Montepulciano?

Anyone not dealing in detail with wine may know Montepulciano as a picturesque, ancient town located high up on a hill in southern Tuscany.

Wine enthusiasts travel to this location to visit famous wineries in order to taste one wine, the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, which is relatively high-priced. Those who are interested in a lower-priced wine will be quite content with the Rosso di Montepulciano. Both of these wines are made primarily from the Sangiovese grape.

Anyone less experienced will confuse the aforementioned wines with another wine called Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, produced in the Abruzzo region southeast of Tuscany and made from the Montepulciano varietal. If this is new to you, I would advise you to try this wine, which has less acidity and tannins, and which after a short maturation period will provide you with a great deal of enjoyment.

Erich Hartl
hartl@weinpur.com
www.organicwinepure.com

Organic wine now available in bag-in-box

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This picture shows the young team of Bodega de Pinoso in the area of Alicante, who supply us with very good wine in the Bag in Box system.

An old technique gets a 21^st century makeover. Thousands of years ago wine was stored in goat skin bags, now with the bag-in-box (BiB) system uses materials that are hygienic, food grade, acid-proof, airtight and watertight.

The bag is made from a film composite material (aluminum, polyethylene, Ethyl-Vinyl-Alcohol) with a tap to serve the wine. For ease of serving, it is packaged in a sturdy box and has a pre-punched hole for the serving tap.

Granted, some wine connoisseurs may look down on BiB packaging. Of course the quality of BiB wines is not going to be the same as a Premier Grand Cru. And we understand that Chateau Lafite is not planning to supply their wines using this system in the near future.

But BiB organic wines at £5.00 per litre are just as good as a normal wine bottle in the £7-10 price range.

 
There are many good reasons for buying organic wine in BiB:

• they are better value for money than the same bottled wine because the packaging, handling and transport costs are lower
  
• they are more environmentally friendly; the transport weight is lower, so one needs less fuel to transport them
  
• you can help yourself to just one glass of organic wine from the BiB, without the remaining wine losing any freshness
  
• you don't have to worry about leftover wine in a bottle getting oxidized over a few days
  
• once opened, organic wine left in the BiB lasts for up to 8 weeks if you keep it cool
  
• organic BiB wine takes up much less space than wine bottles in your home
  
• BiB packaging is fully recyclable

Organic wine in bag-in-box provides so much pleasure for so little money!

 Domaine Joliette, organic white wine in 5 litres Bag in Box

Domaine Joliette, organic red wine in 5 liter Bag in Box

Prosecco Spumante Superiore di Valdobbiadene, DOCG, “Lunatico” organic, Azienda Agricola Francesca Rizzi

A unique sparkling wine, pleasantly refreshing, lively, very precise, clear, clean with fragrances of white wildflowers, citrus fruit and green apples. Very fine and sophisticated on the palate with fresh fruity aromas. Excellent as an aperitif, with  hors d'oeuvre, light dishes or just for fun.

Azienda Agricola Francesca Rizzi

This is only a tiny vineyard that was part of Francesca’s family weekend house while they lived in Venice. 15 years ago Francesca started to cultivate the vines in her own way, which means organically without the use of chemicals and artificial fertilizers. The house and the vineyard are on the hilltop overlooking the plains of Veneto where the lower priced wines (less work, higher yields, less quality) are produced. The vineyard itself is far away from the others and separated by its altitude, trees and bushes, so it can’t be polluted. This is exactly what we are looking for and how we interpret organic farming. The vineyard is difficult to access and hard to work in because the slopes are so steep that no machines can be used. Unless one can see the natural surroundings and taste the result of Francesca’s way of working, one would think of the adjective “loony”, but this is not what Francesca intended to express by calling her prosecco “ Lunatico”. In order to produce Lunatico, many of the procedures from planting to pruning, harvesting and bottling are carried out under the influence of certain phases of the moon, and this is why the moon can be also seen on the labels of the prosecco bottles.

This is Bob Tyrer's verdict about the Lunatico, published in the Sunday Times on November 2011: “Lunatico is the best prosecco I have ever come across – so much more refreshing and lovely than the three champagnes I tasted alongside it.”

