Thursday, February 21, 2008

I have msg sensitivity and recently discovered that wine grapes are sprayed with Auxi Gro which is another name for msg.

Do you use this product in your grape growing process?

Thank you for your assistance.

Barbara
Sacramento, Ca
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Hi Barbara,

I understand your concern as the invasion of chemical products is growing by the day. All synthetic chemicals are banned from organic agriculture and growth factors (hormones and the like) like the type you mention are definitely out of the question.
However the formula for Auxi Gro includes L Glutamic Acid which is at least the natural form found in living things. The D glutamic Acid is the one posing problems therefore I would not say that Auxi Gro is similar to Monosodium Glutamate. Also the presence of this product in the final wine seems extremely unlikely since it is applied during the growing season and has all chances to be utilized or destroyed by the time the grapes are harvested and the wine made.

In any case choosing organic wines is always a smart move for your health!

All the best
DrMic

Friday, February 15, 2008

Greetings from a very dissatisfied customer

When I opened the 1st bottle of Chateau Veronique I recently ordered from you, I found sediment in my glass about half-way through. I emptied the rest to test it and found a shocking amount of heavier sediment. I had bought this wine for a party because I did think it excellent wine. Now I will be forced to buy more wine from a winery I can trust because, of course, I can't trust that your Chateau Veronique will be any good. So what should I do about the 5 unopened bottles?

Clo
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Dear Clo,

I understand your concern and will try to answer to the best of my ability. The presence of sediments in a bottle has nothing to do with its quality. In fact there is a growing number of vintners who offer unfined and/or unfiltered wines precisely with the viewpoint that heavy filtration is taking away from the integrity of the wine. If you had the opportunity to taste a wine before and after filtration you would understand why people are debating this matter.

Depending upon temperature conditions while traveling or storing wine a certain amount of precipitation can happen in any bottle, even if it has been filtered, which is probably what has happened with this Veronique bottling. There are a number of factors influencing the amount of deposits. The only real "drawback" is that you have to pour the wine slowly and not shake the bottle to avoid putting the precipitate back in suspension. It does not alter the taste of the wine in any way. You can also pour the wine in a different jar. This is called decanting and was traditionally done for all great wines kept in a cellar.

It is true that to please the consumer's perception of and request for cleanliness the tendency has been to filter heavily all products, however in the organic field you will find more cases of products left raw or lightly treated. Did you find any difference in taste? I bet not and the rest of the bottles should be just as good unless of course there is a problem from the cork.

My sense is that with a little precaution pouring the wine you should find the wine as excellent as you knew it was and if that is not the case we will refund you as advertised.

DrMic

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

I was interested in questioning which wines are less sweet and posses higher levels of antioxidants?

Candi
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Typically red wines have a higher antioxidant content. While there may be some differences between the grape varieties this kind of analysis is not readily available as their cost is certainly significant and the results may change from one year to the next making that information an expensive proposition!

As far as sweetness is concerned none of our wines except the dessert wines are sweet. The usual level being 1 to 3 or 4 grams per liter. As a comparison even a Dry Sparkling contains 10g/l for instance.

Often what people mean by sweet is actually fruity. The fruit sensation can be present without actual sugar but influences the drinker to think in terms of sweetness.

sincerely

Dr Mic