Guide: The Organic Wine Label

Among the information we can find on the label of an organic wine for sale, since 2012 a small logo has been added:

It represents the Eurofoglia, the European logo that distinguishes all organic products, including wine.
More than twenty years after the first regulation of organic farming in Europe, in 2012, the new EU regulation was finally published, allowing the definition "Vino Biologico" to be included on the label. Previously, the term referred exclusively to wines obtained from organic grapes, as explained in the article (vino biologico facciamo chiarezza). The difference is not trivial: the organic certification was, in the past, limited to vineyard work alone, whereas now it extends to the entire production process, including winery operations, establishing which additives and substances may or may not be used in organic winemaking.
The label and back label, in addition to carrying the mandatory information required by current regulations, must include the following:

label:

• organic wine
• code number assigned to the certified operator
• EU logo

label or back label:

• code assigned to the inspection body by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, preceded by the wording "Organismo di controllo autorizzato dal MIPAAF"
• indication of the location where the agricultural raw materials making up the product were grown (EU agriculture; non-EU agriculture; EU/non-EU agriculture) or the specific country of origin of the raw materials

In the USA, regulations provide four categories of wines that are partially or fully organic:

• 100% organic: wines made with 100% organic ingredients, with no added sulfites and fewer than 10 ppm (parts per million) of sulfites – labeled "100% organic"
• organic: wines made with at least 95% organic ingredients; contain fewer than 10 ppm of sulfites and the label is not required to state "contains sulfites" – labeled "organic" or "organic wine"
• made with organic ingredients: made with at least 70% organic ingredients; may contain added sulfites up to 100 ppm and the label must specify that they contain sulfites – labeled "made with organic ingredients"
• less than 70%: products made with less than 70% organic ingredients – labeled "made with organic and non-organic ingredients" and without the "USDA organic seal" logo

It is interesting to note how, despite Europe being the historic producer of wine, on many fronts countries outside the EU are far ahead when it comes to label information; the Eurofoglia represents a first – if belated – step forward; we hope that precise indications will soon follow, for example on the quantity of sulfites present, in order to highlight those who use sulfur dioxide sparingly.

Here is further reading on the production and regulations of organic wine .
Could wine lobbies be behind these choices that are so slow to arrive?