Smartbites http://www.smartbites.net/ info@smartbites.net Online-only wine shop with a focus on Spanish wines, but also selling a wide range of fine spirits. They will ship to other European countries including the UK.How do you tell if a wine is organic or not? What is organic farming? Simply put it is: – no chemical fertilisers – no herbicides or chemical weedkiller – no systemic pesticides (no systemic insecticides and no systemic fungicides) When you buy organic you are guaranteed that the product has been grown free of systemics and GMOs (genetically modified organisms). In the European Union it is illegal to mention the word organic anywhere on your product unless you are certified by one of the approved certification bodies. It is a long road to become organic and certified. This is not something easily done just for marketing purposes. It is true commitment financially, physically and mentally. Three years of organic conversion are required for vines.

All wines with the European leaf logo (right) are guaranteed organic wine-making not just organic farming. 2012 organic winemaking rules guarantee the end consumer lower sulphites and far fewer entrants than those accepted in conventional wines. Overall you are guaranteed a purer wine with less additives in the wine-making process. If a wine fails the wine-making no mention can be made of organic even if it has been farmed organically. Organic wine guarantees lower sulphites. Why care about lower sulphites? The WHO (World Health Organisation) recommend a maximum of sulphites of 0.7mg per kg of body weight per day. So a man of 100kg should have about 70mg per day. At legislated EU levels for conventional wine that means an average person reaches the maximum at just over a third of a bottle of white wine. Some countries have way higher levels than the EU. For example Australia has limit across most wines of 250mg/l and USA of 350mg/l (more than double the EU for red wines) per litre.

At these levels just a single glass will put a large man over his sulphite (or sulfite) limit. To take a concrete example : for red wine the EU norm is 150mg/litre the new organic wine rule is 100mg/litre. For biodynamic Demeter it is 70mg/litre. With certified organic dry wine you can enjoy two glasses and stay well within the recommended level. With European wine the organic leaf logo guarantees you are getting organic farming and winemaking. Organic rules and wine labelling rules are very stricly enforced in Europe – buying French organic wine offers labelling certainty. See my top ten why celebrate supporting organic farming and an indepth three reasons to choose organic wine Come and learn more about organic farming with a visit to Chateau Feely in South West France ; stay with us or do a multi day course or multi day tour . You can read about the story of our organic farm the series includes three books Grape Expectations; Saving our Skins and Glass Half Full by Caro Feely.

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However, please note: due to high volumes, we are no longer able to offer time-specific delivery slots or next-day delivery services. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Standard UK delivery (2-5 working days) and Specified Day Delivery (except Saturday);buy wine cooler bag FREE on orders of £100 and over £7.50  for orders below £100 Collection of orders of any value from one of our shops is free of charge. We also offer an array of chargeable premium services to UK destinations Next Day or Saturday: £12.50 Pre-10am (Weekdays only): £15.00 Deliveries to Northern Ireland, The Isle of Man, The Isle of Wight, The Scilly Isles and some areas of Scotland are FREE, but are excluded from the premium services, take 6-10 working days and require a minimum value of £100 per delivery address. Deliveries to non-UK destinations are door-to-door, are typically completed within 7-10 working days and are subject to a minimum order value of £100.00 excluding the delivery charge, per delivery address.

Deliveries of customers' wines (ex-CPR) cellared in our warehouses: Free delivery to all UK destinations when a Standard UK delivery (2-5 working days) or Specified Day Delivery (except Saturday) is selected. Delivery charges apply only when a premium delivery service is selected Please note that If your wine is stored under bond, VAT & Duty will be charged as part of the online check-out of the selected cellared products For Delivery FAQs, see further down the page Wine Storage in Bond At exactly what time will my wine order arrive? You can specify pre-10am delivery, but we cannot give precise times as this may lead to disappointments if the carrier is delayed. Deliveries of the "Pre-10am" option are made from 7.30am to 10am and from 9am to 5pm for the "Any Time" type of deliveries. My wine order has not arrived within the estimated delivery time. If your order has not arrived on the specific date you specified or within 5 working days (UK) or 10 working days (overseas), please Contact us.

Can I amend my online order? We can usually amend your order, providing it has not been fully packed for despatch. Please try to supply your order number or postcode when you Contact Us. Can my order be delivered to my work place? Yes, give your work address as the delivery address when ordering. What will happen to my delivery if I am not in to receive it? A card will be left with a phone number to call to arrange an alternative time. Instead, you may wish to tell us if there is somewhere safe to leave the wines (e.g. with a neighbour or in a shed). Use the Delivery Instructions box, located on the delivery page during checkout. Can I collect my order from your London/Basingstoke shop? You can indeed collect your order from one of our shops. Please allow three working days between ordering and collection. We strongly recommend that you call the shop in question in advance to ensure that your order is available for collection. For online orders, you can select the relevant shop option for your collection in the "Delivery" stage of the checkout process.