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.com
www.organicwinepure.com

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Organicwinepure turns 30 in March

In retrospect, we would not want to have missed any part of the 30 years we have spent as importers and merchants of organic wine, especially since we were the first ones in Germany to make a deliberate decision, based on our convictions, in favor of organically produced wines.

During this time we have had to make several adjustments to altered circumstances. We started out as wholesalers and turned into retailers with two shops in Tübingen and Karlsuhe, and for some years most of our turnover has been from the mail-order business.

What impressed us in particular was the direct personal contact to all of our vintners, many of whom were real characters with personality as well as a great deal of knowledge and enthusiasm for their profession. We were able to learn a great deal from them and to gain valuable experience. Some of these vintners became good friends during this time. We would like to thank all of them sincerely for their friendship and their cooperation and for the trust they placed in us.

However we would not be able to celebrate our 30-year anniversary without all those customers who have remained loyal to us throughout the years. Thus we do really want to say a special thanks to all those customers who have been with us for so many years, but of course  to those of you as well who have not been purchasing our organic wines for quite such a long time. We are pleased to receive each and every order, and also pleased to have the personal contact to some of you, even if it is only a few words on the telephone, a short feedback by e-mail or on facebook. We would like to thank you for this as well.

We invite you to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Biowein(pur) with us. We think you will find some of our special offers very interesting and will be surprised at the reasonable prices. These are top-quality organic wines produced by vintners who have been a part of this from the very beginning and are pioneers in the field of organic winegrowing. However our range of products also includes wines from those who joined us at a later date, giving organic viticulture a broad basis. Our special anniversary offers will be available starting in mid-March at www.organicwinepure.com or www.organicwinepure.co.uk

Erich Hartl 

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com 

In retrospect, we would not want to have missed any part of the 30 years we have spent as importers and merchants of organic wine, especially since we were the first ones in Germany to make a deliberate decision, based on our convictions, in favor of organically produced wines.

During this time we have had to make several adjustments to altered circumstances. We started out as wholesalers and turned into retailers with two shops in Tübingen and Karlsuhe, and for some years most of our turnover has been from the mail-order business.

What impressed us in particular was the direct personal contact to all of our vintners, many of whom were real characters with personality as well as a great deal of knowledge and enthusiasm for their profession. We were able to learn a great deal from them and to gain valuable experience. Some of these vintners became good friends during this time. We would like to thank all of them sincerely for their friendship and their cooperation and for the trust they placed in us.

However we would not be able to celebrate our 30-year anniversary without all those customers who have remained loyal to us throughout the years. Thus we do really want to say a special thanks to all those customers who have been with us for so many years, but of course  to those of you as well who have not been purchasing our organic wines for quite such a long time. We are pleased to receive each and every order, and also pleased to have the personal contact to some of you, even if it is only a few words on the telephone, a short feedback by e-mail or on facebook. We would like to thank you for this as well.

We invite you to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Biowein(pur) with us. We think you will find some of our special offers very interesting and will be surprised at the reasonable prices. These are top-quality organic wines produced by vintners who have been a part of this from the very beginning and are pioneers in the field of organic winegrowing. However our range of products also includes wines from those who joined us at a later date, giving organic viticulture a broad basis. Our special anniversary offers will be available starting in mid-March at www.organicwinepure.com or www.organicwinepure.co.uk

Erich Hartl 

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com 

Jancis Robinsons report on biodynamic wines

"On paper it sounds completely crazy, or at least a wholemeal sandwich short of a picnic, but then you see the health of the grapes that result and, perhaps even more importantly, the vibrancy of the wines typically produced, it is increasingly convincing.

