From grape to glass: Uncovering the conventional winemaking process

It’s a Friday night. I finished all of my classes and work for the week. I’m ready to relax and uncork a bottle of wine. I journey to the giant alcohol section at my local Kroger, searching for the perfect bottle. I see signage designating sections of reds, whites, Merlot, Zinfandel, and Sauvignon blanc. The options are overwhelming for someone who turned 21 a mere one year ago. With sparse labeling, I am left to my own devices when figuring out what’s in each bottle. I could try something new, but the $3 bottle of Bay Bridge Moscato is just too tempting.

As a college student on a budget, I initially saw no problems with a $3 bottle of mass-produced wine. I can make any wine feel fancy by drinking it out of my hand-painted wine glass. However, I began to wonder how Bay Bridge can make their wines so cheaply. What was in the wine I regularly consume, and was there a whole other world of better-produced wines that I was missing? As it turns out, I was missing out on one of the largest trends in the wine industry today: organic, biodynamic, and natural wines. Each category signifies a different process for making wine, but all of them involve less chemicals in winegrowing and making.

As technology advanced, conventional winemaking transformed into a science. Some of your favorite wines probably don’t come from oak barrels, but stainless steel vats where various chemicals are added to create the same-tasting wine, every time. Some winemakers like this process. They say it pleases customers who value consistency and wine critics who can make or break a winery’s reputation. However, this science-driven process has its critics as well, mostly winemakers committed to the natural and organic winemaking process. Many of them believe the natural way is the only way to make and enjoy wine. No matter what kind of wine you consume, the labeling on the bottle can be misleading, as conventional wine producers provide little information about their winemaking process. The lack of information leaves wine drinkers in the dark about what they are actually uncorking and ultimately works to the benefit of wine producers.

***

To understand the growing popularity with organic, biodynamic and natural wines, you first need some background on the conventional winemaking process. Lucky for me, a novice wine drinker, there are helpful articles that taught me the process. An article from Wine Folly, a wine appreciation blog, describes winemaking in five steps: pick the grapes, crush the grapes, ferment the grapes into wine, age the wine, and bottle the wine.

For the first step, the grapes are either hand-picked or removed by a machine, with the stems still intact (Wine Folly). Farmers working in natural wine often hand pick their grapes. For non-organic wines, the grapes can be treated with a variety of pesticides or herbicides prior to being harvested. The grapes can also come from several different farms thousands of miles away. Machines handle much of the work in the second step, destemming and crushing the grapes. Red grapes are lightly crushed and go straight into a vat to begin fermentation along with the grape skin (Wine Folly). The grape skin gives red wine its red color. White grapes go through a filtration process that removes sediment, or pomace before fermentation starts (Wine Folly). With the skins removed, the white wine keeps its white color.

Science and technology play a key role in the fermentation step for mass-produced wines. The winemaker adds yeast to the vats of grape juice, which turns the sugar into alcohol (Wine Folly). To age the wine, a conventional winemaker will most likely use tannin powder and oak chips to mimic the aging effects of oak barrels. There are many wine additives used by conventional winemakers, the most common being sulfites. Sulfites remove undesirable yeasts and bacteria from the wine (Wine Folly). Additives are then needed to stabilize mass-produced wine. The winemaker adds various chemicals to create wine with the desired taste, smell, and color. Every bottle will be identical. American journalist Rachel Signer went on a tour of a mass-produced wine factory and wrote about her findings in an article for the website VinePair. She was shocked to learn that the factory churned out about 137,000 bottles per day, while some European winemakers produced around 60,000 bottles per year (Signer). Signer was also surprised that the conventional winemaking factory resembled more of a laboratory, with the staff wearing bright green lab coats (Signer).

The label on your favorite wine can be as deceptive as the conventional winemaking process.  Many wine labels show pictures of sprawling vineyards and oak barrels in a wine cellar. Despite these labels, the cheap wine that you pick up at Kroger after a long week of work most likely came from a facility looking more like what Signer observed. The misleading labeling can be confusing for consumers, many of whom already have little knowledge of where wine comes from.

