How an industry built on storytelling hides the ingredients behind the story - A guide for wine drinkers who want truth in the wine glass
Imagine picking up a granola bar and seeing no ingredients listed. You’d think twice, right?
Now, go and grab a bottle of wine. Odds are, the label will tell you the grape variety (maybe), the region, and a poetic story about a sun-drenched vineyard. But what it won’t tell you is what’s actually in the bottle. Dozens of additives are permitted in winemaking, yet rarely disclosed, at the lobbying power of the conventional, mass-manufacturing, wine producers.
...here’s the kicker: many consumers still believe wine is “just grapes and time.”
This guide unpacks why that’s not true, how the lack of ingredient labelling has become wine’s dirty little secret, and what you, as a conscious consumer or producer, can do about it.
“Wine is the only food product where a story replaces a label.”
Let’s call out the elephant in the tasting room: wine is food. It’s consumed, digested, and sometimes overindulged in. And like all food and beverage categories — from oat milk to craft beer — transparency is no longer a nice-to-have, but a must-have.
The European Union, under the Common Agricultural Policy Reform, has already mandated ingredient and nutrition labelling for wine since December 2023, setting a precedent for global transparency.
Ingredient and nutrition labelling is already standard for most other alcoholic beverages in many countries, highlighting the contrast with current U.S. exemptions. Some US wineries view these European regulations as a harbinger of similar changes in the US wine industry.
Let’s not pretend this is a new conversation. Calls for wine labelling transparency began over two decades ago. Consumer groups, including the Center for Science in the Public Interest, have pushed for ingredient labelling in the U.S. wine industry. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), a federal government agency, recently published Notice 232, soliciting public comments on mandatory ingredient, allergen, and nutritional labelling information for wine and spirits, as part of ongoing efforts to require alcohol labelling for wine.
The TTB is currently collecting public comments regarding ingredient labelling for wine and spirits, signalling a renewed focus on this issue. As the TTB operates under federal law, its actions reflect how federal regulations have historically shaped alcohol labelling requirements. To further engage stakeholders, the TTB has also held virtual listening sessions to gather public input on alcohol labelling.
These efforts are in response to the basic transparency that consumers expect from food and beverage products, with many advocating for clear and transparent labelling of ingredients, allergens, and nutritional information on wine labels.
So why does the wine industry get a free pass?
The TTB first proposed requiring ingredient labels on wine around 2003, but progress has been slow and met with resistance. The Wine Institute has historically opposed the labelling of ingredients and nutrition information. This 2003 proposal was part of a larger effort to increase transparency in alcohol labelling, aiming to align with evolving consumer expectations.
The wine industry (correction, the industrial wine complex) has historically resisted ingredient and nutrition labelling due to potential increased costs, which has further slowed progress. Recent years have seen a renewed push for new labels in the wine industry, driven by both regulatory proposals and consumer demand for greater transparency.
Efforts to require alcohol labelling for wine are ongoing, with regulatory proposals under consideration that would mandate ingredient and nutritional information on wine bottles. Consumer advocacy and polling, including research conducted by the Wine Market Council, indicate that U.S. consumers are increasingly supportive of ingredient and nutrition labelling for wine. Wine industry advisors play a crucial role in helping producers navigate these regulatory changes and develop effective market strategies in response to the evolving legal and consumer landscapes.
✅ Progress is real—but glacial.
Let’s talk culture war.
Natural wine producers often wear their ingredient transparency like a badge of honour. Think: “grapes, native yeast, maybe some sulphites.” Ridge Vineyards, for example, has been listing ingredients on their labels since the 2011 vintage, emphasizing their commitment to transparency. About half of the wineries at the Willamette Valley Wineries Association meeting in February 2024 indicated plans to add ingredient and/or nutrition information to their labels, reflecting a growing trend. Some alcohol producers are setting a precedent for transparency by voluntarily disclosing such information, including detailed ingredients, processing aids, and additives, to help consumers make informed choices.
Meanwhile, industrial producers bury their formulations behind marketing fluff and romanticized terroir talk. It’s the wine world’s equivalent of “clean beauty” vs. mass-market cosmetics. Their favourite tool of the trade is smearing Vaseline over the lens. Nothing to see here.
Transparency is becoming a competitive edge — not a liability.
Let’s be fair. Not every producer is hiding behind secrecy for nefarious reasons. Here are the main arguments against labelling, and why they still fall short:
The Myth: Financial burdens could disproportionately affect small wineries when adding ingredient or nutrition labels compared to large wineries, as the costs of frequent label updates can be significant. The average American vineyard produces about 90 percent of the U.S. wine, complicating small producers’ ability to update labels frequently. Additionally, defining and standardizing serving size for wine, beer, and spirits is another challenge often cited by the industry, as it impacts how calorie and alcohol content are disclosed on labels.
The Reality: Every wine undergoes comprehensive lab analysis before it reaches consumers. Incorporating additional parameters into this analysis is a straightforward step, not a significant burden. Producers of natural, biodynamic, and organic wines generally welcome this move toward transparency, seeing it as an opportunity to showcase their minimal intervention practices. In contrast, the industrial, conventional wine complex resists these changes, fearing that full disclosure will expose the additives and processes hidden behind their polished marketing narratives.
Today’s wine drinkers are not yesterday’s passive sippers.
They’re label readers, podcast listeners, Substack subscribers, and ingredient sleuths.
They want to know if their wine has animal-based fining agents, if it’s been manipulated with flavour-enhancing enzymes, or whether the colour comes from Mega Purple.
They’re not asking for perfection—just honesty.
Transparency doesn’t mean the death of romance. It means we finally get to have an informed love affair.
Probably not overnight.
But it will change the way we talk about wine, the way we market it, and the way we relate to it.
It will force wineries to own their additions, their choices, their chemistry.
It will make space for diverse producers—especially those who’ve been doing things cleanly and transparently all along.
It might even make wine feel a little less like a secret society, and a little more like a shared language.
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