"It’s worth considering a few of the French producers who have gone over entirely to biodynamic viticulture: Lalou Bize-Leroy most famously in her great vineyard holdings that make up the Domaine Leroy in Burgundy; neighbours Jean-Louis Trapet of Gevrey-Chambertin, Anne-Claude Leflaive of Domaine Leflaive in Puligny-Montrachet and Dominique Lafon of Domaine Comtes Lafon of Meursault; Olivier Humbrecht of Zind-Humbrecht in Alsace and many others in Alsace such as Faller of Domaine Weinbach, Kreydenweiss and Josmeyer; Jacques Selosse of Champagne; Chapoutier of the Rhône valley; and Gaston Huet of Vouvray and, the great proselytizer, Nicolas Joly of Savennières in the Loire. These are not flower power sandal wearers. They are thoughtful, practical vine growers who are worried about the future of what we call ‘conventional’ farming on the planet and have seen that biodynamism works – even if they have no clue how."

Read more about biodynamic wines http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/winenews060206.html

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

Is there any point in shipping organic wines to Europe from abroad?

The main ideas behind the organic movement were environmental protection, the health of humans and animals and the production of better and more natural organic food and wines.

In order to achieve this, chemical-synthetic pesticides, systemic pesticides (fungicides), herbicides and artificial fertilizers were banned from the vineyards. Good, serious organic vintners reduce the sulfur content in organic wine to a minimum and do not use any other questionable aids in the wine cellar.

Thus it seems paradoxical to transport organic wines from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Chile or Argentina and in doing so to pollute the environment with carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur, soot and particulate matter.

Of course organic wine dealers and many customers as well are interested in trying wines from other continents, but to be honest, how many wines would we be able to allocate to their origin if we were to do a blind wine-tasting. And there is no shortage of good European organic wines, quite the opposite is true. Due to their geographical and climatic diversity, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Austria and Germany, and other European countries as well produce a wide range of good and even excellent organic wines whose transport is considerably more environmentally friendly.

According to a report done by the UN and referred to by The Guardian, the carbon dioxide emission resulting from shipment by sea is three times higher than previously assumed. Thus the following amounts of carbon dioxide would be discharged into the air for the shipment of one bottle of wine:

Comparison between shipment by sea and road transport. Port of destination is Hamburg, delivery address Tübingen. This is based on a distance of 1,500 km for the transport by truck to the ports and from the port of destination to Tübingen. One bottle of organic wine weighs 1.4 kg.

Erich Hartl
hartl@weinpur.com

www.organicwinepure.com

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Antibiotic in Argentinian Wines

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The controlling authorities of the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate have found the antifungal agent natamycin in several Argentinian wines.

As is customary when discoveries of this nature are made, the controlling authorities have pointed out that natamycin in wine does not constitute a health hazard, but it is prohibited to add this antibiotic to wine.

Importers of wine and wine merchants - presumably supermarkets, since these are cheap wines - had made provisions for this and are having the wines tested in private laboratories.

It is assumed that rectified concentrated grape must was treated with this antibiotic. Concentrated grape must is added to inferior wines either before fermentation or is used to sweeten the finished wine.

Please bear in mind that good wines do not require concentrated grape must, but they do cost a bit more.

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.com

www.organicwinepure.com

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Organic Viticulture and Biodynamic Viticulture

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Organic Viticulture

The terms "organic" or "ecological viticulture" can briefly be explained as a method which does not use any mineral fertilizer, chemical-synthetic and systemic pesticides (herbicides, fungicides, insecticides). As a result, it may be assumed that these substances, most of which are carcinogenic or suspected of being so, will not be present in wines from organic or ecological cultivation and will also not be in the ground water.

It would however be naive to believe that this means that all the organic wines on the market are of a superior quality. This can only be made possible with the help of further quality-oriented steps in the vineyards and the wine cellars.

Biodynamic Viticulture

Those restrictions in respect to the use of chemicals which apply to organic wine apply to biodynamic viticulture as well. From an anthroposophical viewpoint, agriculture, and hence a vineyard as well, can be seen as an individual entity which has its very own biotope with as large a diversity of animals, birds, insects and plants as possible. This means that many different plants should be cultivated and that hedges and trees should be planted at the sides of the roads. The effective treatment and the fertility of the soil is facilitated by the farm animals which are kept, consisting mainly of ruminants (cattle, but sheep and horses as well) proportional to the area being farmed. The manure from the farm animals is composted, along with any other organic substances which have accumulated, and used as fertilizer. In exceptional cases, it is permissible to buy and use manure from other farmers who also use ecological methods.

