Saturday, November 14, 2009

YEAST FREE WINES

Good Afternoon, I enjoy my wine as much as the next person, unfortunately I suffer from a yeast allergy. Do you currently have any wines that are yeast free?

Lucy
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Hi Lucy,

Have you had problems while drinking wines in the past? And if so was it really possible to link them to the presence of yeasts?

The reason I am asking is that yeasts, while necessary to the making of wine itself, fall at the bottom of the vats and are raked when transferring wine to different containers. After that there is a process of fining which grabs every particle in suspension, followed by a tight filtration. Another filtration is performed right before bottling. Given the size of a yeast cell it is virtually impossible to find one left in a wine bottle unless the wine has been purposefully kept and bottled without these processes, a rare occurrence that is advertised on the label since it is considered a plus by a certain public.

With allergy however it is conceivable that minute parts of a broken down yeast cell wall be present in the wine and that its protein constituents would be enough to trigger some response. When it comes down to such sizes it is simply impossible to be affirmative. There are a thousand elements in a wine though and if one has a bad reaction while drinking a glass it is pretty challenging to know what he is responding to. Regarding yeasts organically grown wines will not fare any better than conventional since their presence and work is central to the transformation of grape juice into wine. But experience shows that in most cases adverse reactions are caused by chemical residues (herbicides, pesticides) that should not be there or at least can be avoided by drinking organic products. In all our years of experience we found very few people who were not happy with the level of integrity achieved by the wines we selected. However the ultimate judge will be your own physiology when you try one of them yourself.

Dr Mic

Friday, October 02, 2009

SULFITES
How much sulfites does the average wine bottle contain that you would buy at a retail store? I tend to have a hit or miss on wines...if it has a high sulfite content I have a severe allergic reaction. I have started writing down the wines that I dont have a reaction to. I havent had a NSA or organic wine yet.

Sonal
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That is a very good question but one pretty hard to answer! We do know that our wines and organically grown in general MUST be under 100ppm. Our analysis shows levels of 30 to 60 for the reds, 50 to 80 for the whites. Commercial wines (conventional) can have up to 160 but it’s entirely dependant on the winery’s habits. Given the tens of thousands of different labels giving an average has really no useful significance. Moreover the main problem is that nobody knows if you are responding to sulfites or other things or any combinations of the 1,000 chemical components of a wine!! Certainly the residues of chemicals used in conventional viticulture has a big role to play but guess what? Nobody is interested in finding out! Finally the chemically active part of the sulfites present is never measured since it is constantly changing however that would be the only significant measurement. The total sulfites level reported can then have no bearing with the actual active part!

As you can see when you start digging into the matter it is very complex. Naturally everybody in particular the consumer would love a simple yes/no answer but you won’t get it!

What we can say with a certain level of assurance is that the vast majority of people who have ever had any problem whatsoever drinking wine has been extremely satisfied with organically grown wines. Maybe 1% of those with sensitivities still respond to something in organic wines but what is it really (tannins, histamine, anthocyans, sulfites, pesticides residues, etc…) is anyone’s guess!

Dr Mic

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

BREATHING TIME

Dear Michel,

We have been traveling quite a bit lately and leave for France next week but I have been intending to write to let you know that I've tried only the Janiny Merlot 2004. I opened it at home one evening last week, poured out a glass and then put the cork back in and enjoyed very much the one glass. Then two days later we went to our friends' house for dinner and I took my opened bottle. Wow! It was very good when I first opened it but after the two days it was truly quite special. It rounded out beautifully with a rich fullness it had gained from, I'm surmising, being opened and doing some breathing during those couple of days?? Anyway, I absolutely loved it. This time I'm going to keep a record of the wines I really like so when it comes time to re-order, I'll get my favorites.

When we go through all of the other wines (which is quite a challenge), I would love to fill the wine room with plenty of organic wines to be able to introduce my friends to how delicious they are.

Kindest regards,

Sherrill
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Hi Sherrill,

I am sure glad that you had a more positive experience with the second wine, the way it should be! Indeed it is quite interesting to see how a wine holds and evolves over a couple of days. Surprisingly, organic wines are much sturdier than one might expect and actually oftentimes outlive their conventional counterparts! It is quite exciting to hear that kind of experience and I hope you'll have more like that!

Best regards and happy French travel!

