Are Organic Wines Just for Hippies?

Being 'green' is the 'new thing' but does it fuse with wine? Drinking wine, almost 60 million years ago, was brought upon social effects on civilization and commerce. So, where does the new trend of organic wine stand in the mixture? Is it for the wine elite or organic hippies?

Organic foods and consumer products are becoming one of the fastest-growing markets in the U.S. So why not wine also? According to the Organic Trade Association, organic wine sales increased twenty percent in 2003 and are thought to increase16.5 percent every year until 2008. With the increase of organic restaurants and organic health food stores, I am sure that the projected increase will be met. In 2005, California Certified Organic Farmers reported more than 8,000 of California's 51,300 wine acres were certified organic. In fact, there are sure to be more since a lot of wine producers do not bother to get certified.

So, what is the difference between traditional wines compared to wines made with organically and biodynamical-grown grapes? Well, 'organic' means the grapes were grown without using any chemicals of any kind and abides to the sulfite level laws. Therefore, any winery trying to get a seal of approval for being 'organic certified', a certifying agency will need to sanctioned, which can take up to three years. 'Biodynamic' therefore refers to an organic process by including processes that follow the "rhythms of the earth". Although there is no general understanding of "rhythms of the earth", some wineries have explained that it is the process of understanding how the vinery works while farming organically. This means that the wineries time their activities in accordance with the cycles of the moon, planets and stars.

Since all wines use basically use the same grapes such as Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot, and Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Noir, do organic wines taste the same? Or is there a difference in the overall taste? Some restaurants such as Candle 79 and