Whereas the changeover from conventional viticulture (using chemicals) to organic viticulture takes two and a half to three years, the period stipulated for biodynamic viticulture is six to seven years. It is not until this time that the chemicals used in the soil have decomposed and the soil has obtained the desired vitality with sufficient microorganisms. The reason for this long changeover period can be attributed to a theory developed by Rudolf Steiner, an anthroposophist and the founder of biodynamic agriculture, which maintains that fungal diseases of plants (which cause the most damage in viticulture) are the result of an imbalance between the soil and its environment. In order to restore the balance and to obtain a healthy soil fertility, the farmers use 8 biodynamic compounds, most of which they produce themselves. They are numbered from 500 to 507 and consist of the following components:

500 Horn Manure - Cow manure is put into a cow horn and buried in the ground during the winter, in the spring it is mixed with water and stirred making a vortex movement (this process, known in homeopathy, is called dynamization) and sprayed onto the vineyard in small homeopathic doses in order to improve the soil.

501 Horn Quartz - Finely ground quartz is put into the horn of a cow and buried in the ground during the summer. During the next stage of vegetation it is dynamized with water and sprayed onto the vines to improve the photosynthesis.

Compounds 502 -507 are based on compost, to which the blossoms of yarrow, camomile, dandelion as well as oak bark or the juice of valerian blossoms are added in order to increase the activity of the microbes in the compost.

Furthermore, in biodynamic viticulture all the work done in the vineyards or in the wine cellars is carried out according to the pattern of cosmic rhythms and the position of the stars. Maria Thun's lunar calendar, with its days for sowing and planting, is also taken into account.

What organic viticulture and biodynamic viticulture have in common is that in both systems it is permissible to use small amounts of copper and sulfur to combat fungal diseases.

It has been our experience that many winegrowers change from conventional viticulture to organic viticulture to begin with and then switch to biodynamic viticulture. However very few of them have become as intensely involved with Rudolf Steiner's theories, anthroposophy and biodynamic viticulture as Nicolas Joly has. When such well-known names as Madame Bize-Leroy from the Domaine Leroy, Romanée-Conti, Domaine Leflaive, Château Beaucastel, Domaine Marcoux, Peter Sissek, Perez Palacios, Bertrand Sourdais embrace the concept of biodynamic viticulture and proclaim openly that this method has continuously raised the quality of their wine, it would be very foolish to allege that their reasons for this are of an ideological nature. It is for the same pragmatic reasons that our winegrowers practice biodynamic viticulture. The wineries to which I am referring are Fuchs-Jacobus, Sander and Stutz in Germany, the Domaine Eugen Meyer, Domaine Zusslin, Domaine de l'Ecu, Clos de la Coulée de Serrant, Domaine Jean-Claude Rateau, Domaine de Marcoux, Château Romanin, Cazes, Château Falfas, Château Vieux Pourret in France, the Fattoria Cerreto Libri in Italy and the Nikolaihof in Austria. They are members of the Demeter Assocation or of "Biodyn", the Association for Biodynamic Viticulture.

For anyone wanting to learn more about biodynamic viticulture, I recommend Nicolas Joly's books entitled "Wine From Sky to Earth", "Biodynamic Wine Demystified" and "What is Biodynamic wine ?"

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

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Le FIGARO awards the Jas d'Esclans rosé the Coup de Coeur

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Le FIGARO publishes regular reports on outstanding wines produced in France, as do all the other French daily papers, and these are written by Éric Beaumard, the best sommelier in France, whose full-time job is managing the restaurant in the famous Hotel GEORGE V in Paris.

In the October 27, 2009 issue, Éric Beaumard presents 13 of his favorite wines (Coup de Coeur). One of these is the Côtes de Provence rosé from the Domaine du Jas d'Esclans. Since we have been selling the wines produced by the Domaine for many years, we are not surprised, but are delighted that other experts have confirmed our opinion of these wines.

