Bonny Doon Vineyard labels will disclose all wine ingredients on white and red wines beginning with vintage 2007.
From these February 2008 releases all ingredients will be listed in two sections on the back label of each bottle.
The first section will list the wine’s basic ingredients – grapes and sulphur dioxide – while the second will display production ingredients which are aren’t perceptible in the wine nor directly affect its taste.
‘It’s useful to provide more detailed information about the ingredients used in wine production and reduce our dependence on standard wine additions, even those considered to be benign such as tartaric acid, bentonite, yeast nutrients, enzymes, sulphur dioxide,’ Bonny Doon president Randall Grahm said.
Bonny Doon is working towards producing simpler and less technically manipulated wines, Grahm said. The first wines featuring the new ingredient labeling will be the Ca’ del Solo Albariño and Ca’ del Solo Muscat, both certified by Demeter, a biodynamic growers’ organization.
‘Lest it appear self-righteous,’ Grahm added, ‘one should bear in mind that we are still somewhat reliant on wine additions that, in a perfect world, we would minimize or not use at all.’
Grahm said the move is intended primarily as an internal discipline, but he said he considers it ‘a positive step for the industry’.
‘We do hope other winemakers will be encouraged to adopt less interventionist practices and rely less upon an alphabet soup of additives to “improve” their wines.’
More than 200 additives to wine are allowed by the US government.
Written by David Furer
