With a quick change of rules, Organic Wine now exists.

New EU rules mean the term organic wine can now be used for wine made from organically grown grapes. The labels must also show the EU-organic-logo and the code number of their certifier. With this piece of legislation, the EU organic farming is now complete and covers all agricultural products. General wine-making rules defined in the Wine CMO regulation will also apply, and establishes a subset of wine-making practices and substances for organic wines defined in the Wine Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation 606/2009. For example, sorbic acid and desulfurication will not be allowed and the level of sulphites in organic wine must be at least 30-50 mg per litre lower than their conventional equivalent (depending on the residual sugar content). Organic wine must of course also be produced using organic grapes – as defined under Regulation 834/2007.

The new rules will hopefully strengthen the position of EU organic wines at international level, since many other wine producing countries (USA, Chile, Australia, South Africa) have already established standards for organic wines.