Dr Michel Ginoulhac

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

PROBLEM WITH A BOTTLE
Michel - at the end of June we purchased a case of wines on sale. We
have loved each and every one of them with one exception... the Mas de
Janiny Syrah, 2005. We have really enjoyed this wine in the past and
included 3 bottles in our case. The first bottle was just fine but
the both of the last two have been not even drinkable - the cork was
very colored and the wine actually fizzed upon pouring. Needless to
say we were really disappointed! Not sure what your refund policy is
but I see you have a Barbera still on clearance.... we also had two
bottles of that in our order which have been wonderful and some
chardonnay would also be an acceptable substitute. Thanks for
bringing great organic wines to the world!

- Anna
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Hello Anna,

Happy to hear about your satisfaction! Unfortunately your experience with this vintage of Janiny Syrah has been common. This wine has encountered a sad fate which we nor the producer can understand. Since we are always trying to put a minimum of sulfites it is probable that the level was just too low this time and that the wine did not stabilize and refermented in the bottle. It is an illustration of the difficulty of bringing low sulfites wines to market. A problem like that can be devastating to both the producer and the distributor.
Therefore we pulled the '05 out of the Catalog as soon as we understood there was a problem. In the meantime the '06 has just arrived in the warehouse.
We can refund you or send you the 2 bottles you mentioned. Usually we don't do that because of the shipping costs. Would you consider taking a credit for a next order to be more (eco)logical/nomical?
DrMic

Monday, August 24, 2009

Good morning Dr. Michel,

Just to let you know that I have a copy of your brochure, it was included with my first order of organic wines from you. It also includes information on “Storing Wines.”
Although my dwelling/condo is an apartment-type building, my place is air-conditioned. I have the wine stored on its side and will let it rest from at least 5 to 10 days. It was an excellent buy and I am glad to have had a chance to purchase and have it sent and delivered in excellent condition.

Thanks again for the opportunity,

Ciao, Pauline
HOW LONG TO KEEP WINES?

Can you help me? I am most definitely not a wine expert. However I love the organic wines you offer. I would like to take advantage of the 'angel' discount for the Bousquette wines but I will not be using them until November (Thanksgiving). Can I keep them that long? I do not have a wine cellar/frig/etc.
thank you
Denise
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Hi Denise,
Don’t worry about these wines, they will last probably several more years! The Rosé is the only one you would want to drink earlier as it would simply lose the quality of freshness typical to these wines. But even this one will be fine in a year (we’re still selling the 07). Actually the Veronique 07 is probably a bit young and will only be better in a few months. 4 to 6 years after harvest year is the average optimum time for these wines. Provided the temperature of your cupboard does not jump up and down you are taking no risk!

Sincerely

Michel

Monday, August 10, 2009

ALLERGIC REACTION TO SULFITES?

Hi Michel,

I read your article on sulfites with interest.
I recently drank a brand of white wine (Pinot Grigio) that I had never tried before (though I have tried several others). I had a severe allergic reaction - my tongue swelled and I had to be rushed to the emergency room.

There was no other change in my diet and I have never had an allergic reaction to anything before. Is it possible that brand has an unusually high sulfite content?

Thanks,
John
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Hi John,

White wines in general contain more sulfites than reds because of the need to preserve color and freshness. Even organically grown contain around 80ppm (max 100 by law). However conventional wines have less restrictions and could go up to 160. It all depends on the bottling conditions and nothing except a chemical analysis will tell you the exact content. Also aside from the total sulfites content, it is the active part that is important because it is the one responsible for the chemical activity and therefore your own reaction. This is never mentioned so you could conceivably with the same amount of total sulfites for instance 100ppm have an active level of a few ppm up to 30 or 40ppm which would explain why one wine would not create any problem and an apparently similar one trigger a big reaction!
Not very reassuring for you I guess. However when one is sensitive to sulfites a high content is generally easy to spot thanks to the smell or by tasting a very tiny amount. Have you been aware of that?

Generally speaking if you have been able to drink most wines you should be completely safe with organically grown wines which have a maximum allowed content of 100ppm. For the past 30 years we have had countless customers satisfied with our products. Only extreme allergy sufferers need to stay away from anything having touched the allergen they are sensitive to.

DrMic
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Hi Dr. Mic,

Thanks for the information.
I *did* notice that the wine tasted "funny."

I never had a reaction before and I never had that wine before, so I didn't know strange/different = danger. Now I do.

Thanks,
John

Sunday, July 26, 2009

ALLERGY AND VEGAN WINES

I have a severe seafood allergy (fish and shellfish) and was wondering which of your wines are vegan. Also do your vegan wines contain carrageenan? Or are there any other wines I can drink other then the vegan ones?

