DOES NEW WORLD WINE MEASURE UP?

Do you worry about whether or not the wine you drink measures up to European standards?  Wine Spectator contributing editor Matt Kramer wondered that recently as he was sitting in a bar in Salzburg sipping a Zweigelt.  Aah, the life of a wine writer.

Kramer, in a Wine Spectator article, points out that in the past three decades great advancements have been made in winemaking the world over.  European wines were once thought unmistakably superior in quality to wines from Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile and, yes, America.

In the article, Kramer goes on to suggest a scheme for judging New World wines against European ones.  Variety, originality, technical prowess, finesse and vocabulary are the criteria he came up with for measuring wines from different regions head to head.

It's not a bad idea - sports fans have always relied on a list of criteria to rate a team from one era against one from another.  Such comparisons help pass the time while drinking at the bar, but they rarely produce definitive results.

Why should it matter?  What is to be gained by trying to pick a winner between the 1927 Yankees and the 1976 Reds, except the burnishment of fan pride?  Actors often complain about the competition they are thrust into by the Academy Awards.  Why should there have to be a winner if the nominees all did a great job of acting?

Are European wines better than California wines?  The ultimate test is your own palate.  There's plenty of room in the big ol' world for great wine from everywhere.  Others have said it before me, but it bears repeating: drink what you like.  Your favorite wine is the best wine in the world, and nobody can argue that away from you.



Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter.

FROM JUDGMENT OF PARIS TO TWO-BUCK CHUCK

Everyone's always looking for a bargain, and wine drinkers are no exception - well, maybe the guy who paid $124,000 for a bottle of Burgundy is.  My guess is he doesn't rummage in the bargain bins.

Wine writer and $10 wine proponent Jeff Siegel - known in the blog world as The Wine Curmudgeon - passed along a tip on a book due out in the fall of 2011 which promises to give bargain hunters the low down on the low-priced brands

Siegel has an interest in the book - he's in it - but it sounds like a tome that would be of interest to wine lovers who live on a budget.

The book is called "A Toast To Bargain Wines: How Innovators, Iconoclasts and Winemaking Revolutionaries Are Changing the Way the World Drinks," and it's due out in November.

The author - George Taber - wrote the book on The Judgment Of Paris, the famous blind tasting in which wines from California beat out French wines for the first time.  In his new book, he will detail how some wine producers are looking to lower-priced wines as a part of their marketing strategy.  Plenty of budget wine recommendations will also be offered in the book.

WINE TRENDS EXPLORED AT LONDON INTERNATIONAL WINE FAIR

Wine aficionados always want to be on the leading edge of wine trends.  At the London International Wine Fair, held in May, wine experts identified and explored trends in the wine world they felt were worthy of inspection.

An article in The Independent cites a trend toward wines with citrus - specifically lime - aromatics as one of the next big things these wine experts were expecting.  Surprising blends and a deep and abiding love of Pinot Grigio were also singled out as major directions in the wine world.

A spokesperson for the event said the Austrian Rotgipfler is one grape those in the know are keeping in their sights, as well as the South African wine called Zevenwacht.  That's a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier and Chardonnay.

The lime and citrus notes of Riesling and Gewurztraminer are said to be winning over wine drinkers everywhere, as is the Italian bubbly Prosecco.  According to the spokesperson, many people find Prosecco's lighter approach preferable to the drier, heavier feel of Champagne.

The event spokesperson claimed that people seem to be "moving away from pure fruit... towards more restrained, elegant characteristics."



Follow Randy Fuller on Twitter.

HISPANICS ARE CHANGING THE WINE INDUSTRY'S FACE

The face of the wine industry is changing, according to an article in Wine Enthusiast magazine.  The article features comments from Vanessa Robledo, president of Black Coyote Chateau in Napa Valley, a winery which was cofounded by an African-American, Dr. Ernest Bates.

Robledo says Mexican-Americans have always been interested in wine, and as that demographic segment matures and prospers, they are seeking out some of the finer things in life, including wine.

She talks about going to Mexico several years ago and finding that Mexicans were interested not only in wines produced in Mexico, but from all over the world.  She feels that Hispanic wine drinkers have had barriers put up for them, notably by restaurants specializing in Mexican food which served only beer and tequila.

One Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles, Loteria Grill, offers Mexican wines now and in Mexico Chef Lugo is helping to put Mexican wine on the same level as beer and tequila in his Mexico City restaurant.

SPENDING MONEY ON WINE

Numbers from the U.S. Census are cited in a Wine Enthusiast article which shows how Americans are spending their wine dollars.

The numbers say the American public spends $36.3 billion dollars a year on alcoholic beverages.

Women buy more than half of the wine for American households.  It's a trend that is gaining momentum over the past few years, particularly in the white, Asian and African-American demographics.

Wine Enthusiast notes that Baby Boomers are being squeezed by other societal segments.  Wineries appealing to a Spanish-speaking audience are advertising on Telemundo, while African-Americans are being courted on BET.  Millennials are also the target of more advertising dollars.

The magazine says childless singles and single parents are now the second largest wine-buying category, even though single parents tend to earn and spend less.  WE figures this will lead to more coverage about the health aspects of wine and more stories on how to stretch the wine dollar farther.

Restaurants are still struggling with recession woes and are looking to wines by the glass rather by the bottle, to help boost revenues, according to the article.

INDIANA LAWMAKERS HIGH ON INDIANA WINE

An article in Indiana's Herald Bulletin reveals that Indiana legislators are trying to find new ways to help the Hoosier State's growing wine industry.

When the Indiana Wine Grape Council was created in 1989, it had only nine wineries on the books.  Today, Indiana boasts more than 50 wineries in the north and south parts of the state.
The Grape Wine Council says Indiana wineries get 800,000 visitors each year, with the Indiana wine industry adding $33 million to the state's economy.

Indiana wine is seen as a huge benefit for the rural areas where most of the wineries are.

A bill has been introduced which would increase the number of festival permits allowing wineries to serve and sell wine, and it would call on the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission to study how other states bolster their wine industries.

It may not seem like a very large step, but Indiana, like many states, still has antiquated laws on the books affecting the sale of wine - laws that were put there after Prohibition.  Even an Indiana ban on selling wine on Sundays - a law put on the books in 1816 - is still in effect today.

THE BILL THAT HATES WINE LOVERS: H.R. 1161

In her must-read wine law blog, On Reserve, Lindsey Zahn writes about the Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act - known last year as H.R. 5034 - which is rearing its ugly head again this year as H.R. 1161.  Zahn says this year's bill is identical to the second version of the proposed legislation introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives last year.

Zahn quotes the main sponsor of the bill, Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah, as saying that he goal of the Act is to recognize and reaffirm that alcohol is different from other consumer products, and that it should continue to be regulated by the states with unprecedented powers to regulate wine in interstate commerce.

There has been strong reaction from opponents of the bill.  Democratic congressman Mike Thompson of California is quoted as saying, "The federal government has no business picking winners and losers in the wine, beer, and distilled spirits industry.  Yet the Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act would do just that by banning the direct shipment of wine and other forms of alcohol in the U.S."

The bill, according to Thompson, "would allow individual states to replace federal standards with their own, making it harder for out-of-state producers in California and elsewhere to comply with other states’ laws."

Many states already have antiquated alcohol laws on the books which serve to prop up what is known as the "three-tier system" of distribution, in which state-supported middlemen stand between wine producers and their desired products.

WINE TEETH

If you drink red wine, you may have noticed a tendency for the wine's color to show up on your teeth.  This can result in a purple smile that's a common sight at wine tasting events.

An article in the online publication Palate Press offers some advice from a dental expert, Dr. Dan Marut, a dentist in Medford, Oregon.

He says the wine's acidity is at fault for breaking down your tooth enamel, which makes the teeth more porous.  This allows the color in a red wine to attach itself easily to your formerly pearly whites.  Even white wine does this damage, but has no color to leave.  However, after drinking white wine you may find stains from other foods becoming a problem.

Dr. Marut says don't reach for the toothbrush - not immediately, anyway.  Using abrasive toothpaste on your acid-washed teeth may actually do more damage.  You should rinse thoroughly, wait an hour and then brush your teeth.

As you have heard all your life, flossing is stressed by dental experts, and this case is no exception.  Regular visits to your dentist for a complete cleaning are also recommended.

WINE CONSUMERS WARY OF BLOGGER RECOMMENTATIONS

A survey in the Wine Intelligence Internet and Social Media report finds that independent bloggers are the least trusted wine information sources in the U.S., the UK and France.  The internet is still a popular destination for those seeking wine information, though.

