UNCORKED

There's a popular misconception that just because a wine is labeled organic it happens to be good - or at least good for you. Well that's utter b - sorry, I almost forgot this was a family newspaper. But I think you know where I am coming from with this one.

Just because some green-wellied, hippy in the South of France has espoused the use of chemicals and is currently living the Good Life on a beautiful vineyard, it doesn't actually mean they can make a decent bottle of wine - although plenty are trying. To be blunt, a wine can be certified up to its armpits with certificates of authenticity in the organics department yet still strip barnacles off the bottom of a rusty ship's hull. Unlike organic vegetables, you don't necessarily get bags more flavour. What you do get - if it's a decent bottle of organic wine - is the chance to keep the planet green and yourself reasonably chemical free.

To add to the complication of getting organic with your wine-buying, different countries have different regulations on what constitutes organic viticulture (that is grape- growing to you and me). Thus one nation's organic tipple ain't necessarily the same as another. Hopefully, one of the side benefits of joining the EU should be that a unified certification system will eventually be sorted out - and that most producers will be made to stand by it.

But if a wine is certified organic, there is only one real way of finding out whether it is worth buying. Stick it in your mouth and swallow it.

Which is, of course, exactly what I've been doing over the past week. And, while I wouldn't say the market is flooded with high- quality organic wines, there are some great ones out there.

Take, for example, the Bonterra range from California producer Fetzer. They do a great Chardonnay (£7.99, Virgin wines) - lots of rich, buttery lemon and lime fruit - and a marvelous Zinfandel (£8.49, Virgin Wines) - dark, brooding, spicy damson jam flavours. But my favourite is their fabulous Viognier (£9.99, Virgin wines). This is the perfect evocation of lovely peach and apricot flavours that good versions of it have in abundance.

Alternatively, you could try the Louis Delhon Vin de Pays de Cotes de Thongue Organic Rouge 1999, £4.99, with its great cherry and blackberry fruit flavours and twist of liquorice - just right for a warm winter stew. It doesn't cost the earth - literally - and you don't get much greener than that.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.