Italian rectified grape must instead of non-European common sugar. The battle for quality wines and transparent labels
Oste how is the wine? To the famous rhetorical question should be added Is it made of only grapes or with brown sugar? Yeah, because-accomplice to the silence on wine labels-few people know that in sparkling wine production a great many people employ alien sugars, beet or cane, whatever is cheaper. And very few, if any, use grape sugar. Although Italy itself is a global leader in its production.
Sugar in still and sparkling wines
In still wines the addition of beet or cane sugar is allowed only in northern European countries, including France. In Italy and other Mediterranean countries, this practice – called sugaring – Instead, it is illegal. And prosecuted by ICQRF as fraud. It is in fact a shortcut to ‘correct’ and ‘make-up’ wines, even when the grapes are unripe or immature. Often due to climatic factors, in areas poorly suited for viticulture.
In sparkling wines, subject to the ban on sugaring, the use of sugar is conversely also permitted in Italy. At the stage of so-called refermentation. But what sugar is used? Italian grape sugar or alien sugars?
Solid rectified must, the Italian genius
Grape must is the starting point for extracting the sugar naturally contained in its berries. This is the only sugary substance that should be allowed in the winery, excluding cane and beet extracts instead. Must is obviously more expensive because it requires careful processing in order to rule out unforeseen events in the cellar. But it comes from the same plant, it’s just grapes, a difference of no small magnitude.
Rectified concentrated must (Mcr) is also allowed in Italy for wine enrichment and sparkling wine refermentation, precisely because it is drawn from the same raw material that makes up the wine. It can be in semi-liquid or solid form. The first version is made in various countries, in Europe and around the world. Solid must, on the other hand, constitutes the result of national research applied to lees processing. Thus expressing, once again, Italian genius.
Solid rectified concentrated must (Mcrs) is obtained by an innovative process that initially separates the two sugars proper to must-glucose and fructose-and then brings them together in crystalline form. The advantages of Mcrs, well known to winemakers, are exposed in the ‘Winefor Wine‘ (W4W) study, conducted by the Edmund Mach Foundation of San Michele all’Adige-under the scientific responsibility of Prof. Fulvio Mattivi, in collaboration with Prof. Attilio Scienza of the University of Milan-for Naturalia.
Research by the Mach Foundation on the winemaking practices of enrichment, sweetening and sparkling wine making with rectified must shows that the solid solid form version achieves better performance, compared to the liquid form and beyond.
Purity distinguishes solid crystallized must from its counterpart in water. Mcrs is free of foreign substances, which may come from heat treatment or from the source grapes themselves. It does not contain bacteria, yeasts, lactic vinegars and molds, which on the contrary tend to proliferate in the presence of water and can alter the taste of wine. (1) Nor does it contain those volatile compounds, produced instead in other processes by Maillard reaction and caramelization, which affect the wine’s flavor profile.
The presence of substances specific to grapes-such as Beta-Damascenone-also enhance the positive fruity notes and mask the herbaceous notes of the Bacchus drink, according to the study authors. Thus takes on precise meaning the decision to produce ‘100% grape‘ wines and sparkling wines, which Italian producers could well exploit to distinguish themselves in international markets.
Transparency in labeling? Only, in part, on organic wines. Time for a change
The legitimate demand of consumers
to know the ingredients of wines, and thus to know what kind of sugar was added (or used for the
sparkling wine-making
), was denied by the European Commission in 2017. When-two years late-it ruled on the waiver of the requirement to inform consumers about the ingredients in alcoholic beverages.
Transparency
is now met, at least in part, in the productions
organic
. Partial transparency in that it refers to the origin of the ingredients, not also to their identity. Thus, if organic sparkling wine carries on the label the indication ‘
EU-non-EU agriculture
‘ the use of organic cane sugar from
non-EU at the stage of
sparkling
. The only ‘European’ organic cane sugar is indeed that which comes from
From the French Overseas Territories (ex.
Martinique
).
Italy is now calling for mandatory labeling of all wines, at the very least, for the presence of alien sugars. So as to distinguish ‘rigged’ products by sugaring, a low-cost practice that causes serious distortion of competition among winemakers in different EU member countries, in defiance of consumers’ rights to distinguish ‘100 percent grape‘ wine from its imitations.
Marta Strinati and Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) This is especially relevant in refermentation practices, where microbial contamination is a risk factor for product stability and quality.
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
