Part 2 Organic viticulture
Organic viticulture – is there a market?
Organic agriculture’s share of agricultural land and farms is growing. More than 24 million hectares worldwide are organically managed and various sources indicate another 10.7 million hectares are accounted for by certified “wild harvested plants”. The market for organic products – valued at USD 23 bn in 2002 – is growing, too. But how healthy is the organic viticulture sector? Grape-growing, like most other farming, is organic by origin. But as with most other farms, the majority of vineyards today are not organic. Nevertheless, the wine industry has been at the forefront of environmentally conscious agriculture for a long time. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, ecology took on a new significance in viticulture as environmentalism became a force to reckon with in industrialised economies. Other factors closer to home play an important role, too. Most estate winery owners live on or very near the land where the grapes are grown and are obviously concerned about the quality of the air, water and soil around them. Numerous small-scale vintners also face a hard fight for survival
in a highly competitive market where fertilizers and pesticides add up to a significant investment. Among some large corporate winegrowers in Australia, too, there is growing concern about decreasing soil fertility. So for differing reasons, organic viticulture is on the up.
Organic agriculture – digging around for facts and figures
Although organic crops are grown across the globe, sales are concentrated on North America and Western Europe. Consumer demand is confined to the industrialised world largely because of the price premium of organic products. A typical consumer is well-educated, discerning towards food and drink purchases, a member of the middle-high social classes and lives in a medium to high-income urban household. North America is the world’s biggest market with estimated organic sales of USD 11.75 bn and 12% growth in 2002. Western Europe follows close behind with USD 10.5 bn and 8% growth. Germany is Europe’s largest market (USD 3.06 bn) followed by the the UK (USD 1.5 bn), Italy and France (both USD 1.3 bn). These figures are all estimates. To quote the World of Organic Agriculture – Statistics and Emerging Trends 2004 (Willer & Yessfi), “as long as state interest in organic agriculture is low, statistical information on organic agriculture (will) rarely exist”. Precise, up-todate figures are hard to find for organic agriculture – and virtually non-existent for organic viticulture!
Organic wine – the great unknown
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The world of organic wine: No statistics and varying standards
Anything organic has to be certified. Certification is about compliance with rules. The only question is which rules – and which certification body! The Organic Certification Directory 2003 lists 364 bodies in 57 countries offering organic certification services. The situation in organic viticulture is no better. There are no official statistics, no global certification standards and EU Regulation 2092/91 does not define the winegrowing process! So what is organic wine? It depends on where you buy it. It is easier to say what organic winegrowing is not than what it is! No chemical fertilisers or synthetic fungicides or genetically engineered vines – all the certification bodies for organic wine agree on these “no-goes”. But after that, the rules are more visionary, vague and varied. However, one can safely say that organic cultivation techniques include the creation of a stable soil structure, high root density, harmonious nutrition of the vine, mix of green cover crops and biodiversity measures around the vineyards, e.g. hedges. The aim is to achieve an optimum balance between pests and predators and thus reduce disease. The principles of organic viticulture are applied, by and large, by most certifying agencies. But when you look at the thorny issues of sulphites or sulphur dioxides, sorbic acid, ascorbic acid, chlorinated corks, flash pasteurisation, hot filling and how much copper sulphate per hectare and year can be used, you see significant variations in the standards set.
Organic wine in the US and Europe – a marginal business
Since no official statistics exist on the current status of organic viticulture in Europe, it is impossible to come up with precise figures on the significance of organic winemaking. What data there is comes from a recent FiBL (Research Institute for Organic Agriculture) survey based on some countries’ national statistics and a survey of non-public organisations. This data points to around 62,000 hectares of organic viticulture in all. Italy leads the field followed by Spain and France. This amounts to around 1.5% of Europe’s vineyards, though percentages are higher in Southern Europe. The marginal nature of organic viticulture is also evident from a comparison with organic agriculture. In Austria, for example, around 8% of agricultural land is organic, whereas the figure for winemaking is only 1%. Here, Italy and Portugal have the highest percentages but neither is higher than 3.4%. Figures on organic winemaking in the US are equally hard to come by. Statistics compiled from a variety of sources, including the USDA, show that certified organic grapes accounted for just 1.49% of total cropland in 2001, and the certified grape acreage actually fell by 25% from 1997–2001. A marginal business indeed!
