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Arsenic in wine! Should we worry?
Arsenic? In our wine? The scary headlines started blaring last week. "Some studies say that a glass of wine is good for your health, but according to a new lawsuit, it just may kill you," MSN warned in a March 19 report.
CNN joined the chorus, declaring, "drinkers of some California wine have become 'unwitting "guinea pigs" of arsenic exposure,' thanks to the negligent and misleading actions of dozens of California wineries, according to [a] class action complaint ..." And then it was off to the media races, with variations on the story - and responses to it from wineries and industry groups - coming out all over.
Before long my e-mail box filled up with worried notes: Is my daily glass going to kill me?
Cutting to the chase, the answer is simple and reassuring: Certainly not. Wine blogger Alder Yarrow was quick with a same-day response, a detailed, thoughtful analysis on his blog, Vinography.
I won't repeat it all here; you should really click here to read it on Alder's blog.
To sum up a few key points, though:
* BeverageGrades, the company that purportedly tested 200 wine samples and reported that it found elevated levels of arsenic in 20 percent of them, also seeks to sell its testing services to the wine industry.
* The reported offenders were said to have "four to five times" the 10-parts-per-billion level that the Environmental Protection Agency considers acceptable in drinking water. Sounds scary, until you know that these levels are set on the assumption that we drink a lot of water. Fruit juices naturally contain far more natural arsenic than water, and the regulators are fine with that; we don't normally guzzle several liter bottles of juice - or, we hope, wine - on an everyday basis.
Furthermore, "The FDA limit for daily inorganic arsenic intake from shellfish like mussels, clams, and oysters is 1,000 times higher than it is for juice."
Arsenic, indeed, is a trace element that occurs naturally in food and beverages, and in tiny amounts is a necessary mineral for health.
Yarrow's conclusion was simple and blunt: "This is basically a b---sh-t, scaremongering story that BeverageGrades is very cunningly using to drum up business."
More light quickly came from other sources. Wine Institute, the California wine-industry trade association, perhaps predictably weighed in with a formal "don't worry about it," assuring us that, "Unfounded litigation has raised questions about the safety of California wine. We want to assure you that the health and safety of consumers is of the greatest importance to our wineries and that wine produced by our members is perfectly safe."
Wine writer Blake Gray penned a thoughtful piece for Wine-Searcher.com, observing among other things that the Liquor Control Board of Ontario's quality assurance laboratory last year tested more than 11,900 wines for arsenic levels, including 1,543 wines from California. "All of the wines from California that the LCBO lab tested and subsequently offered for sale were below the maximum allowable limit for arsenic. We have not observed elevated arsenic levels in US wines compared to what is found in wines from other regions and countries."
If you're still worried, you might want to consider that the 83 wines and 28 California wineries cited in the BeverageGrades report and named in the class-action lawsuit were all mass-produced, "industrial" wines intended for the mass market. They included such grocery-store labels as Barefoot, Cupcake, Franzia, Flipflop, Rex Goliath and Korbel, among many more.
Here's a complete list of those wines. I suspect that most readers of these pages aren't routinely buying these wines anyway.
At the end of the day, though, I concur completely with Alder Yarrow's conclusions: "Should some of these wine companies take a look at what they can do to lower these arsenic levels? Absolutely. Are they breaking the law and/or providing consumers with a toxic product? Absolutely not. And they certainly don't deserve the class action lawsuit that has been filed in the wake of this news. Do you need to worry about arsenic in your wine? Only as much as you currently worry about it in your apple juice or shellfish."
Let the congregation say "Amen."
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Today's Tasting Report
Dei 2013 Rosso di Montepulciano ($19.99)
A blend of 80% Prugnolo Gentile (Montepulciano's name for Sangiovese) with Canailo, this is a clear, dark purple wine with reddish-orange glints against the light, typical look for a Tuscan red. Attractive aromas are typical of the region, too, fresh black cherries and dried cherries and just a hint of warm spice on the nose and palate. Fresh, crisp acidity and more than a little soft tannin accompany a long, mouth-watering finish. Fine food wine. U.S. importer: deGrazia Imports LLC, Evanston, Ill.; a Marc de Grazia Selection. (March 26, 2015)
FOOD MATCH: Typical of good Tuscan reds, this would find a natural match with beef or game, and there's certainly no shame in putting it up with such stereotypical pairings as a meat-topped pizza or red-sauced pasta dish. I was very happy with our choice, a simple dinner of conchiglie pasta dressed with a garlicky spinach-ricotta sauce dusted with Grana Padano.
WHEN TO DRINK: It's drinking nicely now, especially with food, but the robust tannins with good fruit suggest that it could benefit from three to five years under good cellar conditions.
VALUE: It's a good value for a fine Italian red of this quality and food-friendliness even at the $20 I paid, but it may be worth shopping around, as Wine-Searcher.com pegs its national average price at $18, and finds some vendors offering it in the lower teens.
WEB LINKS Here is importer Michael Skurnik's information page on the Maria Caterina Dei winery, and this link features the Dei Rosso di Montepulciano fact sheet.
This is exporter Marco De Grazia's Dei Rosso page.
Finally, this link will take you to the winery web page on this wine in English.
FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Compare prices and find vendors for Dei Rosso di Montepulciano on Wine-Searcher.com.
Here is a list of Marco de Grazia's distributors worldwide, including the U.S.
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