Organic Grapes

Like all varieties of fruit and vegetable products that are traded the most, even grapes are now evaluated from an organic point of view, in accordance with the possible parasite control done through available phytosanitary products; nowadays, more attention is given to the organic agriculture and with this to the production of organic grapes, as it is a farming that aims at prevention and acts especially to improve soil fertility, with the purpose to control, reduce or eliminate cultivation problems. Today, only a regulation for the production of organic grapes exists. It regulates the production of grapes, according to the certification of the EU regulation 2002/91, which defines the organic farming itself. However, it is not yet correct to talk about an organic wine, as it actually does not exist: you can only find the caption “wine produced by organic grapes”
While cultivating vine to obtain organic grapes, many substances, that as well as worsening the grape quality, also prevent its qualities, in other words, detach it from the area of production, are not used.
In organic vines, it is prohibited to use chemical weedkillers: in this way, as well as enhancing the life in the vineyard, a competition arises, causing a positive and spontaneous reduction of the production of grape per hectare, and therefore a better quality of the organic grape produced.
It is not yet possible to use endotherapic pesticide treatments, in other words, treatments that get inside the plant: this avoids the possible presence inside the berries of these chemical substances, and above all avoids the use of harmful chemical pesticides.
It is also prohibited to use chemical fertilizers, usually nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium based, which create vigorous vineyards, but thirsty and a production of grape that is always too much watered, tasteless.
The maintenance of the vine landscape in organic farming and in biodynamic farming is more complete: for practical reasons, in fact, the production of organic grape prevents a too intensive development of the vineyard, giving space to other cultivations and above all to woods, a source of insects and birds that are essential to the organic control of parasites. The organic and biodynamic farming, even if reduce a lot the yield per hectare, avoid excesses in the production of grape, surplus and the following dead stocks and the fall of grape prices, such as in this crisis period. For this reason, nowadays, many fruit and vegetable companies that deal with the production of grapes, processing of grapes, import of grapes, export of grapes, wholesale of grapes, etc... consider profitable to cultivate organic grapes, for consumption or to be processed to obtain products deriving form it.
Nowadays there are more and more retailers of organic grapes, suppliers of organic grapes and wholesalers that deal with the organic product: the modern consumer, in fact, today, gives increasingly more importance to the organic cultivation.
While choosing the vine variety in organic farming, you have to refer to the lists of varieties of suitable grapes, suggested and authorized for each province and to the technical indications provided by reorganization and conversion plans of each region. It is a good habit to value the interaction among vine, clime and soil and in general to prefer vines that have been already tested. In general it is advisable to prefer early varieties of grapes, which are less vulnerable to botrytis and to adverse climate conditions, with restrained vigour, usually sparse cluster and berries with thick skin that are more resistant to pasasites.