The Importance Of Choosing Organic, Sugar-Free, Chemical-Free Wine

Doesn’t it strike you as odd that the only major food group without a content label is wine? As Todd White explained when he was on Get Over Yourself, there are numerous “dirty, dark secrets” lurking in the wine industry, and the primary one is that there are 76 additives approved for the use of winemaking in the United States. Most people have no clue that these additives have been approved by the FDA, because, as Todd reveals, the (extremely successful) wine industry has been spending “tens of millions” of dollars to pay politicians off to make sure that you won’t find a content label anywhere on a wine bottle. And the reason why companies don’t want wine to have content labels is because if it did, then it would be blatantly clear that it was 1) highly processed and 2) filled with additives. 

While I personally don’t drink wine, I have heard from a few people recently about how they have to avoid certain types because they get headaches and other adverse reactions. This is hardly surprising considering most all modern wines are totally tainted with chemicals and secret sugar content.

But just how processed and additive-filled is most wine? Well, let’s start with one of the processes, defoaming. Ammonia phosphate, copper sulfate, and sulfur dioxide are some of the more common chemicals used for defoaming during the winemaking process, and the reason why defoaming agents are used is because when wine is moved from one tank to the other, it foams up. Back in the day, you’d just wait for the foam to subside (like waiting for the foam to simmer down after pouring champagne in a glass), but nowadays, most wine is sprayed with a defoaming agent to kill the foam. By immediately eradicating the foam, this process saves a lot of time. And what does less time/work equal? More profit!

Unfortunately, natural wine companies are not as common as their commercial counterparts. While there are actually only a few hundred farmers (around less than 500) in the world that produce natural wine, 20 of them are located in the United States, and Dry Farms Wine happens to be one of the 20. 

Based in the Napa Valley, Dry Farm Wines sources and distributes the world’s cleanest, most naturally produced wines — free from chemical additives, from entirely non-irrigated vineyards, and 100% naturally sugar-free. Each wine in the Dry Farm catalog has been extensively tested to qualify under stringent standards. Todd only started this company in late 2015, but it has grown like crazy, as it appeals to the ancestral health community, who have a deep concern for the quality of food and beverages they ingest.

Are you a wine drinker? When did you first notice that you experience headaches, hangovers, and sleep disturbances on nights when you’ve had a glass or two? Interestingly, Todd reveals that these symptoms are not from alcohol per se, but more likely the combination of chemical additives, high sugar content, and alcohol. Basically, you are drinking something that’s actually hiding lots of junk, so you feel like crap the next morning, duh. 

But, dry, sugar-free, low-alcohol wine can actually deliver health benefits — with no health objections. In contrast, commercially produced wine has little health benefit and many objections. What exactly are those objections? Let’s have a quick overview:

• Most commercial wines have shockingly high levels of sugar. The worst wines can contain up to 220 grams of sugar per liter (twice as much as a can of Coke!), but because of the acidity of wine, you often can’t taste the sugar. So no wonder you woke up with a brutal hangover — you basically binged on cherry Cokes and Skittles!
• The popularity of higher alcohol, higher sugar wines began years ago when a single slovenly, deadened palette wine critic with a big platform started rating wines on the familiar 1-100 score, which basically granted big numbers for crappy, overly sweetened, overly cultivated, chemical-laden wines.
• The yeast present in wine is killed through chemical intervention in commercial wines before the wine is done fermenting, which results in residual higher alcohol, sugars, and chemical content. 
• Irrigating a vineyard results in more yield, but an inferior crop, with less polyphenols in the grapes. This is because watered grapes didn’t have to work too hard to grow and survive, and are filled with water, which dilutes the positive benefits they typically have. Plus, because they’re filled with water, more sugar is added in order to get the proper flavor.
• 99 percent of USA vineyards are irrigated, but NOT due to climate concerns. This is only because irrigated vineyards make more money (along with a notably inferior crop!), because water equals higher yields and heavier fruit (fruit is sold by weight).
• The typical wine consumer has a “deadened palette” as a consequence of adhering to a high carbohydrate, Standard American Diet, and therefore, actually desires a “bold” wine that is filled with sugar and chemicals to make a distinctive impact on that trashed palette.
• Added sulfites kill beneficial bacteria and also “McDonaldize a wine,” as Todd says. Yay, flavor consistency is in your wines, just like we expect from fast food chains!

Also, you should be happy to learn that there is absolutely no correlation between price and the health quality of a wine. Price disparities are essentially a marketing exercise: companies tell fancy stories about their wine and then charge you a butt load for one bottle (that most likely leaves you with a brutal hangover). Can you believe that?! 

There are actually 20 natural, chemical-free, dry farm wineries in the USA, but even they don’t meet the exacting standards to be carried by Dry Farm Wines. As a result, Dry Farm Wines sells no domestic wines…usually, the problem with the few U.S. Natural Wines made, alcohol is too high, residual sugars or irrigation. Maybe there is a bit of sugar left over or some additives used in manufacturing. But Dry Farm Wines don’t mess around, man! And one of the most impressive things about Dry Farm Wines’ products is that they must come from organic or biodynamic farming, non-irrigated vineyards, fermented with native yeast to be sugar-free and under 12.5% alcohol, have no added sulfites, and be low in the natural sulfites that all wines have.

If you like wine, but don’t like hangovers and other adverse reactions, try a clean wine for once. My man Todd White and the crew there really walk their talk, enjoying life, testing all the wine they sell with celebratory meals in the restaurant capital of the Napa Valley, traveling to Europe to visit the traditional family vineyards using natural growing and processing techniques unchanged for hundreds of years. Not only is their product amazing, they’re also running a really cool promo right now where you get to try your first bottle for only one penny, so click here to start browsing!