WEBVTT
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So I had a meeting with a wine producer in California.
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They're like one of the largest volume producers in California.
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I think somewhere in the top 50 wineries here in California.
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And it's truly insane to see what products can be added to wine to either cut costs for wine or just additives to make the wine taste how they want it to taste, with the grapes not being exactly how they should be.
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So I really want to talk about some of the truly weird additives beyond, you know, all wine has your yeast additives, your sugar additives, maybe water.
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They'll add oak chips to the wine, maybe add uh acidify the wine or add tannin additives.
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But there's some kind of odd ones that make you scratch your head and go, really, what are we adding this to wine?
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Wine should just be fermented grape juice, but it can be really weird to see the stuff that's added.
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Yeah, and that just gets into like drink making as opposed to actually like wine-making.
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Yeah.
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That's pretty much pretty much all it is.
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Let's hear what are yeah, I'd be curious to see some of the uh the real weird ones.
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So, first off, and this has been a big discussion in uh US politics, not a big discussion in the wine world, not not anything else, but the ability you can add foreign wine to American-weighed wine.
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And that screwed over a lot of growers in the Central Valley.
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Yeah, exactly, because you can buy wine from a big some of the islands off Italy um have very big production in wine, and a lot of it is sold as bulk wine shipped here and and put into um and put into wines here and and slopped with the made in USA label, which makes it kind of crazy.
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I think they can and and don't quote me on this, but I I want to say it's like 15%, up to 15% of your wine can be from another country, and it would still technically be a American-made product.
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So yeah, a lot of producers, more often than not, larger companies for some of their cheaper skews, are going to get wine from Chile, they're gonna get wine um from some of those areas in Europe.
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Um and yeah, they're gonna blend it in and and really and it's also a weird tax thing, too.
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And and I wish I could remember exactly what the laws were for, but it's like they're they're getting it in um very cheaply because it's not technically classified as a certain type of alcohol product.
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It's it's basically like an in-out thing that somehow lowers their overhead.
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It's it's as much a tax loophole game as it is a cheap product game.
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And isn't it crazy that you can buy wine from halfway around the world and it's cheaper than growing it down the street.
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Yep.
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I find that kind of insane.
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So like and and it can even go, you can even look at it this way.
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Don't even look at foreign countries.
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But if you're a Napa Valley AVA winery, 15% of your grapes don't have to be from Napa to cut down your costs.
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So I I find that pretty interesting.
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But is what is funny is for a state like California to have California on the label, it has to 100% be from California, which is which is interesting.
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But for US wine, it it doesn't.
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So some of the weird ones, and I just have a little a little comment on each of these weird little ones, but you can add what I find odd is potassium sorbate.
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Potassium sorbate is a preservative, it's commonly used in food products, just so you know, so it prevents mold growth.
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But what's weird is alcohol is a natural preservative.
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And you're using sulfur.
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Yeah, so I find it odd that you're adding potassium sorbate to the already finished wine bottled, and then you're sending that out when alcohol should already act as the natural preservative.
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In in theory, um, and and this is this is mostly speculation.
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I had a very limited amount of time working in a cellar, and for the most part, they did everything above board.
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There is a lot of money invested at large companies on um wine chemistry.
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And so if they're and again, this is speculation because I'm I'm not a wine expert, nor am I a winemaker or a analogist, a chemist, but if they are needing to put these products uh as preservatives into wine, what exactly is going on during the vinification that is necessitating this, you know, what what type of cleanliness oversights are happening potentially in the lines that wine is traveling in, to the tanks they're stored in, to how they're bottled.
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Um it's it's it is it is perplexing.
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Yeah.
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And all these additives, I mean, this is a big reason why I'm a huge advocate for ingredient labels on wine and alcohol, because it's just more transparency on what the heck is in this bottle.
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Sure.
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So some other fun ones, gum Arabic.
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Does anyone know what that is?
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Couldn't tell you.
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Do you I know those two words?