Thanks in advance
Criss
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Hi Criss:

You can easily find the Vegan section in our General Wine Catalog.
Fish byproducts are used very rarely as fining agents and only on white wines. Therefore all red/rose wines even non vegan should be fine for you and I am not aware of any of my white wines fined with fish products at the moment.

Carrageenans are food additives that have no usage in wines and would be banned in organic wines anyway.

You should be safe with our line of wines!

Dr Mic

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

SHELF LIFE OF ORGANIC WINES

Can you please tell me what the shelf life is for organic wine and vegan
vine? I would like to order but do not drink often, and keep it mainly for
company. Thank you!
Terie
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Hello Terie,

There is no real difference between the shelf life of organic versus non organic wines. Totally organic, meaning without any added sulfites, will probably not keep for many years even though I have seen examples to the contrary. The main difference will happen when you open the bottle and the oxidation will start quickly limiting the drinking time to a few hours. However with the vast majority of what is called organic wines but is really organically grown wines with some added sulfites [for instance all the wines we carry are in that category], wines will keep very well and once open will last in the same way as "regular" wines. The factors at play here are not the organic growing but rather the type of wine, color, body, style, age, varietal etc etc as well as the outside temperature and the storage conditions which will influence more strongly the future of your bottle.

Being vegan or not (no animal byproduct used for the fining of the wine) will have absolutely zero influence on its shelf life.

For instance in your case if you keep wine mainly for company without any idea of when they will be served it may be wiser to get some sturdy reds which will withstand a couple of years in the cellar rather than light whites or fruity reds which will lose their youthful qualities if you keep them indefinitely!

Sincerely

Dr Mic

Friday, April 03, 2009

FLOUR PASTE AND BARRELS

Hello Michel,
Thank you so much for taking the time to explain the use of flour paste on wine barrels today. It will be so wonderful to be able to use wine in cooking for my children and not have to worry about traces of gluten contamination. Here are a few links for the information that folks who have celiac disease are so worried about:
http://www.stavin.com/barrelsystems/insert.htm
http://www.ntolerance.co.nz/Services.aspx?PageID=125

Instead of wheat flour paste on the barrels, maybe arrowroot starch could be used to make a paste instead. Very very few people are allergic to arrowroot but about 1% of the population has celiac disease.

Leigh Ann
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Hi Leigh Ann,

Thanks for the links, I did learn something today! As you can read on these links this use of a wheat flour paste concerns the MAKING of barrels, something that winemakers are not involved in directly. This is why myself and others consulted had never heard of it before. It is used exclusively and once only to seal tight the bottoms, the 2 round pieces of wood at the extremities of the barrel. Realize that first the amount used is minute given the space to fill, probably a few grams per barrel, second that most of any potential residue is washed away by successive water fillings and that what's is left is hardly in contact with the wine. Finally whatever amount is still present is diluted in 40 gallons of wine and this several times over the course of the barrel lifetime. Therefore while it is still conceivable that trace amounts could be found in the final product I wonder which unit you would have to use to describe it, milligrams per liter for sure and possibly parts per million! I honestly do not know at which level of sensitivity goes celiac disease. Can it be that sensitive? Some toxins are felt at highly diluted levels but I have no idea if gluten could be that dangerous for certain people. I am seriously doubting it but since I lack the appropriate information I can only guess. And I suppose that affected people are the only ones capable to answer that question.
As far as suggesting a different component to the barrel makers that would take an effort from a celiac disease association to contact the dozens of companies making barrels and offer a valid substitute that would have to be tested first for efficiency and neutrality of taste.

Regarding your own personal quest you will be safe staying with white and rosé wines which are only exceptionally put in oak barrels. As for red wines the vast majority of today's wines are made for fast consumption therefore all the young fruity type wines of the most recent vintages would be ok. Oak aging concerns only a few percent of the total production and is reserved for wines of a high enough quality to deserve being kept for a few years or decades. I would guess that anything under $12 should be fine and this characteristic can be easily checked with the vendor.

