Organically grown grapes are farmed without pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilisers and other synthetic chemicals, keeping sulphites to the minimum.

Sulphites are added for preservation. Organic wines are permitted to contain up to 100 ppm of added sulphites by the USDA.

Vineyards do with planting cover crops, composted animal manure and natural predators like bugs, bees, birds and bats to tackle insect pests.

Grapes borne by a rich soil nourished by natural cycles are handpicked for wine making. Winemaking techniques too can be organic, which means avoiding the use of chemicals during manufacture. Even fermentation can be carried out with wild yeasts.

Organic wines taste as good as conventional wines. And connoisseurs are spared the morning after hangover, claims David Koball, director of Bonterra Vineyards, California. With more anti-oxidants, such wines are also said to keep down cholesterol levels and cell-oxidation rate.

Koball was in India last week to launch organic wines from the certified organic Bonterra Ranch. The range has been brought in by Brown-Forman.

Adds Amrit Kiran Singh, area director, South Asia, Brown-Forman, “We want to be in sync with nature. As a company we believe that the future belongs to organic foods – and organic wines.”

Subhash Arora, president of Indian Wine Academy, is not too sure. He points out, “In India, unfortunately, not much weightage is given to the organic aspect by the consumer.” At the same time, he adds, “It will have its niche, though. These wines should be a lot better for people who get headaches by drinking wine.”

While we get friendly with organic wines, a newer generation of biodynamic and sustainable wines is already making rounds in select bars worldwide.

Biodynamic wines are wines made from grapes grown organically in the company of animal life like chickens, horses and other livestock to lend balance to the ecosystem of vineyards. A dash of the spiritual may be also added by farming and making wines under the guidance of the lunar cycle.

Sustainable wines are a cocktail of the organic and the biodynamic minus the spiritual. Such wines are positioned as environmentally correct, economically viable and socially just.

The definition of biodynamic and sustainable wines may vary from company to company, but ultimately a wine is as good as it tastes, say connoisseurs.