Organic wine is wine made from grapes grown without the help of synthetic fertilisers, weed-killers or insecticides. All of these things damage the soil and can end up in the wine as residue. There is no international legal definition of organic wine. But in all cases, the organic certification of a vineyard requires the precise localisation of the vineyard, from which date certified organic culture began, and which officially recognised body certified the vineyard.

Within the European Union, organic wine is defined as 'wine made from organically grown grapes'. Wines sold within the European Union from organic vineyard are labelled according to a single standard 'made from organically grown grapes'. This is laid out in the EU Directive 2092/91, which came into effect with the 1992 vintage. It recognizes agricultural crop products as organic only when they are in an unprocessed state. Thus it applies to the grapes but not the wine.

Outside the European Union, organic wine can be defined as 'wine made from organically grown grapes' as well as 'organic wine'. Wines sold outside the European Union will defer to whatever national law is in place in the country where the wine is sold. The level of strictness varies from area to area.