In the consumption of wine in China, red wine dominates, and even in the eyes of some consumers with a shallow understanding of wine, all "wine" is treated as "red wine".
"Red" is a festive color engraved in the genes of Chinese, and drinking red wine in the New Year means that the new year is red to purple, so that drinking "red wine" in the New Year seems to have a legitimate metaphysical reason.
In January 2024, Consumer Reports compiled the sampling results of wine quality inspections published by the State Administration for Market Regulation and provincial market supervision administrations in the past three years from 2021 to 2024.
The results showed that in the past three years, the regulatory authorities found a total of 54 batches of unqualified fruit wines, and the reasons for the unqualified wine involved alcohol content, excessive or excessive use of sweeteners or preservatives, and excessive sulfur dioxide residues.
92.5% of red wines were unqualified
Sampling data shows that in the past three years (January 2021 to January 2024), a total of 54 batches of substandard wines were found in random inspections, of which the number of unqualified products found each year was up and down, indicating that the wines circulating in the market were occasionally defective.
(Photo/Official Account @ Consumer Report)
If you classify it by color, red wine is actually just one type of wine, in addition, there are rosé wines and white wines. In general, the color of the wine grapes determines whether the wine is red, rosé or white, but there are exceptions. White wine is usually made from the juice of white grapes, but since all the color in red grapes is in the skins, white wines can actually be made from red grapes if the skins are removed before fermentation.
(Photo/Official Account @ Consumer Report)
The flavor of a wine has a lot to do with the soil, altitude and climate of the appellation, and even adjacent vineyards can vary in soil, altitude and climate, as well as winemaking styles and traditions.
In addition to the famous Bordeaux appellation, the quality of wines produced on the Sonoma coast, the Loire Valley and Tuscany is also stable, as are the white wines of Austria, the Sauvignon Blanc of New Zealand and the Malbec red wines of Mendoza.
According to the statistics of this journal, red wine is the "hardest hit area" of substandard wine, with 50 batches detected in the past three years, while white wine and rosé wine have been detected in 3 batches and 1 batch respectively, which may be related to the domestic market share of different types of wine.
(Photo/Official Account @ Consumer Report)
The alcohol content is not qualified for wine
The number one reason
From the point of view of the reasons, the 54 batches of unqualified wine mainly involved excessive alcohol content, excessive or excessive use of sweeteners (cyclamate, sucralose, saccharin sodium) or preservatives (sorbic acid and its potassium salt, benzoic acid and its sodium salt), and excessive sulfur dioxide residues.
Among them, the number of unqualified alcohol content was the largest, reaching 35 times, accounting for about 6 percent, followed by cyclamate, with 9 times, accounting for 15.5%.
(Photo/Official Account @ Consumer Report)
Alcohol affects the "heaviness" of the wine
The alcohol in wine is mainly derived from the ethanol produced by the fermentation of sugars in grapes. In the wine-making process, the grapes go through several steps such as pressing, fermentation, clarification, aging, the most important of which is the fermentation process. During fermentation, the sugars in the grapes are broken down by yeast into ethanol and carbon dioxide, which is the alcohol component of wine.
Different grape varieties, vinification methods and aging times affect the alcohol content and taste of wines. As a result, the alcohol content can reflect the body, style, and fullness of the wine.
The term "body" refers to the description of how a wine feels in the mouth, such as "weight" and "thickness". In general, the higher the alcohol content, the thicker the body of the wine, and the easier it is to have a strong flavor.
According to the Food Safety Sampling Information Notice of the Anhui Provincial Administration for Market Supervision (Issue 51 of 2022), the master red wine (trademark: Casni Montu) produced by Shenzhen Casni Muntu Wine Co., Ltd. has an alcohol content of 7±1%vol, and the measured alcohol content is only 2.7%vol, which is less than half of the allowable error range (6~8%vol). It is worth mentioning that this batch of wine also used two artificial sweeteners, cyclamate and sodium saccharin, in violation of regulations.
(Photo/Screenshot of Anhui Provincial Administration for Market Regulation)
Valcate was detected in Veyron dry red wine
The chemical name of cyclamate is sodium cyclohexyl sulfamate, which is a commonly used synthetic sweetener, its sweetness is 30~40 times that of sucrose, and is often used in candied fruits, pastries, seasonings and beverages and other foods, and is a widely used sweetening additive in the food industry.
However, in the National Food Safety Standard for the Use of Food Additives (GB 2760-2014), the allowable use of cyclamate does not include wine. "Wine" (GB/T 15037-2006) also requires that "sweeteners" must not be added.
The main purpose of adding cyclamate is to make the wine sweet, but the sweetness in the wine should be all produced by the sugar residue of the grapes.
According to the announcement of the Suzhou Municipal Administration for Market Supervision on the release of Suzhou municipal food safety supervision and sampling information (Issue 10 of 2022), the Weilong dry red wine produced by Weilong Wine Co., Ltd. was detected with cyclamate 0.000354g/kg, which shall not be used according to the regulations.
(Photo/Screenshot of Suzhou Municipal Administration for Market Regulation)
In fact, cyclamate is not the only case of artificial sweetening of wine, and it was also found that some wine companies used sodium saccharin and sucralose, which were also illegal additives.
Reminder about the consumption of wine
1. Wine contains natural pigments, tartrate, etc., which may precipitate after long-term storage, and this change is normal. However, if the wine is cloudy or flocculent, it is not suitable to buy.
2. Generally speaking, there are two small holes on the cap of real wine, these two small holes are used for wine storage and ventilation, if not, try not to choose.
3. Look at whether the text on the rubber wine stopper is the same as the text on the wine bottle label, before opening the bottle and drinking, look at the heat shrink cap and cork, if the year of the wine stopper is inconsistent with the wine label, be careful.
4. The content of imported red wine is commonly used in cL, while the mainland uses mL. For example, if the content of a bottle of red wine is displayed as 75cL, 750mL will be written on the back label of Chinese, and if it is found that the original label of red wine is 750mL, it is likely to be fake wine.
5. In addition to grape juice, the bottle will also be marked with sulfur dioxide, which plays a role in preservative and stabilization.
6. Drinking wine is good for health on the premise of "moderate drinking". For special groups, such as pregnant women, people with alcohol allergies, sick people, and minors, alcohol should be avoided.
7. Wine should be eaten with other foods as an accompaniment to meals, and it is best to drink it during meals.
[Special statement]: The original data used in this content are from the authoritative official website, and the data is objective and true. If the relevant sampling results are verified and confirmed by the relevant government departments and confirmed to have changed the facts, please contact the consumer report in time.
This article is reprinted with permission from Consumer Reports (ID: consumerreport)
Author: Liao Yuting