Winebits 787: Ingredient labels, icewine, Valentine’s Day

This week’s wine news: Has the backlash against ingredient labels started? Plus, more bad news for icewine and wine advice for The Holiday that Must Not be Named

• Wine is not Cheetos: So writes one of the most respected attorneys who works with liquor law. Sean O’Leary, the Irish Liquor Lawyer (and who has been quoted on the blog many times) wonders if the idea of nutrition and ingredient labels is misguided, and predicts a flurry of lawsuits if the federal government follows through on what seems to be its plan to add the labels over the next couple of years. “What this really is about is opening the floodgates to class action lawsuits against producers,” he writes, arguing that some of his colleagues will bring lawsuits against wineries for inaccurate labeling, It’s an intriguing defense of the status quo, and one I’ve not heard before: We can’t have labels because some attorneys will misuse the process.

• Whither icewine:? Icewine, one of wine’s great treasures, has long been endangered by climate change. Icewine requires tremendously cold weather; if the grapes don’t freeze on the vine long enough, there’s no icewine. Now, reports the CBC, its future is even cloudier. Production in Ontario, one of the best places in the world for icewine, has dropped sixfold by one measurement since 2018, and the number of producers has dropped from 41 to 10. The weather has been one reason, along with the pandemic cutting demand, and especially in Asia.

• Not the same old: Lifehacker, the blog’s unofficial website for mainstream wine news, offers a fine piece of advice from Claire Lower for ordering wine for The Holiday that Must not be Named: “Order the weird wine.” This, of course, is right up the WC’s alley, who has long advocated for wine from less known regions and made with less known grapes. I especially liked this: “ ‘Pet nats’ — naturally sparkling pétillant-naturel — are also a good bet, but those are popular and don’t have quite the same cool factor as ordering an orange wine or Lambrusco.” I’d argue that orange wine is past its prime, as well, but anyone who recommends Lambrusco in this day and age gets a tip o’ the WC’s fedora. And this Lambrusco is damned fine.