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Do you put it in like yogurt or cream of tartar or something?
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Yeah.
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Or or juicy fruit.
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So it can be used in paints and cosmetics and food products as a thickening agent.
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And for wine, it can be used to help um for a smoother mouthfeel, from what I could find.
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Interesting.
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It's like adding a little bit of cornstarch to something, just give it a little thick.
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Yeah, and help smooth out the the aggressive tannins, I guess.
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Interesting.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Interesting.
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Um, egg whites, very common for removing haze particles in the wine, mainly.
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Very common.
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Almost all winers do it.
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Um, especially working with tannic varieties.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Um, there's also milk proteins that you can do use to remove hazes, wood proteins, and then there's one.
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Okay, this is a very long word.
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Polyvinyl polypripolidone.
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It's often just abbreviated PVPP.
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It's a plastic polymer protein that's also used to remove proteins.
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I did a few lines of that last night.
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Um, you can also add seaweed to remove color and hazes.
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I did not know that.
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You add um, oh sorry, go ahead.
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No, go for it.
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No, actually, and when when you're brewing beer, you'll add Irish moss towards the end of the boil to help like clarify it.
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Oh.
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Yeah, which is like seaweed.
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Yeah.
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Interesting.
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Um, gelatin, or as I like to call it, pig hoof.
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Yeah.
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Um yeah, I'm getting there.
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Icing glass.
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Icing glass fish bladder to remove off-color and hazes.
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Um, you can also add liquid oak extracts for flavorings.
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Yeah.
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So it's liquid smoke isn't on that list.
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They're 2020 bottling.
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Oh god.
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So a lot of, well, not I can't say a lot of producers, but some producers have started to instead of using oak chips, they're using um oak flavorings.
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Yep.
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Um, and and that's a big thing also in the wine industry is what's my next topic of artificial and natural flavorings.
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There should be like a cologne of perfume called Vintner's Reserve.
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Like, you know, it's it's oak, it's pretentious.
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It smells pretentious.
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You know, when you buy stuff from the store and you get that little white packet and it has those little those little plastic balls in the silica gel.
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Yeah, you can add those also to help clarify your wine.
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Okay.
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Which I didn't add about I didn't I needed more microplastics at the moment.
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Depending on how the producer farmed, also, you could get residual chemicals like Roundup or Forever Chemicals.
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Well, that's just crops in the US right now in general.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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And I mean that's that's why they have pre-harvest intervals in theory, because you could be applying something that is still, you know, present in the in the grape, and you know, that's going in your wine.
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Does anyone know what dimethyl dicarbonate is?
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No, it's also called velcrin.
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I wanted to use the fancy style of the word.
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It's not like it's poisonous for the first 24 hours.
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It is.
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It is it's a preservative and sterilizing agent.
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It's hazardous to work with, it can lead to skin, respiratory, and nervous system damage.
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So you need hazmat equipment to work with.
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So I I will say I've had the uh the pleasure of being on a few bottling lines, and um not once has I have I ever seen anyone wearing PPE in the application of Velcorin.
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Uh, it's it's a pretty benign uh process.
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Now the chemical could be incredibly dangerous, but it it all seemed to be handled very normally.
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Does anyone know what mega purple is?
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Oh yeah.
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Oh yeah, oh yeah.
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We love we love mega purple in this house.
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I can think of a producer that buys a lot of it.
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So with mega purple, what I didn't realize is it's 68% sugar.
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Really?
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Oh yeah.
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I didn't realize it.
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So that's a big reason why there's that residual sweetness to the wines with mega purple.
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Interesting.
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A coloring and sweetening agent.
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I only thought it was a coloring agent.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So uh the the I what I will say is uh yeah, we had the opportunity to use that for a product in the cellar.
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This was not here in Napa, um, when I worked in a winery, and it was for uh, you know, a supermarket shelf skew that they did.
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Not all their wines uh were like this, but they had a couple that they would do grape uh concentrate or mega purple, and yeah, it would just sit there and it would get dosed in um during uh God, I can't remember if it was during bottling or if it was at some point.
