Vineyard & Winery Management

March/April 2014

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w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m M a r - A p r 2 014 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 2 1 s wine food? You ingest it, metabo- lize it, and it affects your body pret- ty much the way any food does (and more), so you can make a pretty good argument that it should be regulated in the same way as food. In recent years, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has allowed wineries to list the ingredients in their wines on their labels. To date, only a few producers have done so, probably because they're using relatively few ingredients. But what does this say about the state of the wine industry, and how comfortable it has become with mysterious permitted, yet unlabeled, additives? In addition to making some pretty damn good wines from time to time, Randall Grahm continues to disrupt the California wine scene on a regular basis. His most recent goose of the industry was to intro- duce ingredient labeling to his wines – by most accounts the first to do so. Grahm has always been his own harshest critic, as well as a keen study of the zeitgeist. He'll willingly admit that he once used + If consumers are concerned about the way their food is produced, they should also be curious about what goes into their wine. + Ingredients labels may raise questions from consumers, but those questions are con- versation starters. + Gatekeepers are taking an active interest in wines that are grown and made in a more "natural" fashion. + Ingredient labels can moti- vate wineries to impose more discipline on both farming and winemaking practices. AT A GLANCE MARKET WATCH TIM TEICHGRAEBER Velcorin to sanitize wines before bottling (referring to that station as the "Death S t a r " ) , b u t n o w s e e m s repentant. Other notable wineries have followed suit on list- ing their wines' ingredients, including Ridge Vineyards, Foursight Wines and Siduri in California, and Shinn Estate in New York. Expect others to follow, because light-handed wineries that label their ingredients are getting good feedback and sparking a debate that may eventually prick the ears of not just retail buyers and sommeliers, but consum- ers as well. HONESTY AS A POLICY For those labeling the ingredients in their wines, What's In Your Wine? The list of ingredients on Ridge Vineyards' back label is simple and straightforward. Ingredients labeling offers transparency and engages customers

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