"Organic wine" and "natural wine", here are two terms that often lead to confusion and sometimes, often misused. Indeed, consumers of organic products still have difficulty understanding the difference between these two denominations, certainly because of the youth of these terms and also of the regulations in force on organic wine. In order to help you know if organic wine is a natural wine, we will first address the question of labeling, then the common characteristics and finally the differences between these two categories of vintage.
It's all about labeling
The first thing you should know about the terms "organic wine" and "natural wine" is that they do not mean the same thing. Gradually, labels are beginning to emerge, creating standards or regulations, to try to get producers to agree on the same way of making “organic” or “natural” wine.
However, if the name "organic wine" is protected by the European regulations of 2012, this is not the case for natural wine. To date, the latter – also known as natural wine – does not benefit from any certification either nationally (France) or internationally.
In other words, only organic wines are currently subject to regular checks in the European area. Thus, before attributing the "organic wine" label to a wine, the European quality label ensures that it is actually produced, processed and developed according to the rules and principles of organic farming and organic winemaking.
Common characteristics
As we pointed out above, organic wine and natural wine do not have the same status with regard to their certification. However, despite this dissimilarity, these two wine products share several characteristics. This is also why, in popular language, the name organic wine is used to designate both of these wine products.
The common characteristics of organic and natural wines are as follows:
- the common philosophy is to limit human intervention;
- the two viticultures are committed to respecting nature and the environment;
- gradually, these terms are becoming regulated and will each have their own specifications.
The differences
Several differences were also noted between organic wine and natural wine. First, we observe a certain dissimilarity in the recognition of the denomination of each of these categories of wines.
Indeed, Conversely organic wine which is framed by European specifications, natural wine does not benefit from a global certification recognized on a European scale. This is explained by its private specifications which are not subject to any regulation or legal charter.
As a general rule, these two products are made according to the principles of organic viticulture, but they do not always have the same rules and the same limits. The current main difference concerns sulphur: indeed, in nature or natural viticulture, the objective is not to use added sulphites. Only sulphites produced by grapes are authorized in wine.
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