Kristi Mayfield, CMS1 / WSET2 / Wine / Education

Living clean. Eating clean. Should we also be drinking clean?

One of the areas I intended this week to explore within the scope of Wine Trends is celebrity wine makers or winery owners. My exploration is not intended to provoke judgement, but to dive into the why and the how red carpets are not only leading to fancy award events, but also to vineyards and tasting rooms. As is often the case, my exploration was diverted. I won’t apologize as this topic is super complex but ties naturally (no pun intended) into last week’s blog on natural wines. Drum roll please…. What the heck is “Clean” wine and should we pay attention?

My quest to find the answer drove me to (fairly) recent research on the subject (Food & Wine’s “The Dirty Business of ‘Clean” Wine”, Sept 10, 2020 and Forbes “What is Clean Wine and Why is it Suddenly Everywhere?”, July 17, 2020). Bottom line is there really is not an official definition, there is limited regulation and governance, but we see a ton of marketing bugaboo around “Clean” wines. So, finding a singular definition or voice proved impossible. In principle, “Clean” wine sounds highly similar to last week’s blog topic – Natural Wine – which Ryan Sciara of Underdog Wines simply defined as wine where nothing has been added or taken away from vineyard to bottle. Do not be fooled, the two are not the same!

Digging a bit deeper is where I get myself into trouble. I’m a pescatarian and try to eat fairly clean, I use chemical free products whenever possible and I do believe there are ways we can minimize putting bad stuff into our diet, on our bodies or into our homes. That said, I’m also familiar enough with wine labeling laws to know that they have been reactive in some ways and don’t always promote full “truth in marketing”. This isn’t a slam and I do not believe there is any ill will, its simply hard on a 3” x 3” square label to cover everything. Additionally, the testing to identify every single molecule making its way into each and every bottle of wine would be an unbearable cost to the wine makers and ultimately to consumers. I don’t know about you, but I’m willing to keep wine prices accessible in lieu of an insane amount of product content etc… microscopically printed on my wine pick for dinner – you with me?

So if you cannot define it, should you buy into it?

Never one to judge, I am not going to tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t believe or how they should or should not select their wine. If you love it, go for it! What I will say, however, is do so with your eyes wide open in the case of wine’s declaring they are “Clean”. Bottom line is this can mean a ton of different things and is more of a marketing term than a term defining process, regulations or purity. At the end of the day (or production line) there are no regulators or testers monitoring the entire wine’s lifecycle from vine, flower, grape, harvest, press, fermentation, aging to bottling. So we’re left to put our faith and trust in a label or a tag line.

We are all familiar with big brands and major wine labels who claim significant amounts of real estate on the shelves of local grocers and liquor stores. Again, not intending to dissuade you from popping the cork of one of these wines, it’s important to note that many of them are produced to taste exactly the same bottle after bottle, batch after batch, harvest after harvest. Mother Nature isn’t that kind or predictable, so most of these wines are modified at some stage of the wine making process to add flavor, acid, sugar or any one of hundreds of ingredients to manipulate the end result to excruciating exactitude so you can be confident you’ll have the same experience every time you purchase that wine. Sometimes a girl (or guy) just needs a bit of stability in this crazy, mad world!

Wines produced with more natural, organic or low to no intervention are way less likely to have any of these additives or manipulations utilized in making them. Same is true for “Clean” wines which share, in principle, a prioritization of organic grapes from organic farms. The winemakers, in theory, are allowing natural yeasts to magically turn natural sugars from the grapes into naturally derived alcohol all while letting Mother Nature’s whims play out in the final product. It’s like being blindfolded in a sword fight with a master ninja! All for the sake of cleanliness!

Proceed with caution if you so choose

The final thought I’d like to make is to address my philosophy and resolute opinion wine is good for you. It’s an antioxidant – right? It’s a fruit – right? It is the nectar of the gods – right? Ok, just my own way of making it acceptable to imbibe glorious golden and unctuous ruby liquids on a fairly frequent basis. Back to “Clean” wine – while it may have fewer added compounds and may adhere more to organic principles, “Clean” wine at it’s core is not going to magically provide the fountain of youth or heal your aches and pains any more than the $4 bottle on the center shelf at the local convenience store. No one is overseeing the “Clean” wine movement to ensure what goes into the bottle is nothing more than the purist fermented grape juice on this planet. Bottom line, there is no way to prove it is any healthier for you than natural, organic or good ole regular wine because there are no regulations to back up the claims. My recommendation, if it makes you feel better about what you consume, go for it!

There are clues on wine labels to actually help you make informed choices if you do wish to adhere to organically produced wines. Those made in the good ole U. S. of A. will have a USDA certification on the label (see image). EU wines certified as organic will have the bright green logo with a leaf made of stars (see image). There are other organization which also certify and labels will tell you the most accurate story, not the marketing pitch or tagline.

To answer my opening question “If it doesn’t say clean, is it dirty?”, I think the answer is as clear as mud. Not necessarily! That goes both ways I must emphasize. At the end of the day, with no way to prove the “Clean” wine claim, I think we should all just get along and drink whatever wine makes us feel amazingly happy and brings thoughts of sunshine, rainbow unicorns and great times. Who’s with me?!!!