There’s recently been a bit of a fuss about some proposed changes to wine labeling in this country. That discussion at the very least raises the issue that most consumers have no idea what is both commonly, and also occasionally, done to their wine during winemaking, and what ends up in the bottle.

Careful. Don’t freak out. This is not an alarmist rant, nor should you turn it into one. Many of these things have been done to wine for centuries. It’s good for you to know however, what is allowed.

According to a report by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, the following additives, treatments and processes are currently allowed in the United States and my understanding of what each is used for:

ALLOWED DURING FERMENTATION AND IN FINISHED/AGING WINE:

• Malic acid — added to boost acidity of wine.
• Tartaric acid — added to boost acidity of wine.
• Silicon dioxide — used to filter and fine wine.
• Edible gelatin — used to clarify and fine wine (remove sediments).
• Gum arabic — used to clarify wine (remove sediments). Up to .24 grams per liter can be used for treatment.
• Aluminum silicates (bentonite or kaolin) — used to clarify/fine wine.
• Miscellaneous filtration substances (diatomaceous earth, cellulose, etc.) — used to filter wine.
• Polyvinyl-polypyr-rolidone — used to modify color of wine, reduce tannins. Up to 7.19 grams per liter allowed for treatment.
• Activated charcoal — used to filter wine and improve color. Up to 3 grams per liter allowed for treatment.
• Water / H20 — used to reduce alcohol levels, reduce acidity. Up to 35% of total volume. Not allowed in California.
• Concentrated grape must — used to improve body, flavor, color.
• Saccharose — used to increase sugar levels of wine. Not allowed in California.
• Distilled alcohol — used to fortify alcohol levels in wine.
• Oxygen — used to improve texture, tannin development.
• Cellulase — enzyme that assists in the hydrolization of cellulose, a key process in fermentation.
• Protease — enzyme that kills some bacterial agents and makes wine less heat-sensitive and less likely to throw sediment.
• Betaglucanase — enzyme used to reduce sediments.
• Pectolytics - — enzymes that assist in the hydrolization / breakdown of pectin into pectic acid and methanol during fermentation which tends to clarify the wine.
• Yeast — required agent of the fermentation process, converts sugar from grapes into alcohol and lots of tasty flavors.
• Yeast cell walls — bits of yeast cells that absorb anthocyanins (bitter tasting compounds) during red wine production and make the wine smoother.
• Lysosome — I have no idea what this is used for.
• Ascorbic acid –preservative, anti-bacterial agent.

ALLOWED IN FINISHED / AGING WINE ONLY

• Fumaric acid (3 grams per liter, max) — used to boost acidity of wine.
• Lactic acid — used to boost acidity of wine, improve texture.
• Potassium caseinate — used to clarify wine / remove sediment.
• Casein — used to clarify wine / remove sediment.
• Isinglass — a fish product used to clarify wine / remove sediment.
• Milk/lactalbumin — used to clarify wine / remove sediment.
• Ovalbumin (egg whites) — used to clarify wine / remove sediment.
• Ferrous sulfate — used to clarify wine. 0.0222 grams per liter allowed in finished wine.
• Lactic bacteria — used to reduce the acidity of wine.
• Potassium carbonate — used to reduce the acidity of wine down to acid levels of 5 grams per liter only.
• Potassium bicarbonate — used to reduce the acidity of wine.
• Calcium carbonate — used to reduce the acidity of wine down to acid levels of 5 grams per liter only.
• Copper sulfate — used to suppress bacterial growth, eliminate off odors. 6 mg per liter allowed for treatment. .5mg per liter allowed in finished wine.
• Oak chips — used to improve wine flavor.
• Acetaldehyde — inhibits microbial growth and stabilizes the color of wine. Up to 300 parts per million used in treatment. up to .5mg per liter allowed in finished wine.
• Granular cork — used to smooth the texture of wines. Up to 1.2 grams per liter may be used for treatment.
• Catalase — enzyme that counters bacterial agents in wine.
• Glucose oxidase — enzyme used to keep color of white wine stable with age.
• Urease — enzyme used to reduce sediments in wine.
• Thiamine hydrochloride — (aka Vitamin B) food for yeast that is used to help finish fermentation.
• Soy flour — food for yeast to increase and encourage secondary fermentation.
• Ammonium phosphate — assists in fermentation, can help accelerate or “un-stuck” fermentation.
• Diammonium phosphate — assists in fermentation, can help accelerate or “un-stuck” fermentation.
• Sorbic acid — preservative.
• Sulfur dioxide — preservative, anti-bacterial agent.
• Nitrogen — preservative.
• Dimethyl dicarbonate — preservative.
• Carbon dioxide — used to create sparkling wines.
• Potassium metabisulphite — bacterial inhibitor and preservative.
• Potassium sorbate — bacterial inhibitor and preservative used in conjunction with potassium and copper sulfites.
• Ferrocyanide compounds — used in clarifying/fining wines. Only allowed at 1 part per million in finished wine.
• Citric acid — occasionally used to increase acid levels of white wines. Allowed use of .7 grams per liter.
• Potassium bitartrate — stabilizer, prevents sedimentation.
• Fruit concentrate of same grape variety — used to improve color and flavor.

