Is Organic Wine Better for Your Health?

Going green for your glass of red: the benefits of organic wine for people and planet.

From Gwyneth Paltrow to Miranda Kerr, it seems like the bevvy buzz-word on every celebrity’s lips these days is organic. And with the recent purchase of Whole Foods Market by Amazon for a whopping USD $13.7 billion, it certainly appears the world is cashing in on the eco-conscious craze. But, as so many of us have wondered, while gazing at the lofty prices attached to our favourite foods in organic supermarkets, is going green really worth it? ‘Eco-friendly’ often comes with an ‘economically-hostile’ price-tag, leading us to ask: what exactly am I getting for all that extra expense? Well, in the world of wine, paying more for organic products certainly pays off in the long run. From personal health benefits to environmental sustainability, buying organic wine means that you get a lot more beneficial bang for your buck. But that’s not all: you’re also helping to support sustainable practices in wine farming. Result? Better environment, better wine. And a better, healthier you. Now that’s a happy hour you can spend a little extra on.

Read on to uncover the secret health benefits of organic wine!

The Vital Vino: What makes wine organic?

“The aim of organic farming is to create a healthy environment, healthy food and healthy consumers.”
Ananda Schoeman

Organic is on-trend. But what exactly does the term ‘organic wine’ mean?

Organic wine farming is as much about attitude as it is about agriculture. Organic winemakers embrace natural farming methods over conventional ones, going against the grain (couldn’t resist!). The ultimate aim: to produce healthier, cleaner wine products that are safe for all of us to consume, and to develop a sustainable relationship with the environment. Working hand-in-hand with nature, rather than against it. Regulatory organizations exist across the globe to ensure that natural wines have truly earned their organic status. Associations like Demeter, USDA Organic and Eco Cert enforce the following strict criteria for organic wine products:

No herbicides, fertilizers, pesticides, or other synthetic chemicals are allowed to be used, in the growing of the vines or the winemaking process.
No artificial additives or preservatives may be added to the wine.
No added sugars are permitted in the winemaking process.
Organic wines must contain no more than half the sulfite content of conventional wines.
Sustainable, eco-friendly farming methods must be used e.g. Introducing natural predators to control pests.

Due to the lack of harmful chemicals in organic winemaking, organic wine is said to possess many more health benefits than conventional wines. Meaning that you can enjoy all of the goodness of wine, with none of the guilt. Just as nature intended.

Cheers to your good health! Why organic wine is better for you

From hangover relief to weight loss, organic wine is the ultimate eco-friendly indulgence. While conventional winemakers may expose their consumers to dangerous chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides, organic wine embraces natural farming: staying sustainable and staying healthy, for the benefit of people and planet. So cheers to your future good health - with organic wine, it’s guaranteed.

Read on to find out more about the numerous health benefits of organic wine, and why you should make the switch today.

Health Benefits: Say No to Sulfites !

We all love drinking wine. But sometimes, you can have too much of a good thing. For most of us wine enthusiasts, that means enduring the inevitable, painful, persistent hangover in the morning. It’s a story we know all too well. But luckily for us, there’s a solution, and it’s a delicious one - organic wine is actually hangover-free.

The secret is in the sulfites. Sulfur dioxide, or sulfites, are chemical preservatives widely used in conventional winemaking. Used for hundreds of years in traditional viticulture, sulfites possess a number of useful qualities:

Sulfites minimise oxidation, a process where wine is exposed to air, or oxygen, during aging or after bottling. Too much air exposure can trigger a chemical reaction, which turns ethanol (alcohol) into acetaldehyde: effectively turning your wine into vinegar! The result is a loss of bright flavours and colours in your favourite wine.
Sulfites maximise the freshness of wines, resulting in a longer shelf-life for conventional wine products.
Sulfites inhibit the spread of bacteria in wine products, due to their innate antibacterial properties.
Sulfites help to stabilise the wine after its fermentation process.

So sulfites seem pretty useful, right? Well, in actual fact, these preservatives can be just as harmful as they are helpful. While sulfites are a naturally-occurring chemical and their use is widely accepted in conventional winemaking, there are a range of health concerns related to their consumption. When present in wine, high volumes of sulfites can trigger:

Asthma attacks, as sulfites irritate the respiratory tract
Rashes and blotchy skin
Hives, swelling and stomach pain
Headaches

While most people can consume sulfites in wine with no life-threatening side-effects, recent studies have shown that sulfites are indeed the culprit of your unhappy hangover. So why stick with sulfites, when there’s a much better, healthier alternative? The answer is easy: just switch to organic.

