Ingredients: a growing part of wine labels

A demand for transparency from food and beverage makers has risen the past decade, as consumer advocate groups voice a desire to know exactly what’s being used in the processing and packaging of their foods. But, wine has been largely unaffected by this consumer trend until recently as, according to an article by New York Magazine, vintners are starting to list ingredients on their wine labels.

As wine is under the rule of the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and not the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), vintners have never been required to list every ingredient. But, four years ago when winemaker Randall Grahm started to list all the ingredients used to process the elixir on his labels, the wine world was taken aback. Grahm listed items such as indigenous yeast and bentonite on the custom labels, despite those substances being gone once the wine is bottled.

It wasn’t too long before Shinn Estate Vineyards, North Fork estate-bottled wines and Foursight – a winery in Northern California’s esteemed Anderson Valley – also started to list all the ingredients on their labels.

Shinn Estate’s David Page, told New York Magazine that, “our goal is to make wines comprised of grapes and nothing else.” By adding the ingredients on their label, Shinn Estate is not only displaying to the public its commitment to “natural winemaking” but also holding itself to a standard.

If other vineyards wish to start practicing this form of consumer clarity, they may want to test the waters first with small-batch custom label printing. By investing in a Primera LX-Series label printer, vintners can design custom labels that will allow them to list their wine ingredients.