My Black is NOT Cracking.

I was trying to decide what my first blog post, post-tragedy, (post talking about tragedy) should be about.  I didn’t want to write about what’s been on my mind, because I’m guessing I’ve depressed ya’ll enough. I’m struggling, but I’m trying.  My Noodle was no quitter.  Nor am I.  (But there have been days. Trust and believe)

I had to remind myself that before I was “Mom Mom,” I had dreams.  I had a purpose.  And I knew that purpose was to help others in some way.  That has since evolved a bit into the desire to edu-tain.  But carrying on “as if” is no easy task. I am sure it will take a minute, or possibly forever, to get back into a routine. But I present to you my first attempt.

As it turns out, I need not look any further than the table in front of me for a topic.  Arm’s reach. (Yup Wine.) And yes, I’ve been self-medicating a bit. (But this week I decided to start spending more time exercising and writing, than sipping. Even though I’m writing about sipping. Baby steps!)  This post combines my love of wine with my aversion to greed and the greedy!

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The problem with wine, other than the fact that I drink too much of it lately, is that like everything else, some of it is just bad.  And I don’t mean it tastes bad.  We all have our personal preferences.  What I mean is that some wines are basically the equivalent of junk food!  They are mass produced and full of chemical additives.

Think that you’re drinking fine wine from some small quaint Napa winery?  Think again.  Huge wine conglomerates have gobbled up all the mom-and-pop wineries.  Think Amazon, only wine! Yet another example of how consolidation hurts us all.  The problem is that they can make their money on volume and sacrifice quality to do so.  And like Amazon, they can out-price the little guys or just buy them! And, to make matters worse, there’s no indication on the label your favorite vineyard has been snatched up by an Amazon-like conglomerate. 

I recall a knowledgeable woman at the wine store in PA introducing me to the Velvet Devil Merlot years back.  It was a nice merlot from Washington State.  A few months later, she let me know that if it didn’t taste the same as it had in the past, it was because the vineyard was purchased by a mass producer.  She guided me to another aisle and introduced me to a different wine. Robert Hall.  Yum.

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So, here’s what I have learned are some of the issues and some of the things that make many wines, junk wine.

Love that oaky taste?  I do.  It used to come from being aged in oak barrels.  Now it comes from  infusing the wine with oak chips. Much cheaper than those expensive oak barrels and who has time to age the wine when there’s money to be made? I mean who needs an oak barrel when you can ferment in a huge steel vat?  Sounds appealing.  NOT.

Oh, but it gets worse.  They throw in chemicals in an attempt to improve the color or the acidity of the wine.  There are a bunch of government approved additives they can throw in the vat to create a synthetic version of your so-called fine wine!

Bianca Bosker, a journalist turned sommelier, who visited wine facilities across the country, discovered the issue with modern winemakers is that they don’t disclose all the ingredients, because they don’t have to.  She wrote, “I find it outrageous that most people don’t realize that their fancy Cabernet Sauvignon has actually been treated with all kinds of chemicals.”  

Wines used to be naturally fermented and that process dates back to early human civilization.  This process has been replaced with the addition of chemicals to expedite the process, compromising not only the taste, but our health!

These large-scale producers utilize mechanical pickers for high-volume production.   The problem with these machines is that they are machines!  For mass producers, the benefit here is that these machines can work around the clock and there’s no over-time pay! What they can’t do is tell the difference between a ripe or unripe grape.  They are also unable to separate the crap that shouldn’t go in the vat like leaves, dirt, or insects!  They can’t weed out the damaged grapes.  If the skin is pierced, oxygen will immediately have a negative effect on the grape before it lands in that vat.

Producers of premium wines believe wine shouldn’t be disturbed and allow gravity to separate the wine from the unwanted particles.  The gravity process takes time and mass-producers don’t have time for all of that!  Instead, they add chemicals called fining agents to bind with the unwanted particles.  They then filter and bottle it.

Because not all grapes were ready to be picked (And how could the mechanical pickers that replaced humans know that!) they add tartaric acid.  This process is called “acidification.”  Sounds scary, right?

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Typically, wines in the US, New Zealand and Australia, grapes used in premium wines are grown on hills or in the foothills where nights are cool, and days are warm. The warm days help to develop the sugar in the grapes, while the cool nights help the grapes retain acidity.  This creates the balanced taste.  A good wine has the right combination of both.

On a positive note, I’ve definitely consumed my fair share of antioxidants.  (Moderation is key! Sometimes too much of a good thing, ain’t so good!) Tannins are antioxidants found in the skins and stems of grapes. It has been said that consuming red wines with a high level of tannins could actually reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, but you will also find information to contradict this if you search.  Again, I believe moderation is always best!

In any event, these tannins are what give red wines their flavor.  Premium winemakers will often conduct a post-fermentation maceration.  Maceration is an extraction procedure where the wine is left in contact with the skins etc., after the fermentation has finished which optimizes the color, flavor, and the tannin structure. This process also helps to soften the astringent tannins creating a smoother and more complex wine.

Unfortunately, this process because it takes time, doesn’t square with the high-volume mass production schedule! Therefore, the smaller scale reds typically have a higher level of antioxidants.  As a result, these mass-produced wines are not only cheating us out of flavor, feeding us God knows how many chemicals, they are also cheating us out of health-promoting antioxidants! 

I know you must have heard the term “aging like fine wine.”  So, here’s what that means.

The bottom line is that premium wines are more time consuming to produce.  They cost more in time and money. And we’ve all heard the phrase “time is money!”  Mass-producers choose quantity over quality.  (Now that’s a surprise.  NOT!) 

The higher levels of tannins allow the wine to develop more complex character.  Premium reds and whites, grown on hillsides and mountains benefit from higher levels of acidity allowing them to age as long as 10 years for white, and 20-30 for a good red!

Fine wine is designed to improve with age; to become more complex and enjoyable. It evolves over time. And hopefully, like you and I, it gets better with age!

So, think before you drink!