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But yeah, it's uh it came in a 300-gallon tote like you'd get fertilizer in and it just you'd hook it up to a hose and bing bang boom.
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Yeah, it's just it's just it's just crazy to me.
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And I mean, I'm I have one, I have a bottle of wine in front of me.
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I got it for 20 bucks at grocery outlet.
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It has an ingredient label on it, which I love.
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And the ingredients are hand-harvested grapes, indigenous yeast, natural occurring myolectic bacteria, oak from barrel aging, and minimum effective SO2.
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This is a$20 bottle.
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And I mean, yeah, you you can lie on ingredient labels.
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I mean, but there's I mean, you can.
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Especially when there's no regulation uh determined.
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But I mean, still, it's it's a$20 bottle, and it's still it doesn't have any direct, crazy additives that I can see.
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Well, which is which is nice to that's great.
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There's no excuse.
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This for sure, but what I will say, and then this is in no way a defense of um those kinds of practices, I'm just playing devil's advocate.
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You know, when you go into a McDonald's, no matter where you are in the world, you want that quarter pounder to taste like a quarter pounder.
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And so, you know, the average consumer wants consistency.
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And so if they go to the supermarket shelf and they reach for a bottle of you know, John Smith's uh blah blah blah Merlot, it doesn't really matter what year it is or how the growing conditions were, they want John Smith's Merlot.
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And so if you're if you can create a more consistent product year after year with the addition of these um additives, you know, you might get that sale.
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And I I completely agree, but I think with a large focus on younger consumers coming into the wine space is on the health and wellness idea of if you're thinking about wine and alcohol, what's in this bottle.
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And I and I think with the transparity and less additives, it it can be more appealing for a younger consumer.
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Because me, I'm 26.
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I'm I'm I don't want to drink these heavily additive wine.
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I mean, I don't drink a lot of alcohol in general, and that's common for a lot of people younger.
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They're not really drinking.
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And when they are, they're trading up.
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So for a lot of these brands that are in the price wars game, you're under 30 in US production, it can really help you stand out if you just go that little extra to show consumers, hey, we're better than the pe the the wine next to us because we we care and we have no additives.
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I have one last additive that I could find.
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Yeah, it's called manoproteins.
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Does anyone know what that is?
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I don't like the sound of that.
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So from what I could find.
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Lee's, right?
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No, go ahead.
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Yeah, it's a yeast sludge, is what I could find.
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It's a fermentation aid, it's extracted more during Lee's aging, but it can also be added to help with fermentation, which I thought was interesting.
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This is these are all the additives I could find when I'm looking up stuff online and talking to some people on what kind of additives there are.
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And when I talk to that wine producer, and just the amount of just vials of stuff in this blending room of chemicals and just additives and flavorings was just appalling to see that this isn't wine anymore.
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This isn't wine anymore.
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Cody, you said this before we started, but it's a it's a cocktail.
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Yeah, I and and what I will say is um while is is that ideal, is that what I would want in wine that I drink?
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No.
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But I do marvel at the I I I suppose from the the chemistry aspect of it, the the the things that get done um in an effort to create a consistent product.
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And um I I I I think to your guys' point, younger people are gonna want to know what's what's going on in that bottle.
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And if they see, you know, really more than three to five ingredients, that's that's a red flag.
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Yeah.
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So what's your favorite additive?
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Yeah, which your favorite?
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Next time I go to try and chat up a lady, like a little vodka in the in the in the wine helps boost the alcohol.
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Yeah.
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My favorite is what my grandma does when she opens her Trader Joe's bottle of Merlot.
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She takes um ice cubes?
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No, not ice cubes.
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It's the the club soda.
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Oh.
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And she'll add it to the wine.
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Interesting.
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I have uh a family member who and she's married to uh ex-vineyard manager, and she'll actually put wine in a microwave because it'll age it.
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Wow.
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Warm wine.
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Wow.