Additionally wine, like other alcohol, is not required to have a label listing the nutrition facts. Winemakers are only required to reveal the alcohol content in their wine and disclose whether it contains sulfites or additives that give the wine color. This lack of labeling further leaves consumers in the dark on what they are actually drinking. In an article about the lack of nutrition labeling on wine, Vox writer Joseph Stromberg found that the average American who regularly drinks alcohol consumes 400 calories from alcohol every day. This calorie information is accessible to consumers, however, attaining it means doing a bit of research and going onto the wine company’s website. In an article published in Smithsonian Magazine, journalist Bianca Bosker uncovered the true winemaking process behind some of consumers’ favorite wines. “I find it outrageous that most people don’t realize that their fancy Cabernet Sauvignon has actually been treated with all kinds of chemicals,” (Panko). To some in the wine community, advances in technology have made the winemaking process easier, faster, and given consumers the taste they want in every bottle. However, for those diving deep into the process, like Bosker, the changes can be frustrating and stray away from what wine is really supposed to be.

I’m hoping to uncover more about the conventional winemaking process after I talk to Laura Cleary, the vineyard manager at Oliver Winery next week. She’s going to give me a tour of Oliver’s vineyard as well. Laura worked in organic and biodynamic wines prior to her job at Oliver, so she should have some interesting background information.

***

Prior to my initial winemaking research, I assumed wine was supposed to taste the same every time and season. However, wine, like other fruits and vegetables, can taste different depending on the season, the harvest time, the grapes’ region and many other factors. The natural wine movement embraces the inherent differences in every bottle of wine. Hannah Selinger explores the differences in natural, organic, and biodynamic wine in an article for Wine Enthusiast Magazine. Natural wine, as defined by Selinger, is wine fermented spontaneously with native yeast containing very small amounts of added sulfites. Natural wine calls for as little intervention on the winemaker’s part as possible. Conventional winemaking requires more involvement, as the winemaker adds chemicals, sulfites, coloring and other additives to the wine. Many wine enthusiasts believe that the low-intervention process of natural winemaking is how wine is meant to be created. A 2001 New York Times article captured the debate about natural vs. conventional wines. In the article, professor of viticulture and enology Roger B. Boulton commented, “Anytime I taste a wine that has nothing distinctive about the place or the climate, I call that deception,” (Feiring). In addition to a more natural taste, natural wine is also better for the environment (Selinger). The grapes for natural wine are not treated with harmful pesticides and herbicides. Supporters of natural wine also claim it is better for the land, as the grapes are grown not for quantity but with quality in mind and an appreciation for the soil.

The natural winegrowing process intersects with organic and biodynamic wine processes. Organic wine comes from USDA certified organic grapes with no pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. There is also a limit to the amount of sulfites in the wine. Additionally, the wine must be bottled in an organic facility. The requirements can be daunting for small family wineries, and the certification process can be expensive. The same goes for biodynamic wines. Biodynamic winegrowing involves no chemicals and a holistic view of the farm ecosystem. The biodynamic farmer organizes days by fruit days for harvesting grapes, root days to prune, leaf days to water, and flower days where the vineyard is left alone (Selinger). Organizations like Demeter Association Inc. offer a certification for biodynamic wines. Biodynamic wines are often also organic, so they may have the USDA certified organic label as well. I’m planning to ask Laura more about biodynamic wineries during my meeting with her Tuesday afternoon.