Biodynamics believers – the ultras under the organic vintners
Statistically speaking, organic winemaking is of little significance, but in quality terms it is starting to make a splash. In June 2004 the first tasting of biodynamic wines in the USA took place in New York. Some of the city’s top wine auctioneers, retailers and sommeliers came to the tasting and were energised by the experience. A critic once described biodynamic viticulture as “homeopathy for vines”, others like to talk about strange practices such as packing cow horns with ground quartz and burying them in a vineyard for six months. The facts are that biodynamic vintners emphasise vineyard methods that pursue the “true and inimitable expression of terroir and cellar work that respects the unique characteristics of each terroir”. They strictly avoid synthetic chemicals and ban winegrowing and winemaking practices that falsify the unique expression of their terroir. Much biodynamics is concerned with thinking along with the vine and supporting what it is doing naturally – like adding a bit of metaphysics to the French concept of appellation controllée. It seems to be working in quality terms!
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Part 2 Organic viticulture
Is there a future for organic viticulture?
Organic agriculture is thriving in Europe, and in other countries supplying the European market, as organic sales grow by 10–20% a year. In the USA sales of organic foodstuffs went up by 20% in 2003 but here, as in Europe, organic wine lagged far behind. In this section we take a closer look at the reasons why wine is not doing as well as organic food, specify the challenges facing organic viticulture, highlight the labelling issue and outline some market trends. Organic wine in the UK is showing signs of life but still only accounts for 0.4% of all wine sold. Two decades after organic wines were first seen on the shelves of British, French or German supermarkets, retailers now know there are big differences between selling organic wine and food. In the early 1980s the “organic” label was enough to sell any old wine, no matter how bad! Now it is no longer a buzzword and organic food buyers seem to take their health caps off when buying wine, where price and quality rule.
Why organic wine is not doing as well as organic food
The FiBL survey referred to on page 2 explains why organic wine is lagging behind organic food in Europe and outlines the challenges facing organic viticulture: production techniques, marketing, legislation and state support. In all European countries fungus diseases like powdery and downy mildew or botrytis pose particular problems to organic winegrowers. There are still no satisfactory solutions and research efforts would need to be substantially increased, especially on copper reduction and substitutes. State and EU regulations also prevent winegrowers from planting interspecific hybrids and marketing the wine derived from their grapes. Nowhere in Europe is organic viticulture subsidised enough – by means of higher area-based payments to offset the higher labour costs and lower yields. Greater differentiation in these area-based payments would be needed between integrated and organic farming to provide sufficient conversion incentives. The labelling of organic wine – not just in Europe – is confusing and hardly conducive to building consumer confidence. And last but not least, information on the quality of organic wines would need to be improved. Quality is a key factor. In a price-sensitive market like wine, consumers need convincing they are getting added value for a higher-priced product.
Nobody in the business believes organic wine will leave its niche
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Organic wine: The label says it all – or does it?
These days, the word “organic” seems to be stamped on everything from apples and beans to yoghurt and zucchini – and has become a buzzword of big business. On the one hand, you can applaud the big boys for bringing the organic ethos into the mainstream. But what about the erosion of standards driven by big players seeking to maximise their profits by ensuring a regular, cheap supply chain? The big boys’ entry into the organic market throws up the thorny issue of labelling. Neither Europe nor the USA has a satisfactory solution to the labelling of organic wine. In Europe winegrowers are still not allowed to declare on a label that their wine stems from organic viticulture. Integrated production methods are often referred to as “environmentally friendly” and partial vineyard conversion, permitted in Switzerland, does not help build up consumer confidence. There is a similar lack of clarity in the US where four organic categories are permitted: “100% Organic” means what it says but “Organic” allows 5% nonorganic ingredients. Both categories require ingredient statements on the label and ban added sulphites. The “Made with ...” or “Organically Grown” category allows
30% non-organic ingredients and added sulphites while “Some Organic Ingredients” applies to wines that are over 30% non-organic. Confused? Just imagine how your average wine-drinker must feel when faced with such a proliferation of labels in the local wine shop.