ALLOWED PHYSICAL PROCESSING

• Centrifuging — used for various reasons, but commonly to remove yeast from wine before the completion of fermentation.
• Micro, Nano filtration — removal of sediment from wine.
• Reverse Osmosis — used to reduce alcohol levels.
• Evaporation — allowed during fermentation process only.
• Thermal treatment — aids in color extraction.
• Electrodialysis — a way of preventing tartrate based sedimentation in wines.
• Ion Exchange Resin — a way of preventing tartrate based sedimentation in wines.
• Spinning Cone treatment — used to reduce alcohol levels.
• Thermal gradient processing — used to fine tune alcohol levels.
• Thin film evaporation under reduced pressure — used to fine tune alcohol levels.
• Metal/sulfide reducing matrix sheet — I have no idea what this is used for.

One of the interesting aspects of this report is that it compares what is allowed under the laws of the United States, the European Union, Switzerland, and the OIVs own guidelines. Lots of people like to think that American is wildly lenient and unregulated when it comes to additives and processing in wine, but this report makes it clear that is not the case. Most of this stuff, with a few notable exceptions is perfectly legal in France and Italy as well — two places that are often held up as bastions of “traditional” winemaking practices. Of course, these are just regulations about what is allowed under law, we don’t know what is actually used.

Which brings me to the “so what” of this list. It’s clear that we need a combination of better consumer education and better labeling laws so that people can fully understand what has been used to make their wine, and what is actually in the wine bottle that they pull off the shelf.

Not being a professional winemaker, this list also makes me wonder what is the absolute minimum amount of these additives or materials that needs to be used in winemaking. Is it possible to make a wine with none of the above?

Thanks to Alfonso, who runs the blog On The Wine Trail in Italy, for sending me the link. Now excuse me while I go figure out how to add diammonium phosphate as a descriptor in my tasting notes.

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These days, California wine country evokes names like Napa, Sonoma, Santa Barbara. But if you arrived in San Francisco on a steamship in 1890, stepped out on the dock and asked anyone directions to wine country, they would have told you to get back on another boat and head across the Bay to the country’s largest wine region, The Livermore Valley.

It comes as a surprise to many people that Livermore, now well known for its government research labs and astronomically high population of PhD’s per capita, was once one of the most well known winegrowing areas in America. It’s hard to look through the suburban sprawl and golden hillsides, but perhaps with the help of a movie special effects artist, we could wipe this river delta region clear with a single swipe of a gigantic broom and fly over it with a bird’s eye view. From the vantage of this view, to which we’d have to add a little geologic X-Ray vision, just because we could, we would see a vast drainage of ancient streams broken up by rolling hills covered evenly in the stony, gravel-based soils which early French viticultural pioneers would compare favorably to Bordeaux’s Graves district.

This geologic similarity invariably led to the planting of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc, which was easily sold in large quantities to the booming population of nearby San Francisco. Throughout the 1870’s and 1880’s, the region blossomed with scores of wine producers, and the wine industry matured just in time to be crushed, like all the other wine regions in California, under the boot heel of Prohibition.

