Contributing wine editor David Harker takes a look at what’s in your wine, why it’s there and whether you should be concerned.
If you are what you eat then it’s wise to take a healthy interest in what you put in your body. Ultra processed foods, bad. Natural, wholesome foods, good. And what could be more natural than wine?
The first thing that wine students learn is that wine is fermented grape juice. Everything that you need to make wine you will find in a grape. The pulp contains fermentable sugars and refreshing acid. The skins of black grapes add colour and tannin. Wild yeasts occur naturally in the environment. Nothing need be added.
That nothing need be added doesn’t mean that nothing is added. The Romans added sea water, honey, herbs and spices. Most likely to mask the the unpleasant taste of a wine turning to vinegar. The Romans also added lead to their wines to add sweetness. A poisonous practice that continued into the nineteenth century. A practice that was the likely cause of the deafness and eventual death of Beethoven.
The addition of lead is no longer permitted but the modern wine maker has access to a long list of alternatives including; acidity regulators, preservatives, antioxidants and stabilisers.
For the wine maker, working in a region where the climate is uncooperative, help is at hand. In those parts of the world often too cool to ripen grapes he can add sugar to the fermentation to boost alcohol levels. Plus there’s potassium bicarbonate to counter the high acidity.
In a hot climate a touch of tartaric acid can bring a refreshing lift to the wine. Or if the wine is struggling to ferment then the addition of yeast nutrients should do the trick.
Other “improving agents” include; winemakers charcoal to remove colour or off-flavours and oenological tannins used as antioxidants and to stabilise the colour of red wines.
Want to add oak character but can’t afford oak barrels? Then a dunking of oak chips is a convenient alternative. These practices are most likely found in high volume, inexpensive supermarket wines.
So how do you know what is in your wine? Until recently wine has been exempt from the demands of food labelling laws. But from the 2024 harvest, new regulations will apply to all wine produced or sold in the EU.
This overdue transparency should enable consumers to make more informed choices. The new regulations only apply to, ‘anything used in the production of wine present in the finished product.’ That means that the processing aids mentioned above need not be listed as they are not present in the finished product. The exception would be if they caused allergies or intolerances.
The most commonly used processing aids which are potentially allergenic are the egg or milk-derived products used to clarify wines.
It is already mandatory to declare the presence of sulphites in wine. Sulphur has been used as a wine preservative since Roman times. Sulphur dioxide protects the wine from bacterial spoilage. It also stops your wine turning brown from oxidation. Sulphites are a natural by-product of fermentation and so no wine can ever be sulphite free.
Despite widespread concerns about the evils of sulphites there’s no research that supports the view that wine sulphites cause headaches. The maximum permitted level of sulphites in dried fruits, for example, is ten times that allowed in wine and I don’t hear people complain of apricot headaches.
There are other possible explanations for wine induced headaches. Grape skins contain chemical compounds that can slow down the rate at which our bodies break down alcohol. Fermented products can also contain heightened levels of histamines. Chemicals that cause headaches for those with particular sensitivities. And beware, higher levels of histamines are most likely found in wines with lower levels of sulphites.
“Natural wines” eschew all additives, including sulphur dioxide. Some of these wines are well made, others funky to the point of faulty. To get from grape to glass wine needs a guiding hand. Avoiding the use of dangerous chemicals in the vineyard and a light touch in the winery is welcome. But natural wine dogma shouldn’t over rule common sense. Wine should taste like wine, not cider – even if that requires adding a judicious amount of sulphur dioxide. Take with a pinch of salt the pronouncements of wellness gurus pedalling misinformation. Ignore bizarre advice, such as stirring your wine with a stainless steel spoon to remove sulphites. Remember that alcohol is still the most likely cause of an adverse reaction to wine. So everything in moderation and a little of what you fancy does you good.