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It'll develop it pretty quickly, you know.
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Yeah, that's um, I've never heard of that.
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Yeah, that's a first for me.
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Uh Glukevine's really good.
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I like multiple names.
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So that's the thing I was just about to say is I do love a wine cocktail.
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Yeah.
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So if you, you know, um portent tonic too.
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Oh, yeah.
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Sign me up for that.
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A white sangria.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Um, there's some really fantastic things you can add in wine.
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So um I'm not saying, yeah, exactly.
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So during the vinification process, um, before it goes in a bottle, additives can sometimes be a scary word.
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Um and it doesn't necessarily mean something bad.
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There are things that get done to wine, and not just not just mega purple or oak chips, but there are things that are done to wine um that are in pursuit of making a better product.
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And that can be tartaric acid, you're acidulating it, trying to create better balance.
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Um and then there are things that are happening to wine that is that is it's not an additive, it's taking things out of wine.
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There are producers that are de-alkifying or de-alkalizing their wine, whether that be through reverse osmosis or some other fancy chemistry process that I'm not familiar with.
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Um, there are a lot of ways that wines that you love, you know, the royal you, the broader audience, even wine aficionados, you know, there are wines that they love that are maybe a little more manipulated than they might believe.
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Yeah.
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There's a difference between the art of wine making to get you that perfect wine and making a Frankenstein chemical concoction.
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And that that's what it is for me.
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A lot of these additives, it's fine.
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Egg white, fine, wood protein, seaweed, your pig hoof, your fish bladder.
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I mean, it's at the end of the day, it's fine.
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It's just funny and interesting to talk about.
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It's when you start adding these natural and artificial flavors, and when you start making this wine taste like something you want it to taste like.
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Like this one producer was telling me that they had analyzed the chemical breakdown of uh Opus I wines and were working to extract the flavors of what makes Opus One taste like it does, so they could add it to a cheaper wine.
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Wow.
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Interesting.
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Yeah.
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Wow.
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Good luck.
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Yeah, yeah.
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So I had a meeting with a wine producer in California.
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They're like one of the largest volume producers in California.
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I think somewhere in the top 50 wineries here in California.
00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:27.920
And it's truly insane to see what products can be added to wine to either cut costs for wine or just additives to make the wine taste how they want it to taste, with the grapes not being exactly how they should be.
00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:42.799
So I really want to talk about some of the truly weird additives beyond, you know, all wine has your yeast additives, your sugar additives, maybe water.
00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:49.840
They'll add oak chips to the wine, maybe add uh acidify the wine or add tannin additives.
00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:55.039
But there's some kind of odd ones that make you scratch your head and go, really, what are we adding this to wine?
00:00:55.200 --> 00:01:00.960
Wine should just be fermented grape juice, but it can be really weird to see the stuff that's added.
00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:04.480
Yeah, and that just gets into like drink making as opposed to actually like wine-making.
00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:05.040
Yeah.
00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:07.439
That's pretty much pretty much all it is.
00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:11.519
Let's hear what are yeah, I'd be curious to see some of the uh the real weird ones.
00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:27.920
So, first off, and this has been a big discussion in uh US politics, not a big discussion in the wine world, not not anything else, but the ability you can add foreign wine to American-weighed wine.
00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:30.000
And that screwed over a lot of growers in the Central Valley.
00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:51.920
Yeah, exactly, because you can buy wine from a big some of the islands off Italy um have very big production in wine, and a lot of it is sold as bulk wine shipped here and and put into um and put into wines here and and slopped with the made in USA label, which makes it kind of crazy.
00:01:52.239 --> 00:02:07.040
I think they can and and don't quote me on this, but I I want to say it's like 15%, up to 15% of your wine can be from another country, and it would still technically be a American-made product.
00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:21.759
So yeah, a lot of producers, more often than not, larger companies for some of their cheaper skews, are going to get wine from Chile, they're gonna get wine um from some of those areas in Europe.
