Including a natural wine primer and 5 clean, low-sugar bottles to try
Legally, there can be dozens of additives in your wine, including sulfites, egg whites, gelatin, and dyes. Winemakers are allowed to add these substances to adjust the color, add body, and maintain consistency. For health-minded folks who appreciate ingredient transparency, this information is understandably alarming. Because your wine should be as clean as your food, Furthermore spoke to three wine experts to find out more about wine additives (they’re not all as bad as you’d think), natural versus organic versus biodynamic farming, and how much sugar is actually in your glass.
Here, the high performer’s guide to wine:
What’s in your wine
While it’s unfortunate that disclosing ingredients is not mandated for winemakers, a lot of the additives aren’t going to have negative impacts on your health, says James Sligh, a sommelier at La Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels in New York City. Adds Andrew L. Waterhouse, Ph.D., a well-known wine chemist and professor of enology at UC Davis: “I don't think that any of them are particularly hazardous.”
Additives that are effectively preservatives are helpful in the sense that they allow people to enjoy wine for longer or after it's been shipped across the world, says Sligh. Take indigenous yeast: It’s a harmless substance that helps create a more consistent product. Another popular preservative is sulfur (sulfites are one of two sulfur-based compounds). “Sulfur is one of the most unfairly maligned and least worrisome additives when we're talking about wine,” says Sligh.
As for dyes, grape concentrate from thick-skinned red wine grape varieties make wines look more rich and opaque, and tannin additives (that give a thin wine more body) come from grapes or even from wood bark, per Madeline Puckette, James Beard Award-winning author and co-founder of WineFolly.com. Egg whites and gelatin are both used to help clarify a wine so it doesn't appear cloudy.
Still, less is absolutely more. “Usually, if a wine or fermentation needs a lot of ‘seasoning,’ it means that the grapes or winemaking is imbalanced in some way,” says Puckette.
Natural wine 101
The ultimate in ‘less is more’ is natural wine. There’s no certification or standardized guidelines, but a broadly accepted definition is that it’s farmed without chemicals in the vineyard and vinified without adding anything or taking anything away in the cellar.
Because there are no preservatives, you could buy three identical bottles of natural wine and each one would taste different. In fact, every sip might taste different because it’s ‘microbially alive’. “I have heard winemakers talk about a probiotic impact,” says Sligh. That could theoretically be a good thing for your gut but maybe not so much for your tastebuds: “By avoiding the use of sulfites, some people feel that they're making wines that are really not very good,” says Waterhouse.
However, it may just be an acquired taste. “It's a lot like getting Epoisses put in front of you after a lifetime of Velveeta, or tasting a Belgian sour ale when your only reference for beer is Budweiser,” says Sligh. “Natural wine is made without a certain degree of control, which means the range of possible flavors and textures and aromas is wide when set against the constrained possibilities of conventionally-made wine.”
The middle ground
Conventional wine can contain a kitchen sink's worth of additives; organic wines have slightly less; biodynamic wines have even less; and natural wines have nothing except for a limited amount of sulfur.
How to find a well-farmed, well-made wine
Look for these certifications.“The US Biodynamic certification, a green label with white words, ensures your wine contains only a handful of ingredients: sulphur, eggs whites, charcoal, and bentonite (the latter two are clarifying/fining agents) beyond grapes,” says Sligh. For European wines, look for ECOCERT (a green leaf). “The producers I see that are putting it on their labels are guys who are going above and beyond. For example: not just treating vines with copper and sulfur but experimenting with plant-based teas for disease control or keeping bees or animals on the property, which is great for a more holistic ecosystem and can help with healthy soil and pest control.”
Check out wines that do have ingredient labels.“There are a few companies that are actually doing ingredient labeling which used to be illegal, but now it's optional,” says Waterhouse. Two examples: Ridge Vineyards and Bonny Doon.
5 wines for high performers
DOMAINE DE LA PEPIERE "La Pepiere", melon de bourgogne, Pay Nantais, Loire, France 2018
“Marc Ollivier has been a standard-bearer for chemical-free wines from his region for decades. They’re farmed organically, vinified with native yeasts, bottled unfined / unfiltered with a little bit of sulfur at bottling. It’s salty, mineral-laden, bone-dry, low alcohol, perfect with oysters, and made honestly.”
LEON BOESCH "La Cabane", pinot blanc, Alsace 2017
“This wine is biodynamically farmed and vinified in a winery built using only natural materials. It’s a dry wine with notes of almond and apple.”
JURTSCHITCH "Belle Naturelle", gruner veltliner, Kamptal, Austria 2018
“Alwin Jurtschitch and his wife took over from his parents, converted the estate to biodynamics, and began playing a bit. This is an orange wine with just a dash of sulfur at bottling. It’s super clean and easy to drink with flavors of golden apple, parsnip, elderflower, and orange peel.”
END OF NOWHERE "Phantom Limb", carbonic zinfandel, Sierra Foothills, California 2018
“Chris Walsh left bartending in New York to come back to Amador County and plant a vineyard a few thousand feet up in the mountain meadow next to his childhood home. It's permacultural farming without chemicals surrounded by some old apple trees. His carbonic zinfandel is fresh, juicy, and made without additions in the winery aside from a little sulfur. You’ll taste blackberries and brambles, tart cranberry, and a little bit of cinnamon.”
RIDGE VINEYARDS "Three Valleys", carignan / zinfandel / & friends, Sonoma County 2017
“Paul Draper became famous for putting an ingredients label on the back of his bottles; today, Ridge is the largest organic farmer in Sonoma County and Santa Cruz Mountains. They ferment with indigenous yeast and bottle without filtration. Sometimes they'll add a little bit of acid or water or fine with egg whites—they'll tell you on the bottle. It can be bought almost anywhere and style-wise is Old California enough to be a genuine crowd pleaser.”