Best Organic Wine: Top 21 Sustainable Wines of 2020

If you eat organic fruits and vegetables, skip plastic bags, and carry your water, then switching to the best organic wine will be a snap. You may not know it, but drinking organic wine helps conserve watersheds and tributaries, making it easier for plants, animals, and marine life to thrive. How?

Shelterbelts, hedgerows, fencerows, and buffers improve viticultural best practices and yields by lowering evaporative water and soil deficits.
Cover crops improve soil function and nutrients while simultaneously increasing yield and slowing soil erosion to support natural watersheds.
Both songbirds and birds of prey thrive in areas with cover crops as biodiversity improves food sources, thus reducing the need for pesticides.
Pesticide-free healthy pollinators are estimated to add to agro-economics of all US-based farmland to the tune of 24 billion dollars each year.

That means you can drink up while supporting native habitats, and you get safer, less carbon-reliant, additive-free wines.

Up next is a Top 10 list for quick browsing, but if you want more options and information about the best organic wine, keep reading through our look at the 21 best organic wine options from around the world.

EcoKarma’s Top Picks

Don’t have time to dive into our full list? Any of these vineyards from our short-list are a must-have grab for your gift basket or personal collection.

Best Salmon-Safe Vineyard: A to Z Wineworks The essence of Oregon
Runner Up: Willamette Valley Vineyards Classic Oregon wines from the Willamette Valley
Best Organic White Wine: Musar Jeune White 2018 Unique wines from an ancient tradition
Runner Up: Tschida Illmitz White Heaven on earth
Best Organic Red Wine: Texier Côtes-du-Rhône Rouge “Chat Fou” Wines from the Côtes-du-Rhône
Runner Up: Le Pianelle 2015 Bramaterra Regional wines with unique nature and character
Best Organic Wine Brands: Yalumba Winery Sustainability is integral to our success
Best Oregon Wine: Archery Summit Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay Wines tied tightly and evocatively to the sites they pulled from
Sustainable Wine: Obata Sake Manotsuru Maho Where the four treasures may work harmoniously
Top California Sustainable Wine: Acorn Winery 2016 Dolcetto Alegría Vineyards Field-blended wines estate-grown, sustainably-farmed
Runner Up: ADAMVS 2015 Quintvs: Born from our red earth

21 Best Organic Wines of 2020

Below you will find our picks organized by category. We feature 7 categories, and 3 winners for each. We feel confident you will find the perfect organic wine in this list.

Best Salmon-Safe Vineyards

1. A to Z Wineworks, Oregon, USA

The harmony of soil, climate, short nights, and long days develop character, complexity, and flavor for this top-notch Salmon-Safe wine. Besides their notable Pinot Noir, look for citrusy Chardonnays, crisp but creamy Rosés, and Pinot Noir Bubbles.

A to Z maintains a huge philanthropic profile while protecting water quality and biodiversity in tributaries and critical salmon watersheds across the PNW. Deservingly, they’ve received B – Corp ‘Best for the World’ award five times.

2. Willamette Valley Vineyards, Oregon, USA

Wine Enthusiast Magazine crowned WVV “One of America’s Great Pinot Noir Producers.” But you’d regret overlooking the 2017 Maison Bleue Bourgeois Grenache or Pambrun Wine’s 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon with aromatics of tobacco leaf and wood spice flavors.

3. Amavi Cellars, Washington, USA

Sustainable and vegan, Amavi Cellars is perched in the rolling hills of Walla Walla within an enclave of happy winegrowers. Using drip irrigation, ground cover, and additional compost, their terroir improves annually. As evidence, their small-batch Cabernet Franc Rosé sells out within months of release. But it’s the Sémillon that stands out with sommeliers and connoisseurs alike.

Best Organic White Wine

4. Chateau Musar, Ghazir, Lebanon

Musar’s Jeune White is a blend of Italian and French Viognier, Vermentino, Chardonnay Varietals, grown in the fertile farming region of the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. There’s no decanting needed for this unoaked wine. Just chill, pour, and enjoy the crisp flavor.

5. Christian Tschida, Burgenland, Austria

Australian Zweigelt wines are common; however, Tschida’s Illmitz White is tough to find. When you do, pair it with a great meal and friends. Each batch of this rare white wine slowly ferments in either oak or stainless steel barrels.

6. Fable Mountain Vineyards, Western Cape, South Africa

The Fable Mountain Vineyards Jackal Bird is a blend of old vine Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Roussanne, Viognier, and Grenache Blanc. Farm animals graze the vineyards in the winter, with their rich manure spread throughout the summer. It’s a rare find in the US unless you have friends returning from overseas.

