow and the Seventh Annual Philadelphia Wine Festival on Saturday. “Regular attendees know that each year the festivals are bigger and more exciting than the year before,” says Patrick “P.J.” Stapleton III, chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, the events’ sponsor. “This year is no exception. With more than 200 wineries participating, we have the largest, most diverse group of wines ever represented at Wine Week.” The week includes a series of wine seminars, auctions and dinners, highlighted by a grand festival tasting in each city. All events raise funds for local medical institutions. The tastings will feature wines from some of the world’s most renowned vintners—from France’s Chateau Mouton Rothschild to California’s Rubicon Estate. Many smaller, undiscovered winemakers from around the world—from the Pacific Northwest and Canada to South America, Australia and New Zealand—will also be pouring. Highlights include organic wine tastings from producers like Frey Vineyards and Bonterra, as well as locally made wines from notable Pennsylvania producers. Suggested Reading
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TreeHugger’s Paula Alvarado who reported on their use of more than 5,000 wine bottles plucked from the trash and turned into an impressive looking and acoustics-improving ceiling.
Truth be told, any kind of beer is good beer – I’m not picky – but nowadays new types of beer are popping up…organic beer.
As you start developing a trained green, consumer eye and become a savvy label reader, you’ll notice in the wine world there are quite a few wines that are “made with organic grapes,” and few carry the USDA’s certified organic seal. Certified organic wines are a rare find on store shelves. So what’s the difference between these two wine labels? I get this question all the time and here’s your answer.
Having acquired 500 pounds of organic grapes we were now ready to crush and de-stem the grapes. Fortunately we had access to a crusher-stemmer which makes this process easy. Once the grapes had been crushed and de-stemmed we divided them equally between three clean trash cans. Here they will go through maceration and fermentation.
My credit card hates me. I hardly use it and when I do, I pay my bills on time. So, my credit card company hates me too.
Organic wine lovers who live in the Pennsylvania area will have a chance to participate in tastings geared to their special lifestyle needs. 