Organic vino is fondly known as the ‘hangover-free’ wine. And it’s certainly earned its title: because with fewer sulfites, come fewer hangovers. But how can we recognize organic brands in store, and how do we know we’re getting the hangover-free happy hour we’ve been promised?

Luckily for us conscious connoisseurs, we’ve got friends in high places. Regulatory organizations exist worldwide, working to ensure that we always get the organic quality we’re paying for. As part of the strict criteria for organic vino, wines may contain no more than half the maximum sulphite content of their conventional counterparts. And product transparency is promised: if a wine contains more than 10 parts of sulphite per million, every winemaker is legally required to declare “contains sulfites” on his product label. If a natural wine contains fewer sulfites than ordinary wines, it qualifies for organic status, which it may similarly state on its packaging: “sulfur-free”. And when a wine has been certified as organic, the regulatory association will display their endorsement on the product’s packaging - so look out for those logos!

Thanks to the work of these regulatory bodies around the world, we can trust that we’re getting the best organic product, just as advertised, every time. So we can say goodbye to hangovers, and hello to more organic wine.

Health Benefits: No Fertilizers, No Fear

Pesticide-free, herbicide-free, fertilizer-free. Worry-free. Buying organic wine is not only a better choice for the environment, it’s a better choice for your health too. So why not go green, while drinking your favourite glass of white or red?

‘Mother Nature knows best.’ Wine is, in its simplest form, a celebration of all that nature has the power to produce. So why spoil natural perfection with pesticides and chemicals? By choosing organic wine, you can experience all the goodness of nature, with none of the environmental cost.

Conventional winemakers use herbicides, pesticides, fertilisers and other dangerous synthetic sprays to protect their crops on a regular basis. Now, we’re all aware of the danger that toxic chemicals pose to the environment. But what many of us don’t know is that this poisonous practice is just as harmful to us, as consumers. When farmers spray herbicides and pesticides onto their vines, these chemicals end up being absorbed by the soil, altering natural pH content, killing wild biodiversity and polluting nearby waterways. But that’s not all. They also end up in our wines.

Along with pesticides and herbicides, synthetic fertilizers are also widely used in viticulture. Although they boost the growth and health of the vines, they exact a devastating price on the rest of the environment. When treated with these chemicals, vine plants absorb fertilizers into their systems, meaning that their leaves, roots and (you guessed it!) their grapes contain harmful toxins. In this way, fertilizer finds its way into our food-chain - and into your wine glass. Fertilizers have long been linked to human health disorders, with excessive consumption resulting in kidney, lung and liver disease, as well as cancer. Seems like a lot of risk for your relaxing glass of vino.

By this stage, we should all be a little fearful of fertilizers (and rightly so). But thankfully, there are some winemakers out there that answer the call to eco-conscious cultivation - by producing 100% organic wine the old-fashioned, natural way. Organic vineyards are not allowed to be sprayed with any synthetic chemicals: instead, these ‘woke’ winemakers turn to nature for inspiration. By embracing eco-friendly practices, organic farmers successfully subdue pests and disease in their vines, while simultaneously forming a sustainable ecosystem. Here are a few ingenious ways in which organic farmers are forging the environmental way forward.

Using natural animal predators to control insect pests and weeds: e.g. ducks, geese, chickens, sheep
Using ‘enemy’ insect species to control parasites through natural predation.
Growing of deterrent plant species in between vines to prevent plant-borne diseases (companion planting).
Rotating different plants to nutrify the soil, by restoring the correct pH balance and nutrients of the surrounding earth (crop rotation).
Feeding vines with natural nutrient-boosters, like compost, green manure and bone meal.
Planting ground-cover plants alongside vines to prevent soil erosion, to stabilize the landscape and to stop nutrients being leached out of the topsoil by rainfall/irrigation.
Creating an ‘ecosystem’ farm: designing a natural system of sustainable, inter-supportive biodiversity i.e. an interactive community of animals, insects and plants living in balance.

Natural methods producing the best wine that nature has to offer? Now that sounds like a recipe for success to me. And just like sulfites are closely monitored by global regulators, organic farms are inspected and certified by the professionals. So the next time you see “100% organic grapes” on your wine label, you’ll know your brand is trusted and tasty.

Health Benefits: Lose weight, not wine

“I’ll drink your sweet wine,” John Denver famously sang. As romantic as that sounds, most of us would actually recoil at the offer of a syrupy sundowner in real life. But why is sweet wine so controversial? Because we know that, when the wine is sweet, the truth behind it can often be bitter.

