New EU rules for “organic wine” have been published in the Official Journal on 8 of march 2012 (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:071:0042:0047:EN:PDF ). With the new regulation (EC) N° 203/2012, which will apply from the 2012 harvest, organic wine growers will be allowed to use the term “organic wine” on their labels. The labels must also show the EU-organic-logo and the code number of their certifier, and must respect other wine labelling rules. Although there are already rules for “wine made from organic grapes”, these do not cover wine-making practices, i.e. the whole process from grape to wine. Wine is the one remaining sector not fully covered by the EU rules on organic farming standards under Regulation (EC) N° 834/2007. The new rules have the advantage of improved transparency and better consumer recognition. They will not only help to facilitate the internal market, but also to strengthen the position of EU organic wines at international level, since many other wine producing countries (USA, Chile, Australia, South Africa) have already established standards for organic wines. With this piece of legislation, the EU organic farming is now complete and covers all agricultural products.

The new regulation establishes a subset of oenological (wine-making) practices and substances for organic wines defined in the Wine Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation 606/2009. For example, sorbic acid and desulfurication will not be allowed and the level of sulphites in organic wine must be at least 30-50 mg per litre lower than their conventional equivalent (depending on the residual sugar content). Other than this subset of specifications, the general wine-making rules defined in the Wine CMO regulation will also apply. As well as these wine-making practices, “organic wine” must of course also be produced using organic grapes – as defined under Regulation (EC) N° 834/2007.

The new rules on organic wine-making rules introduces a technical definition of organic wine which is consistent with the organic objective and principles as laid down in Council Regulation N° 834/2007. The regulation identifies oenological techniques and substances to be authorized for organic wine.
These include: maximum sulphite content set at 100 mg per litre for red wine (150 mg/l for conventional) and 150mg/l for white/rosé (200 mg/l for conventional), with a 30mg/l differential where the residual sugar content is more than 2g per litre.

The use of the following oenological practices, processes and treatments is prohibited:
(a) partial concentration through cooling;
(b) elimination of sulphur dioxide by physical processes;
(c) electrodialysis treatment;
(d) partial dealcoholisation of wine;
(e) treatment with cation exchangers.

For heat treatments the temperature shall not exceed 70 °C;
For centrifuging and filtration with or without an inert filtering agent the size of the pores shall be not smaller than 0,2 micrometer.

Stocks of wines produced until 31 July 2012 in accordance with either Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 or Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 may continue to be brought on the market until stocks are exhausted

The Community organic production logo may be used provided that the wine-making process complies of this Regulation and the operator keep recorded evidence, for a period of at least five years after they placed on the market that wine obtained from organic grapes, including of the corresponding quantities of wine in litres, per wine category and per year;

Please contact Katharina Yanez (ky@imo.ch) in case you have any questions with regard to the new organic wine rules.