The role of sustainability and IPM practices
In many countries incentives are provided for growers to adopt integrated pest management (IPM) practices. Such schemes are generally supported and promoted by government, chemicals companies and conventional producer associations. As demand for conventional wines is booming, market forces do not provide much incentive for growers to convert to organic production methods. Evidence of the success of sustainable viticulture utilising IPM practices comes from California where a Code of Sustainable Wine-Growing Practices was issued in 2003 along with a voluntary self-assessment workbook covering everything from pest management and wine quality to water conservation and environmental stewardship. Since then, 25% of the state’s vineyard acreage and 50% of its wine production have been selfassessed. Many growers in Sonoma Valley are now applying the code’s practices and following IPM principles by only using pesticides when necessary.
Natural brake on growth – who wants fungus-resistant varieties?
Wine-drinkers are a conservative bunch. Innovative grape varieties always have a tough battle on their hands to gain market shares at the expense of old favourites such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay. Wine-drinkers’ innate conservatism is a big problem for organic winegrowers who want to focus on the interspecific hybrids many experts see as the only long-term solution to the fungus problems. Fungus-resistant varieties like Regent, Rondo, Johanniter and Bronner give rise to much hope, and blind tastings have proved that the sensorial quality of the new varieties can be higher than that of traditional favourites. But the story of the Regent grape in Germany, for example, illustrates the difficulties of marketing new varieties. Germany’s Regent acreage has increased one hundred fold since 1996. Wine critics say it has gourmet potential. Wine retailers point out that Regent beats Dornfelder, another new but non-resistant German variety, in sensorial terms. But Dornfelder has been heavily marketed and the German public are buying Dornfelder, not Regent.
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Part 2 Organic viticulture
Organics in action: Success story in Rheinhessen
What motivates a winegrower to go organic? What viticulture and vinification methods does he employ? How important are quality and marketing? Where is the organic market going? GrapeNet talked to an organic vintner from the German region of Rheinhessen. Unfortunately for the German winegrowing region of Rheinhessen, it is still best known for Liebfraumilch or Oppenheimer Krötenbrunnen, wines of international illrepute. But Rheinhessen’s wine industry has moved on a lot since Mick Jagger swigged sickly sweet Liebfraumilch at Stones’ concerts in the sixties – as a visit to an organic winery in Uelversheim shows. Weingut Jakob Neumer, a certified member of Germany’s Ecovin association and a family business for 350 years, is now run by Hubertus Weinmann and his wife Lucia, who took over the vineyard from Lucia’s father Walter Neumer in 1991. That was also the year Hubertus switched to organic winegrowing. He and his wife were motivated by very personal reasons – as fits a traditional family business. Lucia and Hubertus were concerned about the environment their three young sons would grow up in and believed that converting to organic viticulture would benefit the boys’ health. Hubertus Weinmann came from a conventional vineyard in Worms so he had a lot to learn about organic viticulture. 13 years later, one can safely say he did his homework very well!
Higher costs, lower yields: The economics of organic viticulture
Like other organic vintners, Hubertus Weinmann faces the challenge of balancing the magic triangle of ecology, economy and quality. An organic vineyard faces higher input costs for cultivation techniques than a conventional business. Lower yields (15–20% less) result in higher costs per unit, around 30% higher than for conventional wine. And the area-based payments (500–900 euros per hectare and year) do not cover the additional costs of organic production. As mentioned above, the difference between subsidies for integrated and organic farming is far too small to encourage conversion so, as with the Weinmanns, personal motives are still the crucial factor.
Balancing the “magic triangle”: ecology, economy and quality
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Eco-vintners raising standards to meet the market’s demands
Eco-vintner Hubertus Weinmann knows that quality is now the key factor for successful organic wine. In the past, the emphasis in raising standards was on organic winegrowing. Now the focus has switched to improvements in organic winemaking. And on the crucial marketing front there are clear signs that organic wine is successfully moving into the mainstream German wine market. Hubertus Weinmann cultivates 14 hectares of robust, mineral-rich soils with some 70,000 vines on the slopes of the Rhine Valley south of Oppenheim. Weißer Burgunder (30%), Riesling (15%), Dornfelder (15%) and Spätburgunder (8%) are his main varieties. He uses copper oxide chloride (around 32 kg a year) to combat downy mildew and sulphur against powdery mildew. The dry microclimate means botrytis is not a problem. His fertilisers are all organic substances such as grape residue, castoroil meal and sugar-beet pulp. Other organic vintners are less lucky. In Northern Europe vinifera varieties are highly susceptible to peronospora, in Southern Europe to oidium. In such cases organic viticulture faces the disadvantages of many applications, high labour and machinery input costs and soil compaction. Further research is needed on ways of reducing copper (a long-term toxic for soils), efficient copper substitutes and fungus-resistant varieties. One copper reduction strategy involves monitoring vineyard and weather to determine and predict the occurrence of primary infection events followed by well-timed hand removal of inoculum. Studies have also shown that clay powder, phosphorous acid and potassium phosphate are possible alternatives to copper. But in the final analysis, the future for organic viticulture lies with fungus-resistant varieties.
