Image of Old Winemaking Equipment at Wine Museum

Eric Asimov, a renowned wine critic, in a “Vintner With Nothing to Hide Finds That Few Are Looking” in The New York Times, writes about whether wine ingredients should be listed on wine labels.

Asimov notes that a few years ago Randall Grahm decided to add all the ingredients in his wines on the bottle label at Bonny Doon Vineyard. According to Asimov, Grahm was hopeful that the full disclosure of ingredients would have an impact on consumers.

Do consumers care about additives more than the taste of the wine? Perhaps the question is how many consumers read the labels on any foods that they purchase. When we visited a Canadian winery that had TA and pH listed on the label, we asked if people ever asked what TA is? Our wine server said they had been using it for a year and in that time we were the only ones to mention it.

Ask yourself, “When was the last time I read the ingredients on the package of cereal or gelatin mix?” If you do, do you know what all the ingredients do for the product? When eating at a restaurant do you expect the appetizer, entrée or dessert to list every item that went into creating the dish? What a turnoff that could be for some people? Although I do imagine that restaurant critics might enjoy the list.

For me the important information on the front and back labels of a wine bottle may include: variety, vineyard, vintage and alcohol percentage. In the United States according to federal regulations a bottle of wine labeled with a varietal grape name must have at least 75 percent of that variety in the wine. The government does not require the other 25 percent varietal grapes to be listed. So if a winemaker labels a wine as Cabernet Sauvignon, consumers will not know what the make up is of the other 25 percent. I would like that additional information. Besides that additional information, I like back labels to indicate or tell a bit of a story about the wine or the winery as well as possible food pairings and the residual sugar level.

We are a literate world with the majority of people having access to the Internet. Would it be easier and justifiable to add the details of the wine to the winery website? Make the details available online for those who are truly interested in a list of ingredients.

Cheers, Kathy