It all begins with alcohol (as the best stories often do…).

Every wine that we see in our local supermarket has had its sugar content analyzed, in order to determine its final alcohol percentage (Alcohol By Volume, or ABV). This figure is then displayed on the label of every bottle of that particular wine. On average, most wines contain an ABV of around 12%. And the higher the sugar content of wine, the higher the ABV percentage it receives. But here’s the catch: some winemakers purposefully add artificial sugars into their wine, to increase its alcohol content. In a process known as chaptalisation, synthetic sweeteners serve to boost the alcohol of low-quality wines, while also hiding imperfections in the flavour profile due to substandard grapes. The result? A product that is inferior in taste and quality. Or, as I like to call it, “The Sweet Cheat”.

But it’s not just about quality. Increasing the amount of artificial sugar in wine also increases the health risks that you could be exposed to. Too much sugar in your diet can lead to an array of health concerns, like:

Fluctuations in energy levels: sugar ‘highs’ and ‘lows’
Insomnia and difficulty sleeping
Sugar cravings
Weight gain
Skin issues
Type 2 Diabetes
Heart disease

Sugar sure seems like a lot of hassle for your health! So how can you avoid the sickly sweet consequences of a chaptalized wine? Easy. Just switch to organic.

Strict legal criteria ensure that organic wines may never contain added sugars or artificial sweeteners. Only natural sugars are permitted in organic wine, guaranteeing a lower sucrose content than other conventional wines. As the old saying goes: ‘The truth comes out in wine’. With no artificial sweeteners, organic wines express an honest flavour profile, heralding the pure tastes and aromas of real grapes, and real nature.

It really is a naturally sweet life, with organic wine.

But that’s not all. Did you know that organic wine may also help you to lose weight? Yes, you read that right - your favourite wine could help you achieve that fabulous figure you’ve always dreamed about. Because organic wine has a lower sugar index than its conventional cousins, switching to organic could help reduce your daily sugar intake. Less sugar means less health risks and less weight gain. In conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise, your favourite vino indulgence may help you move from wine glass to hourglass.

So why wait? With organic wine, we can all feel well, while drinking well.

“In an organic system, you don't waste anything…It's more than just high quality food for the family table; it's growing the food in a way that does not harm the environment.
That gives me emotional well-being that is important to me.”
Robert Pattinson

Where to buy the best organic wines in Bali? Go green with Go Drinks

So you’ve decided to make the switch to organic, but you’re still searching for the best place to try out your new tipple? Look no further - Go Drinks has got this!

Go Drinks is the best way to buy organic wine in Bali. As a premium wine company with over 25 years of industry experience, we offer a range of the finest organic wines, all at the fairest prices, and all online - for your convenience. Simply choose your favourite wines, check-out, and you’ll be saying cheers to the organic good life in under an hour. But that’s not all: we also offer free delivery to any location in Bali, every day of the week.

But it’s more than just business with us. Over many years, we’ve carefully cultivated relationships with some of the best vineyards in the world, supporting sustainable practices and family-run farming. After all, good business is the same as good organic wine: it takes time and effort, but most of all, it takes a lot of love.

You can contact us here if you’d like to know more about our premium organic wines, free delivery and special promotions. You can also follow our story on Facebook and Instagram.

So put your health first, and enjoy an organically good life. With Go Drinks.

Organic Wine: Better for your health, better for the world

Organic is on-trend. Organic farming has been steadily gaining massive popularity on a global scale - and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Organic wine is at the eco-friendly forefront of consumer demand. In a recent study, Grand View Research, Inc projected that the global organic wine industry would be worth USD $21.5 billion by the end of 2030. Driven by an increasing awareness of personal and planetary health, it’s no wonder that our appetite for the organic just keeps growing.

‘Mother Nature knows best.’ Winemakers have now turned to nature for ingenious organic strategies that hinder pests and disease, but help natural ecosystems to flourish. The result is a delicious, 100% natural, organic wine. An organic wine that brings all the natural goodness of the grape to your glass, but also gives back to the environment.

Where there’s a wine, there’s a way. Thanks to the numerous health benefits of organic wine, you no longer have to feel guilty about an extra glass or two in the evening. And you never have to worry that your happy times will result in hangover heartache ever again. Due to minimal sulfites in organic wine, you can now enjoy your favourite glass of vino without any health hassle the following morning. So you can say goodbye to hangovers and hello to the good life

Go green today, by drinking your favourite glass of red or white.
Go organic.
Go Drinks.