Focusing on quality – the key to success in organic viticulture
How important is quality for an eco-vintner? Decisive. Up to the mid-nineties, eco-freaks in Germany would just about buy anything provided it said “organic” on the label. The country’s eco-vintners, for their part, were a mixed bunch of ideologists and idealists. But since then, wine-drinkers in Germany have become more qualityconscious – a trend eco-vintners like Hubertus have responded to. In the early years of organic winemaking at Weingut Neumer, quality improvements came through winegrowing methods, now the focus is on vinification. Today, Hubertus, a specialist in vineyard management, works with Dirk Würtz, an expert in winemaking. And if the weather plays along, the results of their efforts are award-winning wines of real quality.
The only way is up – trends in the German organic wine market
Wine and politics? Not just an issue in France! Renate Künast, Germany’s Minister for Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection, wants 20% of German vineyards to go organic. The current figure is 2% – but then again, the Minister is a member of the Green Party! Leaving politics aside, Hubertus Weinmann does see serious potential for growth. Organic wine from Weingut Neumer has already progressed from retailing solely in healthfood outlets to selling in bio-supermarket chains. Three of his organic wines are even marketed by a leading North German drugstore chain. As organics go mainstream, the key question – besides quality – is which grape varieties will sell well. Hubertus sells “mainstream” wines such as Weißburgunder and Spätburgunder through the drugstore outlets and sees only limited potential for fungus-resistant varieties such as Regent. In Germany the retail channels for organic wine are direct marketing (30%), organic food shops and supermarkets (15%), conventional supermarkets and wine shops (15%) and organic wine traders, restaurants and mail services (15%). Here, as elsewhere, the key to success is convincing consumers that the higher price of organic wine means added value.
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Part 2 Organic viticulture
Back to basics: Why organic growers give up
Nobody should be fooled into thinking that all organic vintners are as successful as Hubertus Weinmann! Here and there, vineyards are returning to conventional viticulture. The evidence is hard to come by and it is a sensitive topic people are reluctant to talk about. But GrapeNet went on the trail of the “organic drop-outs” in an attempt to unearth the reasons for their apostasy. In Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary you read of a late 19th-century wedding in France. The red wine naturally came from the Côte d’Or and the white from Germany’s Rheingau. Surprising? Only from the perspective of recent decades. Up to the outbreak of World War I, Germany was producing the world’s finest white wines. As early as the 17th century, wines from the Rheingau’s most easterly outpost, Hochheim, became synonymous with full-bodied dry white wines – and even gave us the traditional English term for Rhine wine, “hock”. Hochheim is still a wine village and one of the vineyards used to be organic. Not any more. GrapeNet tried to
discover the reasons, and met with a wall of silence. In Germany, at least, the question of why organic winegrowers give up is a very sensitive issue and nobody wants to “talk to the press”. But the true story cannot be kept under wraps for ever.
The politics of viticulture and the story of Hesse State Domains
Ideology and wine do not mix, as this story proves. Some years ago, the Greens ruled the German state of Hesse in a coalition government. Greens like the idea of organic wine so Hesse’s State Domains were ordered to go organic. In 1998 a conservative party took over and decided on a return to conventional viticulture methods. Were there other reasons apart from ideology? It is hard to say because nobody wants to talk about it – not just “to the press”. Even a written request for information filed by the opposition in Hesse’s Parliament in May 2002 went unanswered. What evidence there is indicates that ideology was not the only factor. The State Domains returned to conventional methods for economic reasons. In the German climate organic winegrowing is not economically viable in vineyards that are dependent on outside labour. The key disadvantage of higher input costs, above all labour, can only be offset by smaller family businesses where labour costs are neutralised. Another decisive factor, however, is that organic wine has to be grown out of conviction – as the story of Weingut Neumer shows (see pp. 5–6). You cannot simply order winegrowers to go organic.