The new vintage of this wine will be available again starting April 2010.

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.com

www.organicwinepure.com

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Why do some of our organic wines contain the fragrances of macchia or garrigue?

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When we describe the fragrance and the aromas of our organic wines from the Mediterranean area, from time to time we use the terms "garrigue" or "macchia." This almost impenetrable vegetation, typical of the entire Mediterranean area, is 2 to 3 meters tall, and consists of gorse, rosemary, rockrose, tree heath, greenbrier, arbutus and myrtle (in Sardinia there is a liqueur made of myrtle). Around noon and in summer, when the temperatures are high, this vegetation exudes a multitude of fragrances which are known as the very distinct, spicy-resinous, dry scent of the macchia or the garrigue. Those vines and grapes which are grown quite close to this vegegation seem to take on the scent of this fragrant "perfume," which makes it very slightly discernible in the wine later on, giving it a pleasant taste. The following wines are good examples of this:

La Chapelle de Romanin

Seguret, Clos du Joncuas

Côteaux du Languedoc, Domaine de la Triballe

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.com

www.organicwinepure.com

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Chianti Colli Senesi DOCG, 2007, Torre alle Tolfe

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We allowed this Chianti to age for more than one year in our cellar, since we wanted to wait for it to reach maturity and for it to become more refined. During this time, we tried it occasionally, but did not recommend it for sale, since to us it seemed to be still too young. However, this wine has now exceeded our expectations and has proven to be more than worth the wait. This organic Chianti, made from 80 % Sangiovese, 10 % Canaiolo and 10 % Colorino, is now demonstrating all the typical characteristics of a very, very good wine from Tuscany, a wine which is even surpassing its predecessors.

Its fragrance is characterized by ripe berries, cherries, vanilla, wood, spices and herbs, with mineral components; dense, dry, fresh, it expresses the typicity and spirit of the Sangiovese. As far as taste is concerned, this Chianti also has a lot to offer: The warm, succulent cherry, the powerful structure and the hearty, spicy bite make it ideal when paired with a juicy roast and a tasty sauce.

Serve it now at a temperature of between 15 to 17 degrees centigrade, or store it until 2012.

If we had not known Sergio Lo Jacono for many years before he ok over the management of Torre alle Tolfe, we would have thought it would be impossible to change the characteristics of the wines which they had been producing in such a short time.

As important as the "terroir" is for good wine, it is the work in the vineyard and in the cellar which have an even stronger impact on the wine. Apart from this, we would have been suspicious of all the awards received in just as short a period of time, since there is a lot of talk about "purchased wine evaluations," which in practice are difficult to trace.

However, what was written about the 2005 vintage in the journals DER FEINSCHMECKER and VINUM was confirmed by a panel of wine tasters during Italy's largest wine fair, VINITALY, which gave the 2007 vintage a "GRAN MENZIONE."

1st place in VINUM in a test comparing 180 Tuscan wines: the best Chianti with the highest evaluation.

2nd place in DER FEINSCHMECKER (of 69 Chiantis tested).

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

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MONICA DI SARDEGNA SUPERIORE “KREU”

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We knew for many years, that Meloni Vini from Sardegna is producing excellent wines, otherwise we would not have them in our selection.

When these wines are judged positively by a neutral jury and rewarded with a gold medal, we are very happy about, because it is a confirmation form our own quality criteria and judgement.

Our wine MONICA DI SARDEGNA SUPERIORE “KREU” was awarded with a gold medal on February 19/2009 at the GALA ITALIA in New York.

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.com

www.organicwinepure.com

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KOSTI, a blend of Cannonau, Monica di Sardegna and Bovali

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It is not surprising when wines from Meloni Vini in Sardegna are continiously awarded with medals. The wine KOSTI, a blend of Cannonau, Monica di Sardegna and Bovali, after winning a silver medal at the contest MUNDUS VINI in Germany, could again win a silver medal at the CONCOURS MONDIALES in Brussels.

This is a nice confirmation for our selection and a guarantee for our clients.

Erich Hartl

hartl@weinpur.de

www.organicwinepure.com

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