Organic food has a reputation for being healthier than conventional, and there’s some evidence for that. But when it comes to organic wine, the health benefits are much less clear, experts say. And they won’t help you avoid a hangover.
Organic wines still make up just a tiny fraction of the U.S. wine market, but when they are sold here, they must be approved by the USDA, just like fruits and vegetables. The USDA has three levels of organic certification that can appear on wine bottles: “100% organic,” “organic” and “made with organic grapes.” Each of these have standards for the amount of organic ingredients that must be in the wine (100% organic ingredients, at least 95% and at least 70%, respectively). There are also other categories—like “biodynamic,” which has its own private regulatory bodies and treats the whole vineyard as a living ecosystem, even taking into account astrological influences. READ MORE…