00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:28.400
Um and yeah, they're gonna blend it in and and really and it's also a weird tax thing, too.
00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:43.520
And and I wish I could remember exactly what the laws were for, but it's like they're they're getting it in um very cheaply because it's not technically classified as a certain type of alcohol product.
00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:48.240
It's it's basically like an in-out thing that somehow lowers their overhead.
00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:51.599
It's it's as much a tax loophole game as it is a cheap product game.
00:02:51.840 --> 00:03:00.719
And isn't it crazy that you can buy wine from halfway around the world and it's cheaper than growing it down the street.
00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:01.120
Yep.
00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:02.080
I find that kind of insane.
00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:05.199
So like and and it can even go, you can even look at it this way.
00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:06.719
Don't even look at foreign countries.
00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:14.879
But if you're a Napa Valley AVA winery, 15% of your grapes don't have to be from Napa to cut down your costs.
00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:17.919
So I I find that pretty interesting.
00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:26.159
But is what is funny is for a state like California to have California on the label, it has to 100% be from California, which is which is interesting.
00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:28.479
But for US wine, it it doesn't.
00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:38.400
So some of the weird ones, and I just have a little a little comment on each of these weird little ones, but you can add what I find odd is potassium sorbate.
00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:43.520
Potassium sorbate is a preservative, it's commonly used in food products, just so you know, so it prevents mold growth.
00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:47.039
But what's weird is alcohol is a natural preservative.
00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:48.479
And you're using sulfur.
00:03:48.800 --> 00:04:00.159
Yeah, so I find it odd that you're adding potassium sorbate to the already finished wine bottled, and then you're sending that out when alcohol should already act as the natural preservative.
00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:05.199
In in theory, um, and and this is this is mostly speculation.
00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:11.120
I had a very limited amount of time working in a cellar, and for the most part, they did everything above board.
00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:18.480
There is a lot of money invested at large companies on um wine chemistry.
00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:52.160
And so if they're and again, this is speculation because I'm I'm not a wine expert, nor am I a winemaker or a analogist, a chemist, but if they are needing to put these products uh as preservatives into wine, what exactly is going on during the vinification that is necessitating this, you know, what what type of cleanliness oversights are happening potentially in the lines that wine is traveling in, to the tanks they're stored in, to how they're bottled.
00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:56.240
Um it's it's it is it is perplexing.
00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:56.720
Yeah.
00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:09.920
And all these additives, I mean, this is a big reason why I'm a huge advocate for ingredient labels on wine and alcohol, because it's just more transparency on what the heck is in this bottle.
00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:10.720
Sure.
00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:14.079
So some other fun ones, gum Arabic.
00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:16.240
Does anyone know what that is?
00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:17.839
Couldn't tell you.
00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:19.519
Do you I know those two words?
00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:22.480
Do you put it in like yogurt or cream of tartar or something?
00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:23.519
Yeah.
00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:26.160
Or or juicy fruit.
00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:32.079
So it can be used in paints and cosmetics and food products as a thickening agent.
00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:37.680
And for wine, it can be used to help um for a smoother mouthfeel, from what I could find.
00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:38.319
Interesting.
00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:41.839
It's like adding a little bit of cornstarch to something, just give it a little thick.
00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:46.000
Yeah, and help smooth out the the aggressive tannins, I guess.
00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:46.879
Interesting.
00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:47.360
Yeah, yeah.
00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:48.319
Interesting.
00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:54.399
Um, egg whites, very common for removing haze particles in the wine, mainly.
00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:55.279
Very common.
00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:56.879
Almost all winers do it.
00:05:57.040 --> 00:05:59.600
Um, especially working with tannic varieties.
00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:01.040
Yeah, exactly.
00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:08.319
Um, there's also milk proteins that you can do use to remove hazes, wood proteins, and then there's one.
00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:10.399
Okay, this is a very long word.
00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:14.560
Polyvinyl polypripolidone.
00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:17.680
It's often just abbreviated PVPP.
