It’s Not Easy Being Green

Recently, I was meeting with a Hungarian winemaker when his importer, Eric Danch of Danch & Granger, casually mentioned something that made me nearly spit out my kékfrankos.

In March 2024, the Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) rules, set by the USDA, declared that importers—that’s right, the firms that typically handle sales and logistics, not just the winemakers—also need to be certified organic in order for the wines to retain the label. According to a spokesperson from the USDA, the regulations are an effort to “better protect organic businesses and consumers” and “keep fraud out of the market.” This is a major shift, especially for a landscape in which organic wine has only recently made inroads with the average consumer.

In less than a generation, wines labeled as organic have blossomed from a health-food-store afterthought to a meaningful force shaping how we drink, discuss and buy our favorite bottles. And these new rules threaten to undo all of that progress. 

Strengthening the veracity of organic labeling sounds like a win for those concerned with how their wines are made. But, more than a year after the change went into effect, several small importers of European wine describe a bureaucratic reality that borders on the absurd. Some say the rules feel more about forms and fees than any actual fraud prevention. The overarching concern, according to Jenny Lefcourt of Jenny & François Selections, is that “it works against organic labeling and it works against the diversity of wines available in the marketplace.”

Now, if a U.S. importer has not gained organic certification, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents will only allow it to enter the U.S. as a “conventionally” produced product or require re-exportation. Violations can trigger penalties that range from substantial fines to suspension.

“It’s a bit of a backwards loop currently,” says Olivia Taibi, operations manager of Zev Rovine Selections. Taibi handles logistics for the importer and is intimately familiar with the labyrinth of newfound requirements. Among them is an hourslong in-office audit, during which importers are responsible for reimbursing the officer’s expenses. Taibi says the process, which is repeated annually, takes 1-2 months and costs around $3,000. Maddie Perez, who works at Quality Certification Services, says these fees are based on annual sales of organic product, and inspection fees typically range from $800 to $1,300. For Taibi, it feels as though their small office staff has been asked to assume the responsibility for regulatory oversight. 

Importers must now also provide proof that their goods have not been commingled with nonorganic products. This is a salient fraud concern with commodities like rice, but for a sealed container that has already been certified organic? “Sometimes you have mixed boxes, three bottles of this, four of that. You have to explain all of it,” says Granger.