Natural, organic and biodynamic wines are slowly becoming more popular in the United States. Restaurant chefs often form connections with natural winemakers and Kourtney Kardashian recently published an article on natural wine on her lifestyle blog Poosh. However, with all of the benefits involved with natural, organic and biodynamic wines, why are more Americans not uncorking these bottles? One reason could be continued misconceptions regarding organic and natural wine. When it was first introduced, organic wine simply did not taste as good, turning many consumers away from it. Natural wine faced consumer rejection as well, as it often appears cloudy and contains some sediment due to the less-involved winemaking process. The cloudiness can lead consumers to believe that the wine is not “clean,” even though natural wine is treated with far less chemicals than conventional. The growing popularity of organics has increased demand for alternatives to conventional wine. Natural, organic, and biodynamic winemakers have also refined their winemaking processes over the years. While these alternatives may never rise to meet the demand of American wine drinkers, they can provide a good option for those seeking wine the way it is meant to taste.

***

After diving into the world of natural, organic, and biodynamic wines, I embarked on a mission to explore the wine alternatives available to me in Bloomington, Indiana. I first journeyed to my local Kroger, sure that the huge alcohol section would have some alternatives to conventional wine. I looked through the aisles for twenty minutes and came up empty. A quick search on the Kroger website showed that the supermarket only sold five different bottles of organic wine, and I could not find any natural wines. Undeterred, I drove to Fresh Thyme, a grocery store focusing on organic and natural products. Again, I could not find anything. Even the organic wine section was slim, with some popular conventional wine brands like Barefoot mixed in with the few organic selections.

Upon further reflection, my search was disappointing but ultimately not surprising. I live in a small college town in the Midwest, where there may not be as much demand for alternatives to mass-produced wine. It can also be difficult to find natural wine in the first place. There is no official certification for natural wine and the wine community still argues over its exact definition. Even with the roadblocks I encountered, there are still ways the average consumer can learn more about the wine they drink and try organic, biodynamic, and natural wines. Upscale restaurants are generally good places to try a glass of natural wine. Ask the waiter if the restaurant offers any natural, organic or biodynamic wine selections. If you find that you enjoy the wine, you can subscribe to natural wine clubs or wine groups like the California Wine Club, who share small-batch wines from artisan wineries.

As a college student on a budget, I understand that these options are not accessible to all. I would recommend educating yourself about the wine you drink and where it comes from. Websites like True Wine publish lists of mass-produced wines, so you can determine if the labeling on your bottle is deceptive. After a lot of Googling, I found very little information on my go-to $3 bottle of Bay Bridge Moscato. I did discover that it is produced by wine conglomerate The Wine Group LLC, who also produces wine under brand names like Franzia and Cupcake Wines. My cheap wine was likely not coming from the rolling vineyards in northern California I pictured every time I picked up the bottle. Although I wish there was more information available to consumers online, the lack of information said enough about this wine for me. The next time I head over to the grocery store after a long week, I will search for wine produced by local businesses or wines with the USDA organic label.

Wine is more than adult fruit juice. It is reflective of the climate, culture, and labor of different regions around the world. We all play a part in the wine industry and can call for wine that is better for the environment, better labeling on bottles, and increased selections of wines throughout the U.S. The wine industry, like most, listens to consumers’ selections and can drastically change based on our demands. Step out of your comfort zone and try a glass of organic, natural, or biodynamic wine. Buying one bottle can open your eyes to a whole new world of wine, and you may even find that you enjoy it more than your favorite cheap bottle.

References

Feiring, A. (2001, August 26). Business; for better or worse, winemakers go high tech. The New York Times. Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/26/business/business-for-better-or-worse-winemakers-go-high-tech.html?searchResultPosition=6.

Panko, B. (2017, April 4). The science behind your cheap wine. Smithsonian.com. Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/science-behind-your-cheap-wine-180962783/.

Selinger, H. (2021, February 9). What’s the difference between organic and biodynamic wine? Wine Enthusiast. Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://www.winemag.com/2019/09/10/whats-the-difference-between-organic-and-biodynamic-wine/.

Signer, R. (2016, June 9). Go inside a factory that churns out 50 million bottles of wine every year. VinePair. Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/heres-what-its-like-inside-the-factory-where-cheap-bulk-wine-is-made/.

True Wine. (2019, November 19). List of mass produced wines. True Wine. Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://truewine.io/list-of-mass-produced-wines/.