00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:21.360
It's a plastic polymer protein that's also used to remove proteins.
00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:23.279
I did a few lines of that last night.
00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:28.480
Um, you can also add seaweed to remove color and hazes.
00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:29.279
I did not know that.
00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:31.279
You add um, oh sorry, go ahead.
00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:31.920
No, go for it.
00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:37.199
No, actually, and when when you're brewing beer, you'll add Irish moss towards the end of the boil to help like clarify it.
00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:37.519
Oh.
00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:39.360
Yeah, which is like seaweed.
00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:39.680
Yeah.
00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:40.399
Interesting.
00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:43.519
Um, gelatin, or as I like to call it, pig hoof.
00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:44.000
Yeah.
00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:47.600
Um yeah, I'm getting there.
00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:49.040
Icing glass.
00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:54.639
Icing glass fish bladder to remove off-color and hazes.
00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:59.279
Um, you can also add liquid oak extracts for flavorings.
00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:00.399
Yeah.
00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:02.639
So it's liquid smoke isn't on that list.
00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:05.199
They're 2020 bottling.
00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:05.920
Oh god.
00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:15.439
So a lot of, well, not I can't say a lot of producers, but some producers have started to instead of using oak chips, they're using um oak flavorings.
00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:15.839
Yep.
00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:23.439
Um, and and that's a big thing also in the wine industry is what's my next topic of artificial and natural flavorings.
00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:27.120
There should be like a cologne of perfume called Vintner's Reserve.
00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:30.240
Like, you know, it's it's oak, it's pretentious.
00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:31.439
It smells pretentious.
00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:40.879
You know, when you buy stuff from the store and you get that little white packet and it has those little those little plastic balls in the silica gel.
00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:44.319
Yeah, you can add those also to help clarify your wine.
00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:44.720
Okay.
00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:49.040
Which I didn't add about I didn't I needed more microplastics at the moment.
00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:58.639
Depending on how the producer farmed, also, you could get residual chemicals like Roundup or Forever Chemicals.
00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:01.120
Well, that's just crops in the US right now in general.
00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:01.600
Yeah.
00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:02.319
Yeah.
00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:17.759
And I mean that's that's why they have pre-harvest intervals in theory, because you could be applying something that is still, you know, present in the in the grape, and you know, that's going in your wine.
00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:21.839
Does anyone know what dimethyl dicarbonate is?
00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:25.199
No, it's also called velcrin.
00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:29.680
I wanted to use the fancy style of the word.
00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:32.240
It's not like it's poisonous for the first 24 hours.
00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:33.039
It is.
00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:35.519
It is it's a preservative and sterilizing agent.
00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:40.799
It's hazardous to work with, it can lead to skin, respiratory, and nervous system damage.
00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:43.120
So you need hazmat equipment to work with.
00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:57.519
So I I will say I've had the uh the pleasure of being on a few bottling lines, and um not once has I have I ever seen anyone wearing PPE in the application of Velcorin.
00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:01.519
Uh, it's it's a pretty benign uh process.
00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:10.639
Now the chemical could be incredibly dangerous, but it it all seemed to be handled very normally.
00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:13.840
Does anyone know what mega purple is?
00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:14.559
Oh yeah.
00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:15.679
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:18.000
We love we love mega purple in this house.
00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:20.159
I can think of a producer that buys a lot of it.
00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:24.960
So with mega purple, what I didn't realize is it's 68% sugar.
00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:25.440
Really?
00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:26.080
Oh yeah.
00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:26.960
I didn't realize it.
00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:32.320
So that's a big reason why there's that residual sweetness to the wines with mega purple.
00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:33.039
Interesting.
00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:34.720
A coloring and sweetening agent.
00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:36.080
I only thought it was a coloring agent.
00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:36.720
Yeah, yeah.
00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:48.320
So uh the the I what I will say is uh yeah, we had the opportunity to use that for a product in the cellar.
00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:59.679
This was not here in Napa, um, when I worked in a winery, and it was for uh, you know, a supermarket shelf skew that they did.
