This chapter discusses the general principles and legal aspects of organic fruit growing, and provides guidelines on the conversion of a conventionally run production unit to organic fruit growing. A checklist of professional and commercial requirements for would-be organic fruit growers is presented.

The flavour and the volatilome of apple wines made from the Austrian heritage variety Ilzer Rose was in the scope of this study. The apple wines were produced by adopting oenological practises that are not commonly used in fruit wine production. Different fermentation strategies including the addition of enzymes with β-glucosidase activity, addition of a fining agent, maceration of the mash along with mash fermentation were applied. The volatile compounds of the juices as intermediates and the resulting apple wines were analysed using headspace-SPME GC-MS. CATA technique with a well-trained panel was applied for sensory evaluation. The results show that the flavour of single-variety apple wine can be significantly altered by taking oenological measures. High correlations were found between the results of the analytical investigation and the sensory evaluation. Maceration of the mash leads to an increase in the fruity character of the products, also reflected by significantly higher fruit ester quantities in the wine. During mash fermentation, spontaneous malolactic fermentation was induced leading to a product with new, but thoroughly interesting sensory properties of the apple wine. The results of this study demonstrate that the integration of oenological measures may open a wide field to the development of a high diversity in apple wine flavour.

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This chapter discusses some considerations in the selection of rootstocks and cultivars of dessert apple, dessert pear, stone fruit species (sweet and sour cherries, and plums) and small fruit (strawberries, raspberries, brambles, red currants, black currants, goosebberries and blueberries) for organic production. A description of the major characteristics (ripening, yield, quality, and pest and disease resistance) of the most important market apple cultivars for organic production is presented, and guidelines on site selection, plant training, fertilizer (N, P, K and Mg) application, planting time, spacing, planting technique, weed control and irrigation are provided for dessert pear, small fruit and plum organic production.