While the much more nascent regions of Napa and Sonoma seemed to recover a bit after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Livermore simply faded into memory, only to be gradually revived in the latter half of the century by a select few winegrowers interested in reclaiming some of the region’s potential.

Today, amidst the sprawl and golf courses, Livermore Valley now plays host to nearly thirty wineries, and has become the secret weapon of several other wineries around the state (who secretly source grapes from the region in amounts that don’t require them to disclose it on the label).

Tamas Estates was founded in 1984 by Ivan Tamas Fuezy, a Hungarian dissident who found early work in the wineries of California, and Steve Mirassou. Mirassou, a man whose family was actually one of the early producers in the region nearly a hundred years earlier, is one of the most influential figures in the renaissance of Livermore Valley as a wine producing region.

One of the old guard of Livermore wineries, the estate built a reputation for producing Italian varietals through the 1990s, and when the winery was finally purchased by Wente Family Estates in 2001, the parent company decided to retain and build on that focus.

Winemaking at Tamas is done under the direction of Bay Area native Chris Graves, a UC Davis educated enologist, who joined the operation in 2005 after two years working for Wente.

One of the nice things about Chris’ winemaking regimen is the restrained use of new oak for the red wines. The winery, which produces around 60,000 cases annually, uses only estate grown fruit, including Pinot Grigio from its vineyards in Monterey.

Full disclosure: I received these wines as press samples.

TASTING NOTES:

2005 Tamas Estates Pinot Grigio, Monterey
near colorless with a light blonde tinge to it, this wine has a nose of slightly yeasty aromas with a bit of fruit aroma that approximates Juicyfruit gum. in the mouth it is bright and mineral with excellent acidity and primary flavors of pear and citrus zest. The wine has just the barest tingly hint of effervescence to it, and finishes clean and refreshing. 8.5/9. Cost: $9. Where to Buy?

2004 Tamas Estates Sangiovese, San Francisco Bay/Livermore
Light blood red in the glass, this wine has a pleasant nose of cherry, cedar, and a bit of tobacco aroma. In the mouth it is solidly cherry, with a core of fruit surrounded by notes of cinnamon and incense and barely perceptible tannins. Though the wine lacks profundity, it’s clear that whoever grew these grapes knew how to take care of Sangiovese better than most, which has yielded an altogether pleasant wine that has true varietal character, which is rare in many other California renditions of the variety. 8.5. Cost: $10. Where to Buy?

2004 Tamas Estates Barbera, San Francisco Bay/Livermore
Medium purple in color, this wine has an intense nose of cassis, wet earth, and black cherry fruit aromas that veer toward the floral when the wine first comes out of the bottle. In the mouth the wine offers smooth tannins and good acidity supporting flavors of tart red cherry and ripe black cherry that are full and robust at the front of the palate, but fade to quickly, leaving the wine feeling a bit thin on the palate. Nonetheless, this is a very drinkable wine that many will enjoy. Contains 20% Merlot. 8.5. Cost: $10. Where to Buy?

2004 Tamas Estates Zinfandel, San Francisco Bay/Livermore
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of cassis and blackberry aromas. In the mouth it offers polished flavors of blackberry and other blue fruits, made bright with good acidity, but is missing a depth that would help the wine become more than just a simple expression of fruit. 8/8.5. Cost: $10. Where to Buy?

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There are an endless number of formative wine experiences to provide enthusiastic wine lovers with memorable introductions to new levels of wine appreciation or knowledge. These moments, which are so easily to forget in a lifetime of serious wine drinking, should definitely be cherished in the same way we might hang onto the infant drawings of our children.

Most wine lovers don’t remember their first taste of Cabernet or Merlot. These early introductions to different varietals are best forgotten anyway, coming as they often do in bottles that could charitably be called “value priced.” There is one type of wine, however, whose first draughts never amount to swallows of Lethe.

Almost everyone who pays attention to wine remembers their first Sauternes.

Like so many of my early wine experiences, there wasn’t anything wholly remarkable about my first experience with this white dessert wine from Bordeaux. I went out and bought some because no one else was going to buy it for me, and after reading about it, and hearing the way that some more wine savvy friends talked about it in hushed, reverent tones, I needed to see what all the fuss was about.

