It really was only a matter of time… and frankly not a minute too soon as far as I’m concerned!

We’re all familiar with the scary cancer and other health risks of alcohol, even if they aren’t yet required on wine labels in many countries - except Ireland. But there’s soooooo much more to worry about in that innocuous bottle of wine.

The European Union is pushing - hard - towards more transparency in what goes into your bottle of wine and it will soon become law to label the bottles accordingly. I love this idea. I remember back in my retail days when customers would be SHOCKED when I told them exactly how much sugar was in their favourite boxed wine.

The fact that British Columbia (and many, many other parts of the world) doesn’t require labelling of sugar content on the actual bottles is, honestly, akin to being an enabler. Say you were diabetic. You thought that drinking a glass of this wine was safer for you than drinking a glass of cola, right? Waaaayyy less sugar? Nope. Many of these ‘wines’ are really just manufactured sugary beverages with alcohol and contain tons more sugar than a less-industrial glass of wine.

How much more sugar?

Most wines from smaller producers have less than 5 grams per litre of sugar, but those ‘smooth reds’ that you see are smooth because they have around 30 (or more!) grams per litre of sugar in them. That’s SIX TIMES the amount of sugar.

But it’s not just sugar that’s the problem. You know how people love those deeply coloured red wines? I’d like to introduce you to Mega Purple, which is essentially the grown-up, wine version of red dye #6.

People want this information. Can you guess who doesn’t want to give it to them? Hmm… maybe the same people who didn’t want to tell us what was in our cigarettes… or boxed food… yes I am talking about corporate America.

Shall I continue with horror stories of pesticides and other wine additives, or have I convinced you yet that wine labelling needs to happen right now?

If you’re worried about the health risks, you can always ASK. That’s what the staff is there for in your local bottle shop. They know. They are just waiting for you to wake up and smell the… wine.