Most Wine Is Like Fast Food

8 companies own 60% of the American wine market (Gallo accounts for 25%). Because of that, when you walk down an aisle of wine at a grocery store or liquor store in most parts of the USA, most of what you see on the shelves is produced by a huge corporation.

The wines made by these corporations, with very few exceptions, are the wine equivalent of fast food. More "wine beverages" than wine, really, they are produced by industrial processes, with many chemical additives - more food science than winemaking.

You can make delicious french fries with organic potatoes, oil, and salt. But MacDonalds french fries are made with (from their website): "Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]*), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. *natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients."

A list of ingredients on an average wine bottle would look similar. There are over 60 substances allowed to be added to wine. Unfortunately, wine producers aren't required to list anything on the label other than sulfites.

Don't get me started on the kind of viticulture practiced in the vineyards of most of these mass-produced, industrial wines. People must wear hazmat suits to apply the chemicals that are used in those vineyards. After spraying, no one is allowed to enter the vineyard for a period of hours or days because of the danger it would pose to their health. The spraying must be stopped half an hour before sunset to avoid killing bats. And right now I'm talking about some of the milder chemicals that are used.

The problem is that while most people understand that even though fast food tastes good, they shouldn't eat it every day. As tasty as it is, it's not healthy for you or the world. But almost no one feels that way about wine. Most wine drinkers only care about how a wine tastes.

If I can buy a $10 bottle of wine that tastes as good as a $40 bottle, why should I pay that extra $30? I'm getting everything I want for $30 less... if all I want is something that tastes good.

The case that has been made about fast food also needs to be made about "fast food wine" - that is, though it may taste good, it doesn't ultimately make you feel good.

Sure fast food is cheap - in every sense of the word. The same is true of industrial wine. Understanding this is the beginning of making wine better.

First, we need to demand that wine producers be required to put ingredients lists on bottles. Until we see what is added to wines, we'll have no way to compare who is making real wine versus industrial wine beverages.

Second, we need to understand that wine grown organically and made naturally gives you something more than just deliciousness. It makes you feel good too.

When you know the truth about most of the wines in stores now, you'll realize that's something they can't offer.