Sauternes is one of the wine world’s more fascinating and enigmatic wines. The sub-appellation of Bordeaux for which it is named is unique in the word for its centuries long (Thomas Jefferson was an avid fan of the region’s wine) production of only a single sweet white wine made from Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and occasionally a smidgen of Muscadelle grapes. More compelling to me in my early career as a wine lover, however, was the circumstances and nature of Sauternes’ production. It was the first wine I had heard of (and indeed, the first wine I ever tried) that was made from grapes afflicted with Botrytis cinerea, or Noble Rot.

The idea of a wine so difficult to make that in some years it is not even produced — requiring the persistent and not always present successive alternation of thick mists and then sunshine in the vineyard — continues to be a romantic draw for many wine lovers even today.

The mysterious circumstance of its production, the very small quantities produced, and the flavor of the wine itself made my own curious first taste of the wine an indelible memory, as it no doubt did for many other wine lovers.

Sauternes roughly 4200 acres (and the 1300 or so acres of its co-appellation, Barsac) are tucked into the Graves district in the southernmost part of Bordeaux. Wines made in both appellations can be sold as Sauternes, which is the typical approach taken by the modest number of producers in the region who continue to brave the difficulty of producing these wines year after year.

Among these producers there are a few that have been doing it for much longer than most. Most everyone who has heard of Sauternes has heard of Chateau d’Yquem, which is nearly synonymous with the region. Less well known, but no less ancient and prestigious is the property of Chateau Climens.

The Climens estate has been making wines in Sauternes long enough to have made dry red wines in the region at one time, an accomplishment which means that the name of the Chateau was appearing on bottles by the early 17th century. Passing through several hands as the years went by, the estate was classified as a Premier Cru in the famous 1855 Classification which codified the pecking order of the Medoc wines, and finally landed in the hands of the Lurton family in 1971, which continues to manage it today with the guiding hand of Bérénice Lurton who assumed control of the estate in 1992.

Chateau Climens makes approximately 3000 cases of wine each year (though it can sometimes be much less than that, or even none, if things are particularly bad). The estate farms approximately 60 acres of land in the Barsac appellation, planted entirely with Semillon of which the average vine age is approximately 35 years. Climens boasts the highest elevation in the region, a mere 60 feet above sea level, and excellent, well draining soils. Like other meticulous producers in the region, the estate harvests its grapes in many successive passes through the vineyard, waiting for each bunch of grapes to reach an optimal state of rot and desiccation and carefully avoiding those clusters that succumb to merely ruinous grey rot.

These delicately hand-harvested bunches are ever-so-gently pressed to yield their miniscule amount of juice, which ferments slowly with native yeasts in separate lots corresponding to different vineyard blocks. The wine is aged in French oak, of which only about 60% is new each year. This relatively low percentage of new oak is one of the distinctive features of Climens Sauternes, which along with their typically higher acidity levels than other producers make them my favorite producer in the region.

In addition to their main wine, Climens also produces a second-tier wine by the name of Cyprès de Climens.

Tasting Notes:
This wine is bright orange-gold in the glass, and when swirled wafts rich aromas of honey, Ranier cherries, and the freshness of spring rain to the nose. Words like heady and rich don’t begin to describe the smell — if it weren’t such a strange oxymoron, the word intoxicating would be perfect to describe the olfactory pleasure. In the mouth the wine sings with a pure resonant flavor that is suspended between perfectly balanced sugar and acidity. It’s not going too far to call this wine “liquid sex on the tongue” as it lounges in its satin nightgown for minutes and minutes on the palate with flavors of jasmine flowers and sugarcane juice, then orange blossoms, eventually migrating towards something that words aren’t really good at capturing. Everyone with experience has a benchmark for what Sauternes really should taste like, and this is now mine.

Food Pairing:
With dessert wines this good, I never like to pair them with anything. They deserve to be sipped on their own. But if you had to match it with something, I’d suggest a goat cheese soufflé.

Overall Score: 10

How Much?: $110 - $180 at auction.

This wine is available for purchase on the internet.

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