Collegiate Times

Whether it is a result of the way they were raised or a sudden environmental consciousness as they enter college, many students are now choosing to eat mostly or entirely organic foods. But what do they do about beer and wine?

Grapes are one of the more heavily chemically sprayed crops, often needing insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers, making most wines decidedly un-organic. While there isn't any real health risk from drinking moderate amounts of non-organic wines, today's eco-friendly consumers do have other options available to them.

The wines may not yet be widely available in stores, but the trend is growing. There is even a journal called "Organic Wine Journal" that has a well put together website and links to retailers. Organic growers are ones who do not use any chemicals in the growing process and have little interference in the wine making process.

Organic wines makers also leave out flavor additives and limit the amount of filtration, among other practices.

Luckily, the term "organic" on a bottle of wine is regulated. This means that you won't pick up a bottle marked organic and actually get chemically enhanced wine. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has made guidelines that vineyards have to follow in order to call themselves organic.

However, according to the "Organic Wine Journal," many wineries choose not to go through the process to get certified even if they do follow the necessary organic practices. Some reasons given for not getting certified are costs of registering, disagreements with USDA guidelines or because they want to project a certain image that "organic" does not fit into.

Some organic wines can be found in local stores. Frogs Leap is one that I have seen on the shelves at Kroger, and Vintage Cellar carries several others. Look for the names Bonterra Vineyards, Frey Vineyards and Badger Mountain Vineyard.

There are also several online retailers (theorganicwinecompany.com imports French organic wines and is an excellent source for information).

Beers are also offered in organic styles and follow the same principles that organic wine does. This is also a rapidly growing market; even Anheuser-Busch has gotten in on it.

The company that makes Budweiser and Bacardi malt beverages also offers two organic beers called "Stone Mill Pale Ale" and "Wild Hop Lager." Like the wines, organic beer is also regulated, and the breweries are certified organic. Some more names to look for are Dogfish Head Brewing Co., Peak Organic and Wolaver's.

So you may be wondering what these organic beverages taste like. While I can't speak from experience, the several articles I have read all claim organic as being better tasting and having more distinct regional flavors, but ultimately that's up to you to decide.