Industry Corrections
A brewer, a winemaker, and a chef walk out of a bar
As I travel up and down the state, I meet plenty of people in food and beverage, front and back of house, brewers, distillers, other winemakers and bartenders. Many are my friends.
And you know what, winemakers, like me, are heavily scrutinized by critics, bloggers, influencers, fellow winemakers, and even customers about our winemaking practices.
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A shortlist of the things that I get questioned on:
Do I add nutrients, SO2, or yeast to my grape musts?
Do I fine and filter and with what?
Do I correct for acid imbalances?
Have I ever used Mega Purple?
What do I think about ingredient labeling? On and on.
Here’s what I don’t hear from inside the industry. Who gives the bartenders, chefs, brewmasters and distillers flak for their corrective measures? Sure, I know there are purists in every walk of the trade, but do I feel it more in the winemaking community because I’m a part of it?
Tell me I’m wrong!
Bartenders, chefs, beer community on Substack, when you get shade does it come from within the industry from fellow chefs or bartenders? I’d love to know.
I’m going to offer up three common examples where my colleagues in food and beverage are looked at positively for their additions/corrections and yet for winemakers it’s frowned upon somewhere and often called out as “industrial” or “un-natural”.
The Bartender
I was with a long-time bartender friend of mine, just talking shop one day while he was prepping for the night and I noticed that he added a white granular substance to his pineapple juice.
Immediately I asked, “Did you just make an acid addition?”
The response, “Yeah, we do it all the time. We adjust all of our juices, to get our acid and sweetness in line for the drink. Best to do it in advance than on-the-fly.”
My question back, “Does anyone ever ask if you’ve made an acid addition?”
His response, “Never comes up.”
Acid additions are made pre-service under the watchful eyes of the bartender and staff. There are no disclosures on the menu about acid additions and from his response, guests have never asked if they adjust their juices or anything else for that matter. Guests just want a great cocktail.
The Brewmaster
I’m with a distiller and brewmaster, we started talking agave spirits when the conversation led to beer, because that’s what we were drinking.
Brewmaster, “Yeah, we’ve gotten water samples from a brewery in Washington, just to check what’s in their water, just in case we want to make the same beer they’re making. We’ll just make an adjustment to our water here. You have to have all the equipment and know how to do it, but yeah, we’ve adjusted our water before.”
If a winemaker adds water from a garden hose to a high brix must during primary fermentation, that’s “cheating” to reduce the alcohol. I’m not adjusting for the magnesium or calcium, I’m just adding water to a wine that if I don’t add water, could come out at 16.5% alcohol with 5g/L of RS instead of closer to 15% and bone dry. I probably acid adjusted as well.
And yet again, the brewmaster gets a pass for adjusting the mineral content of water because they are making a homage aka copy of the original beer in a different state.
The Chef
Hanging with a chef buddy of mine recently, he and I were in San Francisco at the same time back in the late 90’s, he cooked at a lot of neighborhood Italian places in Russian Hill. He’s run several restaurants in California. The subject of sous vide and meat glue came up.
“Sous vide has always been in the program. But so has meat glue, agar agar…I’ve got all sorts of tricks I can use, plenty of chefs do. I always use meat glue on my roulade.”
Sous Vide, a temperature controlled water bath that uses a plastic bag for cooking. All good for the chef. Additionally, meat glue aka transglutaminase is an enzyme that binds protein molecules together also doesn’t seem to be an un-natural or interventionist issue and is likely used in a lot of Michelin starred restaurants. It’s part of the molecular gastronomy wing of the culinary arts.
But a Winemaker who uses enzymes to break down skins to get color in their Pinot? Bad, frowned upon. Adds nutrients for the yeast to eat? Horrible. Heresy in some corners of winemaking and the winemaking community.
Remember, new oak on wine…bad. Alder wood on salmon…good.
To Conclude
The next time an influencer, critic or Somm begins their lecture about “industrial” winemaking while you’re dining at a Michelin three-star whose chemical arsenal rivals a pharmaceutical laboratory or you’re headed to the latest craft cocktail bar, remember this, corrections, adjustments and additions are just as additive for the winemaker as they are for the bartender, brewmaster, and chef.
If you want transparency in winemaking, demand it from everything else on your table.
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This is really an accurate take
Well said, David. The Nattie wine critics are definitely predatory and care little for your logical arguments. As Dan Berger once told me, "I would agree with everything you just said except that then I would have no story."
I do believe we brought this on ourselves because instead of frank sharing of standard techniques and new technologies the way bartenders, brewers and TV chefs do, we claimed to "do the minimum." The Alice Feirings of the world saw the opportunity and went for the throat. If we want to break out, we have to start coming clean about how winemaking really is done.
There's no money in this business. Our honor is all we have. Yet we trade it away easily to please paparazzi that do not wish us well.
This too shall pass. While honesty will disqualify you from many of today's markets (I've given up entirely on New York City), there are still plenty of people that would rather enjoy a properly made wine from an honest practitioner. You just have to find them. As Paul McCartney put it (via Peter and Gordon), "I don't care what they say, I won't stay in a world without love."