Comments on: Wine’s “Dirty Little Secret”

By: Trevor

Trevor — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 11:59:11 +0000

Wine is fall of lots of shit including bugs gut and possum blood! i work in a winery!!

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:55:17 +0000

John,

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing :-p

Methanol, that toxic substance you seem to be super concerned about, is a natural byproduct of fruit fermentations. ( http://www.ajevonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/26/4/184 )

Vitis vinifera have the lowest amounts present in fermented musts (compared with native American varieties) but it is still there.

However, the amount of methanol in wine (treated with velcorin or not) is vanishingly small. The FDA says that amounts in wine less than 0.1% are safe. The highest amount seen in a wine is 0.02%. That’s at the very high end. As I said, methanol is created in much smaller concentrations in vinifera wines (less than 0.01% typically). The amount added by Velcorin dosing is, literally, insignificant.

Fun fact: A fatal does of methanol is between 100 - 250 ml.

To reach anywhere near that level from wine, it would take hundreds of liters. And at that point you’d already be dead from ethanol poisoning.

But wait! There’s more!

To top it all off, ethanol, the main byproduct of fermentation “interferes” with the body’s ability to break down methanol into formaldehyde and formic acid (the stuff that hurts you). In fact the prescribed antidote for methanol poisoning is actually administering ethanol! 1.5 ml of 100 proof per lb of body weight diluted to a 5% solution.

Velcorin or no, you are quite safe from methanol poisoning when drinking wine.

By: John

John — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:08:59 +0000

Last time i checked METHANOL was toxic. Would you drink wood alcohol?

By: Keith

Keith — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:56:23 +0000

There are many things that we use in the worlds of wine making and others that use such chemicals. The only fear comes from a lack of understanding about velcorin. Consider electricity, when misunderstood and not properly handled and respected, it can kill you in less than a second yet we still use it every day in a controlled manner. Velcorin is the same way, The only safety issues are in the treatment process (which can only be done by certified professionals I might add). The FDA has done extensive studies to show that it breaks down completely into Methanol and cO2 as Josh pointed out. There is absolutely no logical reason to be afraid of drinking a wine that has been treated with velcorin. Within 24 hours of being in solution it breaks down (far faster than anyone could drink a wine after being bottled anyhow). If there is any danger to Velcorin it is to the production staff and certainly not the consumer. My general comment is that Velcorin is no different from any other tool we use, as humans, we always fear what we do not know.

By: Josh Hermsmeyer

Josh Hermsmeyer — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:32:59 +0000

Kipper,

Good points. But I don’t think the discussion itself is ludicrous. I think it’s necessary.

I think if we’re going to use a chemical or a technique to create a product that people want and enjoy we should also be happy to lift the kimono on how exactly we do it.

Using Velcorin doesn’t make a wine inauthentic. Using Velcorin and not being honest about it does.

Transparency is key. If we communicate our rationale passionately and credibly the market will respond.

Thanks for the comment!

By: Kipper

Kipper — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 04:15:22 +0000

Waaa, waaaa. These types of discussions are ludicrous. Chemicals and technology aren’t dirty little secrets any more than modern medicine is the “dirty little secret” of current life expectancy and general quality of life. “Pretending to be traditional winemakers”??? What the heck does THAT mean? Making low alcohol, brett infected, poorly colored wines from heavily virused poorly trellised vineyards while wearing a powdered wig and wooden teeth? Get real. People play golf on artifically greened grass, buy peaches at their grocer in JANUARY and take antibiotics every time they get a COLD. Its 2008 folks…welcome to the modern era!

By: John

John — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 22:24:06 +0000

Hi folks. Wine’s various dirty little secrets are on my mind quite often these days. Whether DMDC, PVPP, artificial tannins etc. It does gripe me to be put at something of a competitive disadvantage by those willing to adopt any interventionist technology that comes down the pike while still pretending to be traditional winemakers (usually by omission). Where will this lead us? Is a person who makes twinkies for a living still a baker?

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 04:15:52 +0000

jhajdu,

No argument from me - I’m sure Velcorin has its place in emergency situations.

Toni,

I think you may have misunderstood my post - I’m not against labelling. What I said was that if I did use Velcorin, it would be a nightmare to have to explain to the public if it were listed on the label.

The intent of my post was to inform, not to obfuscate. I apologize if that wasn’t clear.

By: toni reid

toni reid — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 23:20:57 +0000

~~I know I don’t want to ever have to put it on my label. PR nightmare.~~
Wouldn’t want to give consumers the power to choose, now would we???

By: jhajdu

jhajdu — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 13:13:11 +0000

I worked with one particular winery that was steril filtering everything because of some brett in the cellar… it sucked!!
for some of the reserves we brought in the Velcorin no more filtering … it didnt suck anymore ;’ ) and that was nice