The economics of organic wine: Costs and convictions count
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Nature hits back: Black rot bankrupts organic vintners
Living in tune with nature is fine if Mother Nature plays by the rules. But what happens if she does not? This year, organic winegrowers in the Mosel region of Germany have been badly hit by black rot, a disease hitherto unknown in Germany. Experts are already predicting that 50% of organic vineyards on the Mosel may go out of business. Climate is a crucial factor in organic viticulture. The alarm bells are ringing on the Mosel where many of Germany’s most prestigious Rieslings are produced. This year, Mosel vintners are battling with a deadly enemy they have never faced before: black rot (Guignardia bidwellii). Although black rot made its way from America to Europe nearly 120 years ago and has long been a problem in Italy and France, it was unknown in Germany up to two years ago. As a result, no fungicide is registered for use against black rot in Germany, and by the time the lengthy registration process is completed, it may be too late for many winegrowers. For organic vintners it is even worse – they are not allowed to use systemic fungicides anyway.
Warm and wet – ideal weather for black rot
“The weather has favoured the spread of black rot”, says a spokesman for Germany’s Biological Agriculture and Forestry Office (BBA) in Bernkastel-Kues. “It’s been warm and wet – ideal conditions for fungi.” Both conventional and organic winegrowers face the fearful prospect of losing their entire crop this year. Whereas conventional vineyards may possibly turn to improvised fungicide mixtures, organic vintners can only spray copper or sulphur, which are ineffective against black rot. The practice of fallowing has favoured the spread of black rot on the Mosel where around 3,000 hectares of vineyards on uneconomical steep slopes now lie fallow and, for cost reasons, winegrowers have not dug out the old vines. The fungi overwinter in the grapes of these old vines on fallow land and spread to healthy grapes in a warm, wet spring. When the fungi reach healthy grapes, the results can be devastating. In an organic vineyard black rot will most likely kill off a whole season’s grapes. This year, nearly half the organic winegrowers on the Mosel are staring ruin in the face.
Organic vintners hit by labour costs resort to ingenious idea
What can organic winegrowers do to prevent black rot spreading to other regions of Germany? Very little it seems. Experts are calling for old vines to be completely cleared from fallow land, but that is a time-consuming, labour-intensive operation on the steep slopes of the Mosel vineyards and many organic vintners cannot afford this additional hike in their labour costs. Recently, scientists from the BBA came up with an unusual idea to tackle the disease: goats let loose in old vineyards should eat their way through the grapes and leaves to stop the spread of black rot. Other experts, however, are justifiably sceptical about the efficacy of this “four-legged fungicide”.
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Part 2 Organic viticulture
The ochratoxin A issue: Is organic wine a health risk?
Organic foods are widely held to be “healthier” than those produced by conventional means. But in recent years scientists have become concerned about the possibility that organic foodstuffs are more likely to be contaminated with some very dangerous substances known as mycotoxins. The mycotoxin affecting wine, whether organic or not, is ochratoxin A. Man has long benefited from the nutritional properties of certain fungi such as the ferments and yeasts used to make cheese, beer, vinegar or yoghurt. But some fungi excretions are potent poisons, especially mycotoxins that have been the subject of increased attention over the past 15 years. When mould grows on a food, it can produce a toxic byproduct called a mycotoxin. Mycotoxins are known for their adverse effects on human health and nutrition. The carcinogenic effects of many of them are proven and some types can destroy cells, trigger off hereditary deformations or affect immunity. Mycotoxins can be present in a wide range of food products, but cereals are their favourite targets, rendered all the more vulnerable because they are stored in huge quantities. Mycotoxins are all the more dangerous as they can be active at incredibly low concentrations. A well-known mycotoxin known as aflatoxin B1 is 33 million times more dangerous than a controversial industrial solvent used in the food industry, carbon tetrachloride. Another unpleasant characteristic of mycotoxins is the impressive stability shown by many of the molecules. They resist high temperatures and even some kinds of industrial processing. So cooking provides no safe protection, and the poison can still be present after the fungus has been destroyed. Aflatoxins produced by a species of the Aspergillus mould are known to cause liver cancer. Species of both Aspergillus and Penicillium produce mycotoxins, one of which is known as patulin in fruit. Apple juice produced from mouldy apples may contain detectable levels of patulin and research has shown that this mycotoxin is more likely to be found in organic than in ordinary apple juice. Some Aspergillus and Penicillium species can also produce ochratoxin A in apples. Other surveys have suggested that organic foodstuffs are more likely to contain mycotoxin residues. Could organic wine? Might organic farms become a “reservoir” for mycotoxin-producing fungi in the soil, able to infect neighbouring non-organic farms?