All the best
Dr Mic
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Saturday, March 28, 2009

Dear Veronique,
I am 41 years old and a Breast Cancer Survivor this past year.
As I had a lot of time on my hands during chemo last year, I read several books. Everyone of them had a paragraph on sugar, a paragraph on animal fat, a paragraph on antibiotics....but 2 pages on Alcohol. I was disappointed, as my husband and I truly love to share our day over a glass of wine in the evening and an occasional bottle of champagne over the weekends. I am looking further into these accusations to see if I can put to rest some of the hype. Can you help me understand "Organic Wine" as compared to non organic wine. Can you give me any information from your winemaker that may help me understand with millions of women around the world that think they can no longer enjoy a glass of wine?
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Dear friend,
I understand your concern given your personal background! I have been reading the same information that you probably have. Nowadays we are inundated with studies which try to draw helpful conclusions and they are all fascinating however I deplore the use of the term "risk" in these presentations where all they found was a correlation between alcohol intake and cancer, but did not talk about all the other factors that may be involved! To make it a cause/effect relationship seems exaggerated. I am always doubtful of studies that overtime tend to be contradicted by new studies. However it is quite probable that the intake of ethyl alcohol has negative effects on your health just like many other components of wine are found to have a positive effect. Everything is always a matter of balance and moderation. Also it is important to come to terms with the fact that living is essentially dying slowly and that the present obsession with avoiding any kind of stress/poison/pollution is utterly ridiculous in view of all the things that can befall on us on a daily basis. How much of life do we have to do without to make it “safe” enough for our comfort and what kind of fun would you have living that life? I think the sickness comes from this attempt to control each and every aspect of our environment which is a never ending and probably lost battle. Lest you want to live in fear it is better to listen to your body wisdom and go for the feel good sensation provided you have enough clarity to understand what well being and balance mean for you.

That said, there is no reason to believe that the alcohol in organic wines is any different in its effects than the one in conventional wines. (until new studies prove that!). However several things could mitigate these effects: organic wine is a much more complete, balanced and therefore digestible product. The energetic signature of organic/biodynamic wines is incomparably stronger and healthier than conventional wines. The elements present in them certainly contribute to the best possible assimilation/elimination of undesirable components. Secondly, the absence of residues of any sort may also make a difference. In the studies there is no reference to organic wines versus conventional (that would stir serious controversy) and therefore who knows what is the incidence of the presence of pesticides which are a known cancer factor. This is the kind of subtlety that goes unnoticed in such studies. Alcohol is the big red flag but it may be all the things that come with it which are the real culprit.

To illustrate my point look at the tobacco statistics. There is a confusion between cigarette smoking and tobacco. If you were growing your own tobacco leaves, drying them and smoking them you would probably never get a cancer. But in a cigarette you are smoking a plant that has been treated with 40 different chemicals to grow it, protect it, dry it, color it, save it, flavor it etc, etc… plus the same thing on the paper itself! Therefore you are smoking a cocktail of chemicals where tobacco itself may play a secondary role. The industrial aspect of the tobacco business has made smoking indeed dangerous. It may well be the same for wine.

Another factor to consider is that organic wines in general and French ones in particular have a lower level of alcohol. Again there is more balance in the fruit leading to a more balanced end product. (and no acceptable way to correct artificially one aspect or the other). Since the risk is linked to the quantity absorbed it makes sense to look for wines around 12.5%, to drink it with food so that the alcohol is better digested, to eat enzymes which are sorely missing in our diet (Wobenzyme being one of the best).

Finally read Hulda Clark’s book “the Cure and Prevention of All Cancers” to understand what cancer really is and take the appropriate measures to protect yourself.

And I hope you won’t let anyone and particularly statistics prevent you from enjoying the simple pleasures of life that make it worth living!D

Dr Mic
LOW SULFITES CONTENT

What is the lowest sulfate red wine that I can order from you?

Karen
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We do not monitor the sulfite level in wines. It is a rather irrelevant measure since it varies from one bottling to the next and does not reflect in any predictable way the physiological response one might get from it since a number of other factors are involved. The measure is of total sulfites and never the free or active sulfites which is really the portion that creates reactions.
In any case our red wines are all within short distance from each other between 30 and 60ppm so the difference is not really significant. Bourgogne Pinot Noir is one of the consistently lowest with Domaine des Cedres, below 30ppm.

Dr Mic

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

SULFITES LEVELS IN WINES

Is there a site that will indicate the percentage of sulfites in various
types of wine? Thanks
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You will find a few here:
http://chartrandimports.com/sulfites.pdf
our colleague Paul from Chartrand Imports has attempted to list them however this is a pretty futile exercise. The actual levels change from one bottling to the next, from one vintage to the other and evolve after that in different ways. Therefore it is impossible to guarantee that these numbers are representative of reality. However the general picture is correct. Moreover this gives you the total sulfites, not the active part that would be the one interesting to know since it is the one responsible for unpleasant reactions.
As I mention on our website red wines are generally lower, between 30 and 60 ppm, whites are above, between 60 and 80 with sparkling reaching 100ppm more easily.

