By Michael Cocks
In order to evaluate the relationship between wine ingredients and quality and the potential to identify low quality brands, a number of steps must be undertaken. First, one has to consider the definition and prevalence of low quality wine. Second, one has to consider which brands might be perceived as being low quality and the accuracy of this label. Thirdly, one has to consider what wine is made from and how these elements are classified and detailed. Lastly, one is to consider the extent to which the elements used to make wine are unique to, and indicators of, wines perceived as being low quality.
What Is Low Quality Wine and How Common Is It?
Low quality wine is wine judged to be free of fault but exhibiting a clumsy sense of balance between alcohol, acidity, sugars, tannins and flavors. This results in critics’ scores between 70-79 points. Today, low quality wine is not common. Firstly, the advancement of the scientific understanding of viticulture and enology means that issues that once led to low quality wine have been brought under greater control or eliminated. Secondly, the world currently has a surplus of wine. In 2023, wine production exceeded wine consumption by 1.73 billion standard 25.4 fluid ounce bottles. In this competitive market, it is not possible to build a brand using low quality wine.
What Brands Are Seen As Being Low Quality
Today, low quality wines do not exist in high volumes. The majority of drinkers would be unaware of this fact. However, the majority of drinkers would be aware that not all wines are of equal quality. Simple metrics are often adopted as a means of estimating the potential difference in quality between two wines. These measures may include how often a person sees a certain label, or the price of the wine. Widely distributed wines and those at lower price points are often assumed to be of lower quality. This impacts brands like Barefoot, Yellow Tail, and Franzia. These wines will tend to receive scores around 81-84 points and can retail well below $10 for a single bottle. Alternate descriptions for these brands and their wines, such as good quality, widely distributed, entry level priced, everyday drinking wines, universal appeal, intended for immediate consumption at everyday events, are all more accurate ways of describing them than “low quality.”
What Wine Is Made From
The different materials used to make wine can be classified into three groups: ingredients, additives, and processing aids. Ingredients are used in making wine, and remain part of the final product. Although ingredients are not listed on the label, their use is implicit through common knowledge. In contrast, additives are things added to the ingredients during production that remain in the final product. Additives may be listed on the label, and where they are not listed their use cannot be detected or suspected. In comparison, processing aids are things added to wine during production that do not remain in as part of the final product. Processing aids may appear on the label if they are a potential allergen. When not on the label, the use of processing aids cannot be detected or suspected. Wine ingredients are grapes. Wine additives include water, sugars, acids, and sulfur dioxide. Wine processing aids include but are not limited to yeasts, tannins, enzymes, fining agents, and oak products.
Are Ingredients, Additives, and Processing Aids Linked To Quality
Ingredients, additives and processing aids cannot be used as a quality indicator in wine. Firstly, they are broadly unlisted on the label, and their use is broadly undetectable in the glass. For example, you can add acidity to a wine but unless one performs this task badly, resulting in an unbalanced wine of poor quality, the acidification is undetectable. Secondly, the use of individual ingredients, additives, and processing aids cannot be tied to quality. For example, some may suggest that adding a cultured yeast instead of relying on ambient yeasts results in wine of lesser quality. However, the entirety of Champagne is made using cultured yeasts and the region provides multiple examples of outstanding quality wines. Thirdly, a singular ingredient, additive, or processing aid can be used to produce wines of different quality levels.
For example, oak alternatives such as chips and blocks can be used to make both good quality, entry level positioned wines such as South Eastern Australian Shiraz from Yellow Tail, and outstanding quality, high premium positioned wines such as Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. It is the properties the wine displays in the glass that defines its quality, and not the materials used to make it. Lastly, winemaking operations have attached costs, and the use of ingredients, additives and processing aids adds to the costs of production and threatens thin margins. The reason why the use of ingredients, additives and processing aids is justified is because they improve quality.
Wine expert Peter Douglas, DipWSET, weighs in on the matter with an array of keen insights relating to vetting wine quality. According to Douglas:
- The grape material sets the foundation for any quality wine. A wine’s quality is considered good if it is free of faults, offers a good balance between its components, has sufficient intensity for its style, and shines in complexity. High-volume produced brands can thrive in this category, although there are also low-end exceptions. To avoid low quality, the winemaker may influence the grape quality through grape selection, pressing techniques, fermentation speed, yeast and temperature, and maturation techniques.
- The grape material should be near flawless to ensure that the winemaker can produce a good base wine. Sometimes wines have a waxy fruit sensation, which may come from grey rot or from noble rot, called Botrytis. Although noble rot increases the potential alcohol and sugar levels, it may reduce the fruitiness the winemaker is seeking, diminishing quality. To reduce waxy sensations, winemakers sometimes add active charcoal, which removes the flavor of the wine but may also strip it of color.
- The majority of low-quality brands offer a distinctive bitterness with a low intensity of fruit, which comes from over-cropping and extracting maximum yields from the grapes. Sometimes the grapes also have extremely harsh tannins and taste like green bell pepper. Winemakers can remove this by heating the grapes and destroying the responsible component, leading to a dark must with soft tannins, which is ideal for blending.
- In addition, the winemaker can also use selective yeast to achieve the desired quality. Today, the winemaker can select yeast with their attributes, making them more fruity, floral or neutral wines. When handling the fermentation, winemakers can also add some vitamin B and nutrient supplements to ensure a flawless fermentation. Stuck fermentations through the absence of the above additives create off-flavors like rotten egg smell.
- If the winemaker is seeking to add complexity, there are multiple options to imitate expensive wood ageing. Using oak chips with dosed oxygen ingress, called microoxygenation, can yield similar results. However, depending on the types of oak, size, source and duration of the exposure, the oak may not be as well integrated. However, it adds chocolate, espresso and vanilla aromas. If added too much or matured too long, then it may be overpowered, masking the fruity sensations, as balance is key.
- Finally, the most important addition is sulphur dioxide (SO2). Despite there being no “high quality sulphur” or “low quality sulphur”, the dose makes the magic. If the level is too high, it may mask the fruit. If it is too low, the wine might referment or oxidize, creating light bubbles and bruised apple aromas. Winemakers understand the technical implications on how to dose it right, so this usually is not a large concern.
- As brands strive to produce consistent quality, they often use various ingredients to achieve this consistency. However, these ingredients can sometimes reduce the overall quality of the wine. Despite these efforts, there is no magic formula to produce good quality wine from low-quality grapes. Ultimately, the key ingredient is always the grapes.
Low quality wine is fault free wine with a clumsy sense of structure balance. Due to advances in viticulture and enology, fewer low quality wines exist, and due to the global wine surplus, low quality wines are not sufficient to enable the building of brand in today’s market. Good quality wines with wide distribution and sold at entry level prices are often perceived as low quality wines due to price, when their quality in the glass and rating do not confirm this low quality perception. The materials used to make all quality levels of wine include ingredients, additives and processing aids, many of which do not appear on labels and cannot be detected otherwise. Wine production materials are chosen for their ability to improve wine quality and can be used to do so in wines of varied quality levels. This means that production materials cannot be used as a quality marker for wine.