00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:16.000
Not all their wines uh were like this, but they had a couple that they would do grape uh concentrate or mega purple, and yeah, it would just sit there and it would get dosed in um during uh God, I can't remember if it was during bottling or if it was at some point.
00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:24.879
But yeah, it's uh it came in a 300-gallon tote like you'd get fertilizer in and it just you'd hook it up to a hose and bing bang boom.
00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:27.519
Yeah, it's just it's just it's just crazy to me.
00:10:27.679 --> 00:10:31.440
And I mean, I'm I have one, I have a bottle of wine in front of me.
00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:33.759
I got it for 20 bucks at grocery outlet.
00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:35.679
It has an ingredient label on it, which I love.
00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:44.159
And the ingredients are hand-harvested grapes, indigenous yeast, natural occurring myolectic bacteria, oak from barrel aging, and minimum effective SO2.
00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:45.759
This is a$20 bottle.
00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:48.720
And I mean, yeah, you you can lie on ingredient labels.
00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:50.960
I mean, but there's I mean, you can.
00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:54.240
Especially when there's no regulation uh determined.
00:10:54.559 --> 00:11:02.960
But I mean, still, it's it's a$20 bottle, and it's still it doesn't have any direct, crazy additives that I can see.
00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:04.960
Well, which is which is nice to that's great.
00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:05.600
There's no excuse.
00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:15.200
This for sure, but what I will say, and then this is in no way a defense of um those kinds of practices, I'm just playing devil's advocate.
00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:22.720
You know, when you go into a McDonald's, no matter where you are in the world, you want that quarter pounder to taste like a quarter pounder.
00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:26.720
And so, you know, the average consumer wants consistency.
00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:41.360
And so if they go to the supermarket shelf and they reach for a bottle of you know, John Smith's uh blah blah blah Merlot, it doesn't really matter what year it is or how the growing conditions were, they want John Smith's Merlot.
00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:52.480
And so if you're if you can create a more consistent product year after year with the addition of these um additives, you know, you might get that sale.
00:11:52.799 --> 00:12:06.960
And I I completely agree, but I think with a large focus on younger consumers coming into the wine space is on the health and wellness idea of if you're thinking about wine and alcohol, what's in this bottle.
00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:12.879
And I and I think with the transparity and less additives, it it can be more appealing for a younger consumer.
00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:14.799
Because me, I'm 26.
00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:19.759
I'm I'm I don't want to drink these heavily additive wine.
00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:23.919
I mean, I don't drink a lot of alcohol in general, and that's common for a lot of people younger.
00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:24.879
They're not really drinking.
00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:26.799
And when they are, they're trading up.
00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:46.879
So for a lot of these brands that are in the price wars game, you're under 30 in US production, it can really help you stand out if you just go that little extra to show consumers, hey, we're better than the pe the the wine next to us because we we care and we have no additives.
00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:49.440
I have one last additive that I could find.
00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:51.919
Yeah, it's called manoproteins.
00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:54.399
Does anyone know what that is?
00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:55.440
I don't like the sound of that.
00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:56.639
So from what I could find.
00:12:57.360 --> 00:12:58.080
Lee's, right?
00:12:58.159 --> 00:12:58.639
No, go ahead.
00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:03.679
Yeah, it's a yeast sludge, is what I could find.
00:13:04.320 --> 00:13:14.639
It's a fermentation aid, it's extracted more during Lee's aging, but it can also be added to help with fermentation, which I thought was interesting.
00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:21.279
This is these are all the additives I could find when I'm looking up stuff online and talking to some people on what kind of additives there are.
00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:35.200
And when I talk to that wine producer, and just the amount of just vials of stuff in this blending room of chemicals and just additives and flavorings was just appalling to see that this isn't wine anymore.
00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:36.320
This isn't wine anymore.
00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:39.679
Cody, you said this before we started, but it's a it's a cocktail.