Best Organic Red Wine

7. Éric Texier, Rhone, France

Texier’s birth into viticulture springs from a passion for Burgundy wines, agroecology, and the beckoning terroir of the northern parts of the Côtes-du-Rhône. While his wine-making is on hiatus, look for some at dot com locations.

8. Le Pianelle, Alto Piemonte, Italy

Le Pianelle winemakers begin fermenting this 80% Nebbiolo blend in open Grenier oak barrels, finishing it in barriques and large Stockinger oak barrels. The process takes at least 42 months, but the result leaves you with a well-balanced, medium-bodied wine.

9. Bodega Matarromera, Spain

Barrel-aging wine for 18-months in the best casks empowers the varietals to satisfy the most curious palates. Made from Tempranillo grapes, the 2015 Reserve will pair well with anything made by the backyard grille-chef, including those who like spice more than nice.

Best Organic Wine Brands

10. Yalumba Winery, Australia

Choose from tawny ports, cabernets, viogniers, grenache rosés, and Mataro grapes from one of Australia’s premier organic wineries. For six generations, these winegrowers have allowed the respect for the land and minimal intervention to determine the convention of their world-renown wines.

11. Southbrook Vineyards, Niagara, Canada

Apart from Ice Wine, Southbrook Vineyards offers several award-winning biodynamic wines. Check out their Cabernet Franc, Triomphe Chardonnay, or Orange Wine. On-site, you’ll see sheep grazing the vineyard year-round providing 100% organic nutrients for the soil.

12. Lapostolle, Chile

At Lapostolle, sustainable viticulture practices are the norm. Routines such as energy conservation, water recycling, planting cover crops, and grazing animals–yield 200,000 bottles each year. Try the Carmenère, but don’t overlook the Borobo. In ages patiently for 26 months in French oak barrels.

Best Oregon Wine

13. Archery Summit, Oregon

Willamette Valley’s Archery Summit practices ecological safe farming practices while adhering to internationally recognized sustainable practices. If you appreciate a well-balanced Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, or Chardonnay, check out their wine clubs to have wine sent right to your doorstep.

14. Domaine Serene, Oregon

Domaine Serene finds that environmentally responsible and sustainable farming practices match the heart of their winemaking prowess. Paired with this earth-forward viticulture is an intrinsic belief in philanthropy so as to positively impact their fellow community.

15. Soter Vineyards, Oregon

Soter Vineyard’s doesn’t just deliver on layering and nuance. Each bottle of Brut Rosé embraces the biodynamic and organic winemaking processes of Oregon, where distinctive mineral waters, marine soils, and temperate climates arise.

Sustainable Wine

16. Obata Sake

Brewed or not, sake is known globally as rice wine. And if all you’ve had is hot sake with some sushi, you’re missing out. Each one has many complexities, clarities, and dry/sweet values. Plus, sparkling sake is so delicious that it might convert you away from grapes.

17. Wölffer Estate Vineyard

Consistently scoring 90-92 points from multiple sommeliers, it’s no wonder that this private label wine from vintner Roman Roth sells out quickly. BTW, if you’re ever in Sagaponack, NY, visit the winery. It’ll take your breath away.

18. Shinn Estate Vineyards

There’s only one thing I like better than an aptly named wine: sustainability + ecological farming practices. Include solar panels and wind energy? I’m hooked. Of course, having a perfectly drinkable glass of white wine helps, too.

California Sustainable Wine

19. Acorn Winery, California

The vintners at Acorn Winery know that they benefit both the earth and people. And Acorn doesn’t care if their vineyard looks scruffy as it’s teeming with life. Recognizing that their land affects the areas encompassing it is just another reason to give their wine a try.

20. ADAMVS, California

As a member of the California Sustainable Winegrowing Program, ADAMVS hits all the right marks with sustainable farming practices as they follow the cycles of nature while recognizing that their vineyard is in balance with life around it.

21. PlumpJack Winery, California

PlumpJack began from humble, down-to-earth beginnings where aromatic, alluvial soils from long-ago volcanoes birthed a fertile winemaking loam. Tucked inside the Vaca Mountain range, they’ve embraced organic, biodynamic, and sustainable practices, resulting in a notable Cabernet Sauvignon.

Sources:

Benefiting the environment, the community, and high-quality grapes and wine. (n.d.). https://www.sustainablewinegrowing.org/

Organic/Biodynamic. (n.d.). http://www.winesofcanada.com/organic_wines.html

Safe protects rivers, native salmon, and watersheds in the Pacific Northwest: Salmon-Safe. (2020). https://salmonsafe.org/

Thorsen, J. (2020). Yalumba Organic Shiraz – A Reliable Buy • Reverse Wine Snob®. https://www.reversewinesnob.com/yalumba-organic-shiraz

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