Ochratoxin A in grapes and wine
Ochratoxin A, often abbreviated to OTA or OA, is produced by some species of Aspergillus, mainly in tropical regions, and by Penicillium verrucosum, a common storage fungus in temperate areas such as Canada, Eastern and NW Europe, and parts of South America. OTA is a potent toxin that mainly affects the kidneys, where it can cause both acute and chronic lesions. Human exposure to OTA has been demonstrated by its detection in blood and breast milk so the presence of OTA in foodstuffs is clearly undesirable. In recent years, however, OTA has been found in a wide range of stored products and processed foods such as coffee, beer, dried fruit, cocoa, nuts – and sadly wine as well. But the crucial question is whether organic wine, like organic apple juice, is more at risk.
No messing around with mycotoxins
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OTA: Further research is needed
In the past few years research into the prevention of ochratoxin A in grapes and wine has increased. It is a serious issue, especially given all the attention paid in recent years to the potentially beneficial effects of wine, and especially red wine. But are these benefits diminished by the OTA risk? Is the potential risk higher in organic wine, and what can be done to prevent OTA in grapes and wine? Some Italian researchers’ findings on OTA contamination in red table, DOC and organic wines were published in the Journal of Wine Research in December 2003. Though all the wines were contaminated by OTA, the levels were lower in the organic wines tested from one farm. Another research project screened Southern Italian wines for OTA contamination. The results published in Industrie della Bevande 29 showed no correlation between OTA contamination and the origin or colour of a wine. But OTA levels were higher in wines of low quality and cost, suggesting that the use of low-quality ingredients and the processing techniques used for bulk wine may be significant factors.
OTA production in grapes – the key factors
Paola Battiliani and Amedeo Pietri, plant pathologists from the Catholic University of Piacenza in Italy, published an article on OTA in grapes in the September 2002 issue of the European Journal of Plant Pathology. They quote the results of surveys indicating a higher incidence and concentration of the toxin in wines from southern regions and the highest contamination levels in red wine followed by rosé and white wine. Field trials conducted in Italy in 1999 and 2000 found that 95% of the strains belonged to the Aspergillus genus. The Aspergillus niger aggregate was dominant, with about 50% of the OTApositive strains identified as Aspergillus carbonarius. Other studies have confirmed the role of Aspergillus carbonarius in OTA contamination of wine. This species is very invasive, colonising and penetrating berries even without skin damage. The conclusion these experts reach is that temperature, rain and relative humidity are the main factors that influence the occurrence of OTAproducing fungi. However, there is not always a correlation between the amount of fungus present and the amount of OTA contamination, which may be influenced by other factors.
Ongoing research to prevent OTA in grapes and wine
Findings presented at a Mycotoxin Prevention Conference in Brussels in October 2003 showed that OTA is normally absent up to early veraison. Even symptomless berries can contain OTA, though damaged berries are more susceptible to black aspergilli and OTA levels are higher. Moreover, different grape varieties are shown to display different degrees of susceptibility to the disease. There is clear evidence that geography determines the presence or absence of OTA-producing fungi (see above) and meteorological conditions play a key role – an obvious parallel to cereals where levels of humidity in excess of 20% are conducive to the development of mycotoxinproducing fungi. Research has also shown that OTA levels increase during maceration but decrease during fermentation. Reassuringly, the few additives allowed in winemaking can reduce OTA levels. Research into the OTA issue continues, and as yet there are no conclusions on the potential risk in any kind of wine.
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