Low-Intervention/Organic wines benefits
Sustainable farming
By adopting sustainable practices, farmers will reduce their reliance on nonrenewable energy, reduce chemical use and save scarce resources. Keeping the land healthy and replenished can go a long way when considering the rising population and demand for food.
Free from synthetic additives
Synthetic pesticides and herbicides will not be found in low intervention wines.
Free from GMOs
Free from genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which are not allowed to be used on organic farms. GMO yeasts are also banned from being used in organic wine production.
Manual harvest
Manually harvested grapes reduces sulfur need during winemaking. Hand-harvesting also reduces fuel costs and a winery’s carbon footprint.
No added sulfites
Organic wine is made with organically grown grapes, but it can still contain sulfites. As mentioned above, sulfites are naturally present in the skin of grapes, so all wine will contain at least some. However, low intervention winemakers use only “small amounts of additives
including sulfites” or no added sulfites at all. Still, this means that low intervention wine is not technically sulfite-free. The total sulfite level of low intervention wines must be less than 20 ppm (parts per million).
Use of native yeasts
Wild, natural yeasts are different than added yeasts because they are derived from the skins of grapes. Industrially grown grapes don’t have much natural yeast present at all because pesticides usually destroy them. When the grapes are crushed, the yeast is released, which begins the process of converting sugar to alcohol.
No animal by-products
No animal products are used during the filtration or any part of the process. Most of the low intervention and organic wines are not filtered so sediments might be presents when drinking these wines.
No added sugar
The winemakers we work with do not add any sugar during the winemaking process.
No added preservatives
No preservatives are added to stabilize the wine during the aging process. Some of the preservatives used in the wine industry can be toxic for humans.
Healthier wines
Moderate wine consumption has been linked with some of the following health benefits: higher intake of the antioxidant called resveratrol that helps fight free radical damage, improved heart health, protection against arteriosclerosis (occurs when there’s buildup of fats, cholesterol and plaque in the artery walls), decreases in triglyceride and cholesterol accumulation, protection against stroke, and reduced risk for obesity, diabetes and metabolic
syndrome.