Got any? Know of any? My Wednesday before Thanksgiving customer ringer question of the day.
We, as an American society, have officially “jumped the shark”.
People really are crazy…vegan wine, gluten free. What’s next with these folks
I thought wine was inherently gluten free, no? My sister-in-law has a gluten allergy - she had to give up beer because of it, and she enjoyed brewing her own so that was a huge disappointment for her. She now drinks wine whenever she has a drink.
Celiac disease is nasty! Here’s a link I found to gluten free wine
http://gfkitchen.server101.com/GFAlcohol.htm#Wine
I think wine is inherently gluten free if this is to be believed. From wikipedia
Gluten is a composite of the proteins gliadin and glutenin. These exist, conjoined with starch, in the endosperms of some grass-related grains, notably wheat, rye, and barley. Gliadin and glutenin comprise about 80% of the protein contained in wheat seed. Being insoluble in water, they can be purified by washing away the associated starch. Worldwide, gluten is an important source of nutritional protein, both in foods prepared directly from sources containing it, and as an additive to foods otherwise low in protein.
WS had a little writeup on this a while ago in which someone from some celiac foundation said that all wine (and spirits) is gluten free and safe for consumption. There are a lot of rumors that are spread about this, even by some doctors, but I trust the celiac foundation and common sense tells me they are correct. If your customer doesn’t believe it I would have them contact the foundation directly.
My good friend adhere’s to a strict gluten-free diet due to celiac’s disease. He drinks wine by the gallon without issue. These days, I’m sure you can find a wine that is marketed as gluten free. It’s located in the aisle with the pet rocks (snarky-ness intended for the Whole Foods of the world, not the OP).
At some point the person with the disease needs to educate themselves vs just tossing out “gluten-free!!! is it??? HUHH!!!” That is, they need to do the 5 mins of research Tony did and find out what gluten is and how it’s formed. I do wonder, too, at how many people are truly gluten intolerant vs having digestive issues because they eat crap.
Tony will be happy to know I plan on having a very vegan free Thanksgiving… meat will be everywhere!
Apparently a well organized group of conjoined endosperms appeared before a house wine regulatory and reform subcommittee and made a series of false accusations.
The only way some kind of starch could get into wine(?) is that some winemakers will destem white grapes to let them soak on the skins for a short period. If you press destemmed and unfermented whites, especially certain varieties that have a gelatinous pulp, they will clog the press. So some winemakers will add rice hills to create porosity and help with pressing destemmed whites.
When pressing whites whole cluster, without destemming, the stems create the porosity.
(The rice hulls added to the destemmed whites, takes the place of the stems.)
Another possible explanation is that people are pouring their breakfast wine on their cereal? This is a classic no no!
My meal will be very vegan hostile as well…
Thanks for all the responses. Tony, you should have a little more respect for “those people” who have serious dietary issues. I don’t think that gluten intolerance has anything to do with the dirty vegan hippies that you love to hate. 
FWIW, the customer was the dinner host and all that he knew was he had a gluten intolerant guest coming and needed to have everything gluten free. Now I am more comfortable educating such customers thanks to the meaningful responses here.
Brent = I do have respect for people with “serious” dietary issues.
My problem is with people who self diagnose, which I am willing to wager, are most. It’s trendy to be gluten free - you see all sorts of people looking for gluten free products for no apparent reason. It is terrible in the Bay Area. You go to a restaurant and you hear the person next to you asking about details on every single ingredient…how did these people exist 20 years ago.
But I am also sick of people who come to dinner parties demanding all sorts of concessions regarding their particular food quirks. Heck, i have good friends that are lactose intolerant, and while we will try to limit the amount of dairy when we cook, they also bring their lactose pills.
I abhor onions but i don’t my hosts cook without them. I pick around them.
Agree with Tony, in that some people have digestive issues that make it tough in our over glutened/carbed world to find daily food options. I watch my friend deal with it several times a day, and he’s not doing it to be trendy, since he will get ill if he gets gluten in even small doses.
That said, there will always be a coven of “free" or "non” snobs who follow the latest trend, regardless of whether it’s actually beneficial to their health. Moderation is likely the best approach, but it’s never the sexy one. Larry David wouldn’t let this phenomena slip by: I always remember the Seinfeld episode when Kramer ordered “extra MSG” on his Chinese food.
I don’t think the rice theory holds, since rice is sometimes a staple of a gluten free diet.
As a member of the pizza industry, I seriously get so fed up with this whole Gluten-free stuff. I completely respect people that have food allergies. But I have known far too many people that have created this “allergy” in their own mind. Please note to humans worldwide: Gluten-free should not be a “diet”. Ahem. Low carb? sure… but come on. Gluten free foods is gross and I feel horrible for people that are forced to eat it. Who the heck would choose to eat that stuff?? We live in a crazy world and there will be more and more “allergies” that people make up. I suppose we just have to bend and move with whatever the new fad is. sigh
Yeah and all the assholes who dont eat green leafy vegetables because they are on coumadin! and the people who dont eat sugar because they are diabetic! and people with familial hypercholesterolemia the nerve in not wanting to eat fats! screw em all I say! Its all a fad!
On top of the sarcasm, btw, I suppose we should piss on people who prefer chardonnay, or burgs, or name your wine, or like me, who would rather be dunked in scalding water by the eye balls than drink Bandols, along with the dirty vegans, because, after all, its all a matter of preference.
And for the record, I have no food allergies and I will eat cardboard with dead babies on it if it tastes good, just some premises on here are irritating.
WTF
PS: All wines and most spirits are gluten free. Interestingly, Jameson’s Irish whiskey is not.
All non fined wines are vegan, as well as wines where fish or egg protein is not used for fining.
Im pretty sure John Cabot put bacon in his One Barrel, so watch out 
I had food allergies for 3 years up until last Friday when I was told I didn’t have to take my medicine anymore and I was well. At least for me, like I said… I respect the people that actually HAVE the diseases/allergies and can’t have gluten. But it’s becoming a fad in many circles in the natural food world. There surely couldn’t be THAT many people that have gluten allergies. Our frozen pizza product is being removed from some stores because they’re making room for frozen pizza sets that are made of completely gluten free products. I’m telling you… it’s ridiculous. Where were these gluten allergies 30 years ago??
That has been my concern. Civilization was built on foods that have gluten in them. Maybe it went unidentified for a tiny amount of people for many years. Or maybe there is something in our current culture that triggers it. But I can’t imagine there are enough people with it out there that we need store shelves set aside for them.
Humberto… chill dude… jeez…
I’m with Tony here - people who really have these issues are concerned about a valid health issue. I would bet that the vast majority of people who worry about this have no real issue with gluten at all - they may have digestive issues, but in that case they might want to try eating a balanced diet that’s not all processed crap.
![[winner.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/07ec25c9fd71159fe15d7f1ba5fad64e91238d0e.gif "winner"){kind=small}
That goes for a lot more than just those falsely afraid of gluten as well.