Dr Mic

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Thank you for your education bit on sulfites and organic wine. I was wondering if you thought that the labeling requirements were appropriate for organic wine. Meaning, when organic grapes have sulfites added to the wine, they cannot bear the USDA organic, the bottle can only say "made with organic grapes." Do you think this is reasonable? Or should sulfites not be part of the organic labeling requirements, when the FDA already requires the wine to label if it contains added sulfites. I would greatly appreciate you thoughts on this issue!!

Monique
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Obviously I would prefer myself to have the right to use the organic label for wines with limited added sulfites. I think the public as a whole is losing greatly because this labeling fragments a little more the market in subdivisions that have almost no relevance. One could still put forward the non usage if that was the case but to ostracize 97% of organically grown wines because of that is punitive to the growers and ultimately to the public, in my opinion. Unfortunately it is of little weight!

Dr Mic

Sunday, January 04, 2009

I would like to order wines that have NO added sulfites or yeasts. I have many allergies to things like eggs, corn, soy, yeast, wheat. I drink wine occasionally and LOVE it. I do notice tho that most wines give me real headaches and uck feeling. Do you have any available that are 100% organic, not just organic grapes? I look forward to hearing from you. I look forward to finding great wines to drink in 2009.

Also, my son likes reds, I have drank mostly whites, like pino grigiot- my uncle brought one to me that had the most buttery after taste, which has to do with the oak? I donʼt know. But then my son brought us over some Chilean wines, two dif kinds and wow. One was too spicy but the other had some punch but not overwhelming, so now I think I need to look into reds as well. So I will be learning as we go. Just no sulfites or yeast added, is that possible?
Thanks, Joann
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Hi Joann,

Thank you for contacting us. Your concern is one that I hear everyday. If you take the time to read my pages on sulfites
http://www.theorganicwinecompany.com/sulfites.php and on vegan wines you will see the difficulties of finding wines without sulfites.
You can easily find wines that have had no contact with albumin in the vegan section. In reality there is none left in the wines because of the tight filtration that is used for bottling anyway. This process also eliminates any residual yeast. It is impossible however to make wine without yeasts, be they naturally present or added, just as it is impossible to make yogurt without them! And there is no difference between the 2, it is just a selection of strains, just like you can make yogurt by chance, hoping that the right kind of ferment will be naturally present or add one which you already know. If you’re lucky you might get a fabulous result, if not, well…

On the other hand to import wines without sulfites is extremely risky and not worth the effort. Your reactions have 99% probability to be caused by other things, namely residues of pesticides or other chemicals. I have had thousands of sensitive people over the years completely satisfied with the level of quality that we provide. My sister actually got into this because of her extreme sensitivity to anything chemical and she is a very good “guinea pig”!

Bottom line, I will refund you if after trying any of our wines you do not feel just fine, that’s all I can say. Trying is the only way to know for yourself. However if you insist on finding 100% organic you will need to turn toward the handful of domestic producers who can provide them: Frey, Organic Works, China Bend, Badger Mountain (probably the best one). However their taste will make you understand why everybody else uses sulfites!

If you were truly allergic to sulfites it would be safer to drink red wines since there is always a higher content in white wines! In reality my own experience has shown that was not the issue with sensitive people. But you can only trust your own physiology!

DrMic

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Hello,
I just ordered your organic wines. I did have a question that maybe you could answer. I recently heard on a TV news program about wines tested contained metals. They listed the wines from 3 countries that had no metals. They were Brazil, Venezuela, and Italy. Why would wines have metal and were does the metals come from? Processing, soil? Any danger to health?
Thanks, Nancy
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Hi Nancy,
While this study has been drummed up if you look carefully at the way it has been conducted the results seem at a minimum unreliable or even not significant.
It is a meta study, gathering results of a bunch of previous studies and the way these things are put together and weighted is central to the quality of the results you get. Unfortunately this kind of occurrence is frequent nowadays in journalism under the cover of “science”!
The presence of lead for instance may be attributed to studies done before 94 when lead capsules were still in use (for expensive wines mind you) and therefore be totally irrelevant nowadays. It is not clear either if the amount found of any of the co-called heavy metals (I did not think Manganese belonged to them) is really significant in terms of their bioactivity. All of that seems pulled by the hair.

Based on these results I would not worry about it. In any case, if metals are found in wine, apart form copper which is widely used in the fields as an anti mildew, they probably come from their presence in pesticides or weed killers or even as pollutants in synthetic fertilizers. Since none of these are used in organic agriculture, this particular risk is probably close to 0 when you drink organically grown wines anyway.

All the best

Dr Mic