Organic wine and sulfites, watch out for the label

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Organic wines may contain sulfites, albeit to a lesser extent than conventional wines. In fact, the addition of sulfur dioxide is one of the oenological practices allowed by reg. EU 203/2012, which introduced the concept of organic wine, and its requirements.

Three categories of organic wines

Moreover, the label allows us to distinguish three categories of ‘organic’ wines:

Bacchus nectar, when completely devoid of the substances under consideration, is declaimed as ‘sulfite-free’ (or similar)

if sulfites are present, but less than 10 mg/l, the label has no indication (neither ‘without…’ nor ‘contains…’). In this case, the list of ingredients and additives remains secret under the exemptions always granted to alcoholic beverages,

if sulfites are instead contained in amounts greater than 10 mg/l, the most common scenario on closer inspection, the words ‘contains sulfites’ (mandatory under the allergens directive, now included in EU reg. 1169/11) appear.

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