In the upcoming months the EU-Commission will start discussions on the regulation of Organic Wine production.
The ORWINE project (www.orwine.org) has analyzed the organic wine sector, from which some conclusions can be drawn:

- most producers and traders wish to have an EU Regulation on Organic Wine which clearly defines its identity;

- consumers are attracted by the organic concept, but there is a lack of knowledge on the differences with conventional wine;

- organic wine must compete with conventional wine on the market, therefore its quality must at least be comparable;

- a zero-input regulation (i.e. To forbid the use of any additives and processing aids in wine-making) would impose on producers, a non-acceptable commercial risk;

- it is possible to drastically reduce the use of chemical additives through a coherent application of soft technologies (i.e. biological tools, oxygen and temperature management, physical treatments)

Starting from this basis, the ORWINE project will soon propose to the EU-Commission a Recommendation on Organic Wine production, which will consist of:

- limits on the levels of total SO2 in final wines, with respect to conventional ones;

- prohibition of the use of additives which are considered as not suitable for organic wine production and listing of the acceptable additives and processing aids;

- limits on the use of some additives or practices which can impact the expression of variety and territory.

Before the preparation of the final Recommendation to the EU Commission, the ORWINE project wants to listen to the opinions of the stakeholders in detail. One of the actions planned is this survey, which is widely proposed to all European producers of organic wines through their associations.

In order to support you in answering the questionnaire, the ORWINE Project team has developed a background document (in English), which contains a summary of the state of discussion with the key questions and more information about the different issues (e.g. the sulfite contents of organic wines in different countries). You can download this document from the ORWINE Website. www.orwine.org

Furthermore you find on this website also fact-sheets about the evaluation of ca. 20 substances, which are in discussion for organic wine-making.

The participation in this survey will take only few minutes, but it is of great relevance for the preparation of a regulatory proposal for Organic Wine, which is accepted by most stakeholders and which takes into account specific needs or situations.

We would appreciate your feedback before the End of November 2008

Please follow the link to access the Questionnaire