![]() ![]() It is hard to pin down exactly when use started routinely but ancient Greeks certainly knew about sulphur dioxide's useful preservative and fumigant properties. It has also been used in winemaking for a long time. Sulphur dioxide (or SO2 for short) exists in nature and indeed is produced as a by-product of yeast fermentation at low levels. This is where the almost universal additive, sulphur dioxide comes in (sometimes described as sulphites because that is the predominant form found once it has been added to wine). First of all, in taming wild rambling tree-climbing vines into a vineyard that will give a crop, and then in stopping the fermentation process while wine is still wine, and keeping it there until it reaches the end consumer. However, wine as we know it is only an intermediate stage on the path to vinegar, and without human intervention, wine would not exist. (For more on this see my article on The Secrets of Fermentation.) Wine without humans would not exist! ![]() If you pick grapes and leave them in a container, they will ferment as there are so many microbes around. The other thing to consider in this debate is whether wine can ever be 'natural'. So much depends on the weather, disease pressure and problems with pests like birds or insects, and technology has done a huge amount to allow winemakers to make something drinkable and even enjoyable in less than ideal conditions. While winemakers would all love to be able to put grapes in a vat, let the fermentation get going and bottle the end results, grapes are a direct agricultural product and almost never arrive at the winery in perfect shape. Grapes almost never arrive at the winery in perfect shape Processing aids, which shouldn't remain in the finished wine, include isinglass (from fish swim bladders) albumin, casein, gelatine (from eggs, milk, animal carcasses) PVPP (Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone) and activated charcoal (all used to clarify and adjust colour) Potassium ferrocyanide (used to correct excess copper or iron in white and rosé) copper sulphate (to prevent reduction problems) lysozyme and pectolytic enzymes bentonite clay, plus yeast and yeast products. However, the full list of additives is too long to mention here but includes things like tartaric and citric acids, gum arabic, potassium sorbate, vitamin C, tannins, sugar (to boost alcohol), carboxymethyl cellulose (helps prevent crystals forming), dimethyl dicarbonate (used to kill microbes), those sulphites already mentioned, and concentrated grape extracts like the infamous Megapurple used to boost colour and mouthfeel. Wine can contain additives (look away now!!) One bizarre quirk of EU law is that wine is exempt from having to list ingredients on the label, apart from the recent requirement to declare certain potential allergens like sulphites if over 10mg/l or, since the 2012 vintage, eggs or milk products used for clarification if residues are over 0.25mg/l. It may also be a shock to realise quite how many permitted additives and processing aids can be involved in winemaking. He has been a trail-blazer for the pursuit of a more natural approach to winemaking. Gérard Gauby doing what comes naturally in the Roussillon. Some readers might recall the minefield of buying wine back in the 1970s and 1980s. However, there's no doubt that all this technology has made wine much more consistent and generally a reliably drinkable product. Shiny stainless steel, computer controls with banks of flashing lights, cross-flow filters, centrifuges and electrodialysis take the romance away from wine for many. Natural winemaking is a philosophy of low intervention, probably driven by reacting against what is seen by many as the industrialisation of wine. So really it's a self-proclaimed movement of winemakers who want to make wine without 'chemicals' or additives (personal hobby horse here - you often hear the word 'chemical' thrown around as signifying bad, but where would we be without chemicals like dihydrogen monoxide or good old H2O I wonder?). The first question is what 'natural' means when it comes to winemaking? Unlike terms such as 'organic' and 'biodynamic', there is no legal definition nor certifying standard. ![]()
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