Ethical Living: They don�t usually put ingredients labelling on wine. What does it matter: it�s just fermented grape juice, right? Not always, as a Dispatches programme this week revealed.

They don't usually put ingredients labelling on wine. What does it matter: it's just fermented grape juice, right?

Not always, as a Dispatches programme this week revealed. It highlighted the 40 substances that can be used in wines but don't have to be shown on the label. Chemicals get into wine in two ways - through the addition of pesticides and herbicides to the grapes, or the addition of additives such as acid, stabilisers and preservatives to the wine itself. European Union regulations permit certain low levels of these substances.

You might well reason that a safe limit is a safe limit, so why worry? That way of thinking will certainly make your choice of wines a lot wider. If you're not happy with the idea, though, there is a growing market in organic wine, with all the major supermarkets now stocking a range.

Unfortunately, regulations on what constitutes "organic" vary from country to country. At EU level, while organic rules cover the growing of grapes, there is still a recognised need for a code of best practice for organic wine processing and labelling because, at the moment, the picture for the consumer is very confusing. An organic wine, you might well assume, is one to which nothing has been added. But in truth a lot contain added sulphur dioxide (or sulphite): this naturally occurs in the fermentation process anyway but many wine producers add extra to prevent the growth of bacteria. As this goes against many people's perception of "organic", a growing band of wine producers prefer to use the term "natural wine", though this, too, is ill-defined.

The UK Soil Association defines organic wine as "wine made from organically-grown grapes". It permits the use of sulphur and copper as fungicides, within strict limits. It also allows the addition of very limited amounts of sulphur dioxide (around half the amount permitted for non-organic wines).

How necessary is the addition of sulphur dioxide, you might wonder. Well, without the addition of sulphite, the argument goes, wine would discolour and go off quicker.

Why not find out for yourself how much of a difference it makes? Stellar Organics, the largest producer of Fairtrade fine wines in South Africa, has a No Added Sulphur range which also bears the Fairtrade mark.

Its 2007 offerings include a cabernet sauvignon, a merlot, a shiraz and a white muscat d'Alexandrie (cabnernet sauvignon available from www.vintageroots.co.uk at £6.65 a bottle). Or try www.goodwineonline.co.uk, which rates wine according to their level of sulphites.

Here in Scotland, the Orkney Wines range, which is hand-made from fruit and flowers, does not contain additives. The range includes Black Portent port-style blackcurrant wine, gooseberry, for drinking with salads, pasta and fish, and gorse, which goes well with seafood and Oriental dishes.

And if you're concerned about wine miles, you could try an English wine. Sedlescombe wines, made in Sussex, are holding their own against non-organic wines. For instance, the vineyard won best dry white in the 2004 English Wine Festival. Try Sedlescombe's 2006 Reisling-style dry white (£9.95, www.englishorganicwine.co.uk).

Finally, for a mouth-watering range of Fairtrade wines, visit the Fairtrade Foundation at www.fairtrade.org.uk.