Fine Organic Wine : Brands are finally winning prizes at international tastings. And big business is getting on the bandwagon.

There are some pretty good tasting wines on the market these days made from grapes that have been grown organically. And I’ve gotten over the phobia that had made me a reluctant teetotaler.

About one in 10 Americans is allergic to various chemicals used in preserving wine in the bottle. I am one of those allergic people. And an unknown percentage may experience adverse effects from residues of pesticides and fertilizers customarily used to grow grapes.

Red wine sales are going up a third due to CBS’s story on the possible health benefits of drinking a moderate amount of red wine a day (no more than two glasses), according to the trade publication The Wine Spectator. A less-discussed story, according to other wine trade publications, is that shipments of wine made from organically grown grapes have doubled.

I’m not going to say how much I personally helped. But let’s just say I made a prudent effort.

I wrote a column two years ago breathlessly announcing my discovery of some organic wines, but you may notice I didn’t rave about the taste.

My message was that any kind of agricultural activity that doesn’t put artificial chemicals into the soil is OK.

So what about the taste? There is good news. And I’m not alone in my opinion.

The brands of organic wines available in Ventura County nowadays are the equal of any regular wine on the market. And that means some are wonderful and some not so. But organic wines are finally winning prizes at nationwide tastings, up against regular vintages. It has become a level playing field.

But the interesting part of this whole issue isn’t that a few ecologically conscientious winemakers are making some interesting new wines. Rather, it’s that California is becoming the center of organic grape growing and every manufacturer is buying from these vines.

Although they aren’t labeling their bottles “organic”--because the use of that word is the subject of all sorts of regulatory debate--many manufacturers, including Gallo, Sutter Home, Buena Vista, Chateau Montelena and the Ventura County-based Ojai Vineyards are going organic.

The tradition of using artificial chemicals on grape crops “has become expensive,” said Adam Tolmac of Ojai Vineyards. Like most vintners, he doesn’t grow all the grapes he presses. “It’s relatively easy to grow the (organic) way. If you do things right you can avoid problems (but) I’d spray if necessary.” In that succinct report he said what even the biggest growers and vintners have discovered over the past two years.

This business of wine industry going organic by stealth is interesting. Sure, they don’t want the regulatory hassle or the absolute prohibition on emergency spraying.

And maybe they suspect that the general public just isn’t ready to try wines labeled organic. Maybe the product would languish on the shelf because people think it tastes like adobe.

But last week a major whiskey maker in America, the manufacturer of Jack Daniels, bought the biggest independent winery--Fetzer--just on the eve of Fetzer’s decision to go “public” with its organic-ness.

Big business is getting on the bandwagon, evidently. The owners of Fetzer are selling their winemaking operation but keeping their “clean dirt,” as organically certified acreage is affectionately termed.

The 11 siblings who run Fetzer foresee the day when the regulatory questions about what constitutes organic or non-organic wine will be resolved. They already know it’s more economical to grow organically.

While we are waiting for the government and the general market to resolve their questions about organic wine, you and I can just stroll on by our local wine dealer.

We’ll see what’s already available from the little wineries that are out in front of the pack--obeying the existing rules and making wines from grapes grown on “clean dirt” that won’t taste like dirt.

* FYI

* Some Ventura County stores selling wine made from organically grown grapes are: Best Buy, Camarillo; Mandels, Ventura; Ojai Liquors, Pat’s Liquors, Ojai; Jue’s Liquor, Ventura; Longs Drugs, Ventura and Camarillo.

* Brands to ask for: Frey, Hidden Cellars, Nevada County Wine Guild, The Organic Wine Company, Orleans Hill, Amity, Bellerose, Four Chimneys, Coturri, Konrad, Lolonis, and Tillman. For more information, call The Organic Grapes-Into-Wine Alliance, (800) 477-0167.