WHAT’S LURKING INSIDE THAT ALLURING BOTTLE
If you think all wine is simply fermented grape juice bottled, you’re wrong. Wine can contain all sorts of additives including high-fructose corn syrup, granulated white sugar, gum arabic, potassium sorbate and more. And none of it needs to be named on bottles because wine is exempt from having to list ingredients on labels — unlike, say, milk or Mountain Dew.
Of course not all winemakers load up their juice with additives; but many do because it can be an easy fix to enhance the flavour and texture of wine from substandard fruit.
Sugar — white granulated, liquid invert, dextrose, fructose or highfructose corn syrup — can sweeten a wine, hide lack of inherent concentration or increase alcohol levels during fermentation.
Acids of various sorts can change the tartness to improve balance. Gums can change the weight and texture of the final wine. And preservatives protect against fungal growth.
Meanwhile, the only two things that must appear on all wine labels sold in Canada are the alcohol percentage and the words, “contains sulphites.” Sulphites must be named on labels because they’re an allergen. And all allergens must be stated on all wines sold in this country as of 2012.
In small amounts, most additives in conventional winemaking won’t hurt you. But engaged consumers might want to know what they’re consuming — especially with things such as sugar in its various forms. But frankly, short of asking the winemaker, there’s no way of knowing.
Wine drinkers might also want to know what fining agent if any was used to clarify and stabilize a wine — a process that essentially removes any suspended bits before bottling. Although fining agents are filtered out of the wine, some people may prefer not to drink something fined with egg whites, milk protein, gelatin, isinglass (fish bladders), chitin (crustacean shells), or PVPP (short for polyvinyl poly pyrrolidone, a powdered plastic).
In 2008 Randall Grahm, proprietor of Bonny Doon Vineyard in California, was the first to take the principled leap of listing all the ingredients used in making his wine on their labels. Shortly thereafter, Ridge Vineyards in California followed suit.
“We decided to include our ingredients on the label because we believe that harsh additives and modern processing are not necessary to make a fine wine when you are working with a great vineyard,” Michael Torino, vice-president U.S. wholesale for Ridge Vineyards told me. “We follow a pre-industrial approach to winemaking that requires minimal intervention.”
But aside from these trailblazers, the voluntary option of listing ingredients has certainly not been embraced. So I’ve done a bit of digging on your behalf.
The following five bottles are made with minimal additives other than a bit of sulphur dioxide, which is just good basic hygiene as far as I’m concerned. But that’s a column for another day.