I wouldn’t add Mega-purple to anything ever, no matter where it came from, and I do think it’s use ought to be regulated more closely.
It would be within the AVA boundaries though, if it was made from WV grapes, but Oregon requires that a wine be 100% from the varietal on the label and Teinturrier is not Pinot Noir (and Pinot Noir probably wouldn’t make a very good mega-purple). I find it hard to believe that the concentration process could somehow leave the singular aspects of the grape intact enough to retain any aspect of terroir. But I don’t actually know how they make the mega-purple other than it requires a dank castle, lightning, and maniacal laughter.
Another interesting question (to me at least), would sugar from chaptalization be listed in the ingredients if the wine is fermented to dryness? Yes, it was added but it’s no longer sugar so it’s not really an ingredient, at least not in the way it is in Oreo cookies or something like that.
There are a lot of questions like the last couple you asked. If you add yeast vs letting go on its own? If a producer waters back, is it an ingredient? A wine is mostly water, after all. As far as the dreaded mega purple, I’ve helped out in a few wineries and I’ve never seen the stuff (and I doubt any of those winemakers were interested in using it).
I always ask the question - when you purchase a steak, do you know everything that cow ever ate? There are many things that are added to wines that precipitate out and are not in the final product - do these need to be listed?
If so, I want to know what ‘other stuff’ a cow may eat as they graze . . .
Great point. What is added to the land is as important but often overlooked. Can’t help but shake the conversation around natural wines and irrigated vineyards, I am not sure you can claim one without the other and to be clear I don’t count myself a fan of the natural movement albeit we are a truly straightforward/light touch cellar as we pursue crafting classic wines. I also can’t shake when Geologist Kevin Pogue posited some time ago that Walla Walla had the best terroir. But without irrigation? I am all for transparency, but I want to read about where your grapes are sourced from too. Free range, watered, diluted in fertigation, copper, cowhorns…
I realize there is tremendous work put into farming and cultivating grapevines but if you are growing vineyards like a golf course in the desert but advertising your business as something as simple as unfiltered/unfined and a lightly sulfured experience I’d say you are kidding yourself and being pretty handy with the wool not unlike fashion or the beauty industry. So if we go for ingredients let’s be sure to fill folks in on where and how the vineyards are farmed to give folks a more clear picture of what they want to get behind.
Wine is a unique situation. DAP is, as far as I can tell, a necessary addition in Washington fruit. And in Oregon in some years as well, though only recently.
I actually listened to this interview. Smith said that the only ingredient in his wine is grapes and that he lists that on the back labels.
The question of yeast is interesting… when you pick grapes, you don’t see any yeast, so you can (un)safely assume that grapes are all that you are getting.
I believe a substantial majority of wines are made with added yeast(s), but also know that a lot of wines are fermented without the addition of yeast(s).
Now I’ll have to find a bottle somewhere and have a look at the label.
I would prefer a list of ingredients but it’s not a big deal to me. Having been ITB for 40+ years, I’ve visited a lot of vineyards and know which winegrowers I trust.
The back label lists only grapes as an ingredient - thought it does have the “Contains sulfites” statement. I believe that Charles said in the interview (Dan, you can correct me if I am wrong), that he said they didn’t add sulfite but what they had was naturally occurring.
The “Real Cabernet” has a total sulfur dioxide of 89g/L and the “Real Chardonnay” is at 86gm/L (free numbers are at 15 and 22). That’s more than I would think would occur naturally – but perhaps not enough as the VA on the Cab is at .99g/L and it has brett as well. (Yes, the interview pissed me off, yes the name “Real Wine” pisses me off, yes I had the wine tested).
That’s it. Except that Charles has had multiple COLAs approved since then - for K Vintners amongst others - and no “ingredient” labeling.
So do you just list “fermented grape juice” or do you list “water, alcohol, sugar ,” and then what? “Natural flavours” ? That’s before the additives etc. is the purpose ‘what was used to make the wine’, or to analyse ‘what’s in the bottle’ ? V
This seems like mostly a PR move. Yes, you can heroically call for transparency in wine ingredient labeling. However, until it is absolutely mandate by the government, there’s no requirement to do it, and also not a requirement that what you put on your label is truthful and accurate.
I guess I keep thinking of this in perhaps a simplistic manner. If you leave wine in a bottle long enough, it turns to vinegar. So, why would the labels say anything different than what is required for vinegar.
Checking 3 random vinegars in my pantry, I get:
RED WINE VINEGAR contains: red wine vinegar (wow!), water, potassium metabisulfate (preservative) 5% acidity CONTAINS SULFITES
MALT VINEGAR contains; malt vinegar (again, wow!), adjusted with water to 5% acidity
BALSAMIC VINEGAR OF MODENA: Wine vinegar (I’m sensing a pattern here), concentrated grape may contains naturally occuring sulfites
So, basically the US labelling laws for vinegar state that the bottle contains vinegar. Why would they do anything different with wine?
RED WINE contains: Red wine
