I’m going to throw some words out there…mega purple, silver nitrate, vegetable flavorings, oak chips, powdered tannin and diethylene glycol. When I think of wine, these items are not on the list of potential ingredients…unless we’re talking about mass produced, manipulated and chemically processed wines. I read a recent article by Keith Wallace of the Daily Beast and was quite floored by what the wine industry has been adding to their wine to cover up flaws, bad smells and bland flavors.
There are several elements you can add to wine to change its flavor and mouthfeel. Many of them have been perfectly acceptable as long as they are made known. For example, some wineries will Chaptalize their wine, which means adding sugar to sweeten or raise the alcohol level. This is done in fortified wines like port, Champagne and German Rieslings classified as QbA (But not all, they have the option to do so). There are also ways to control the acidity in wine called malolactic fermentation. These all have to do with the process of making particular wines and has been done for centuries. What I’m shocked about is how wine is becoming like fast food.
The additives I mentioned above are mainly added to bulk wine, but some wineries (in many countries) that sell their wines for $20 or more are using these techniques to save money. One in particular, that is totally legal, is the use of Mega Purple. Mega Purple is and additive discovered in 1992 that is made from grape concentrate. Mega purple adds color, fruit flavors, texture and covers up vegetal flavors in otherwise known as your bulk, mass produced, red table wine. Ever notice how California’s low end (two buck chuck) red wine tastes the same fruity and jammy flavor year, after year, after year? No matter what the weather was like? AND no matter what winery’s wine you purchased, they all taste exactly the same? Well, your answer is Mega Purple.
You may ask, “What’s the big deal about mass produced wine?” Well, the more stress and force you put on a vine to push out as many berries as possible, beyond what nature intended, the quicker the quality plummets and the flavor turns vegetal and boring. That is where the manipulation comes in. The wine lacks tannin? Let’s add powdered tannin. Oak barrels are too expensive? Let’s soak the wine in oak chips. The wine is not tart enough? Let’s add tartaric acid. The wine is lacking alcohol? Let’s add Methanol. Just kidding, but seriously, this incident did happen once in Italy back in the 80’s. Crazy. (I do have to put in here that this should not reflect badly on the Italian wine industry. Italian wines are Deeeelicious).
These tools are available to all winemakers and their job is to make great wine. There is also a lot of pressure on winemakers to get the best ratings, hence, why these techniques are becoming increasingly common. So, the question is…is this cheating?
You may not care if there’s Mega Purple in your wine or if the wine was soaked in oak chips. As long as it tastes ok, what’s wrong with that? Well ask yourself this, does it really taste ok? Do you want your wine to taste JUST OK? As for me, it doesn’t taste ok. When I buy wine, I want to taste more than just fruit water. I want character and layers. I want to think about it and I want my tongue to water for more. I want variety. Cheating takes away variety. When we all cheat, we end up with the same answer. We end up with the same wine year, after year, after year. As I like to say, lame.
I feel like the “big dog” wine industry is turning us into drones. They must assume that we all like the same things, taste the same way and think the same way. I ask you to not let them destroy your palate. Appreciate the winery that cares for their vines, caters to them, takes the earth into consideration and has passion. As I also like to say… sip, savor and then if you want, get crazy…as long as you savor first.