00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:50.080
Yeah, I and and what I will say is um while is is that ideal, is that what I would want in wine that I drink?
00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:50.559
No.
00:13:51.200 --> 00:14:04.799
But I do marvel at the I I I suppose from the the chemistry aspect of it, the the the things that get done um in an effort to create a consistent product.
00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:14.080
And um I I I I think to your guys' point, younger people are gonna want to know what's what's going on in that bottle.
00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:21.039
And if they see, you know, really more than three to five ingredients, that's that's a red flag.
00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:21.519
Yeah.
00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:25.840
So what's your favorite additive?
00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:27.120
Yeah, which your favorite?
00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:34.720
Next time I go to try and chat up a lady, like a little vodka in the in the in the wine helps boost the alcohol.
00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:35.200
Yeah.
00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:40.240
My favorite is what my grandma does when she opens her Trader Joe's bottle of Merlot.
00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:42.080
She takes um ice cubes?
00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:43.600
No, not ice cubes.
00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:46.480
It's the the club soda.
00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:46.799
Oh.
00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:48.879
And she'll add it to the wine.
00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:49.759
Interesting.
00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:58.159
I have uh a family member who and she's married to uh ex-vineyard manager, and she'll actually put wine in a microwave because it'll age it.
00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:00.320
Wow.
00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:01.440
Warm wine.
00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:02.000
Wow.
00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:03.679
It'll develop it pretty quickly, you know.
00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:06.879
Yeah, that's um, I've never heard of that.
00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:08.080
Yeah, that's a first for me.
00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:09.600
Uh Glukevine's really good.
00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:10.799
I like multiple names.
00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:14.799
So that's the thing I was just about to say is I do love a wine cocktail.
00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:15.039
Yeah.
00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:18.080
So if you, you know, um portent tonic too.
00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:18.559
Oh, yeah.
00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:19.360
Sign me up for that.
00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:20.480
A white sangria.
00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:21.120
Yeah, yeah.
00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:23.840
Um, there's some really fantastic things you can add in wine.
00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:27.200
So um I'm not saying, yeah, exactly.
00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:35.200
So during the vinification process, um, before it goes in a bottle, additives can sometimes be a scary word.
00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:39.440
Um and it doesn't necessarily mean something bad.
00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:52.639
There are things that get done to wine, and not just not just mega purple or oak chips, but there are things that are done to wine um that are in pursuit of making a better product.
00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:58.320
And that can be tartaric acid, you're acidulating it, trying to create better balance.
00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:07.440
Um and then there are things that are happening to wine that is that is it's not an additive, it's taking things out of wine.
00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:18.000
There are producers that are de-alkifying or de-alkalizing their wine, whether that be through reverse osmosis or some other fancy chemistry process that I'm not familiar with.
00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:34.879
Um, there are a lot of ways that wines that you love, you know, the royal you, the broader audience, even wine aficionados, you know, there are wines that they love that are maybe a little more manipulated than they might believe.
00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:35.360
Yeah.
00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:43.759
There's a difference between the art of wine making to get you that perfect wine and making a Frankenstein chemical concoction.
00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:45.120
And that that's what it is for me.
00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:46.960
A lot of these additives, it's fine.
00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:51.919
Egg white, fine, wood protein, seaweed, your pig hoof, your fish bladder.
00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:53.440
I mean, it's at the end of the day, it's fine.
00:16:53.519 --> 00:16:55.600
It's just funny and interesting to talk about.
00:16:55.759 --> 00:17:05.599
It's when you start adding these natural and artificial flavors, and when you start making this wine taste like something you want it to taste like.
00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:22.880
Like this one producer was telling me that they had analyzed the chemical breakdown of uh Opus I wines and were working to extract the flavors of what makes Opus One taste like it does, so they could add it to a cheaper wine.
00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:23.680
Wow.
00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:24.720
Interesting.
00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:25.119
Yeah.
00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:25.519
Wow.
00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:26.240
Good luck.
00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:27.359
Yeah, yeah.