People seem to be more in tune with their local wine merchants when seeking information to help with their wine purchases.  According to the survey, 80% of wine shoppers in the U.S. say they trust the person on the other side of the counter, as opposed to the person on the other end of the Internet.

There's a lot of evidence, though, to suggest that Wine Intelligence patched together a quilt of lies and BS to come up with these findings.  That issue is explored in-depth by Amy Corron Power on Another Wine Blog.  It's worth reading.

As an independent wine blogger myself, the Wine Intelligence results seem downright embarrassing at first blush.   But, if the data is accurate, is the it surprising?  It would stand to reason that people would trust someone they can talk to face-to-face - someone who knows their taste and palate based on previous purchases - rather than someone with whom they have no personal connection.

I have long advised friends and readers to look to their palates for answers about which wines to buy.  I can't tell you what you will like - only you can find out that for yourself.  One of the best ways to do that is to become acquainted with a wine dealer you trust, preferably one who stages tasting events in the store.  Go to these events, talk to your merchant and you will be able to find wines that are right up your alley.

I just hope you trust me when I tell you that!

According to the Wine Intelligence data, online sources most trusted by American consumers are websites of wine shops, newspapers and small-production wineries.  Facebook comes in ahead of supermarket websites on the trust meter.

"We have known for some time that consumers trust people closest to them for recommendations about wine," says Jean-Phillippe Perrouty, Research Director at Wine Intelligence.  "This data shows the power of the Internet as a way of leveraging this trust as the consumer's search for wine knowledge moves online."

WINE LAWS ROUNDUP: WASHINGTON, NORTH DAKOTA, MARYLAND

Here are a few items that have come in recently on the wine news wire.

Farmers markets in and around Olympia, Washington will be allowed to stage beer and wine tasting in the future.  The Peninsula Daily News reports that state legislation has okayed a pilot project to allow one brewery or winery per day to offer samples of less than two ounces to shoppers.  Don't get too comfortable at the tasting table, though.  Each customer will be limited to four ounces of samples per day.

On the wine law blog "On Reserve," Lindsey Zahn reports that North Dakota has recently passed legislation allowing that state's winemakers to sell their product directly to stores, instead of requiring them to go through a wholesale middleman first.

Tom Wark's Fermentation blog notes that Maryland's legislature has introduced bills which would allow residents of the Chesapeake Bay State to have wine shipped directly to them.  cautions, though, that this would apply only to wine produced in the United States, not imported wine.

WINE NEWS: LAWS ON WINE

Checking for some wine-related news stories recently, a few from three different areas of the country caught my eye.

In El Cajon, California there's an ordinance under consideration which would place a ban on beers and wines with a high alcohol content.  If passed, the city ordinance would mean fans of Porto and Port-style fortified wines would have to leave town in order to buy them.  City fathers hope the ban would cut down on El Cajon's problem with drunken transients - but, while keeping fortified wine off the store shelves, the ban would not affect the sale of a two-dollar hip flask of vodka.  And what about a 15.5% Cabernet. Is that considered a high alcohol wine?

In Kansas, state lawmakers are holding hearings on the possibility of allowing grocery and convenience stores to sell beer and wine, which presently is not permitted in the Jayhawk State.  State officials are probably thirsty for the $72-million increase in state and local taxes the sale of beer and wine in grocery stores would bring.

Maryland's state legislature is considering raising the wholesale alcohol tax.  The bill would add $215-million to the state's coffers by increasing the wine tax from 40 cents to three dollars, the beer tax from nine cents to $1.16 and an even greater jump for taxes on distilled spirits.  One Maryland brewery claims their excise tax would rise from $20,000 per year to $270,000.

ANCIENT ARMENIAN WINERY DISCOVERED

Archaeologists digging around in the mountains of Armenia have found what they believe to be the world's oldest known winery.

National Geographic reports the researchers have unearthed a wine press, fermentation vessels and even some old dried up grapevines believed to be about 6,100 years old.  One of the archaeologists, from UCLA, says it is the "earliest, most reliable evidence of wine production."

It appears that the ancient winemakers stomped the grapes with their feet, allowing the juice to run into a vat where it was fermented.  The scientists say the cool, dry conditions of the cave where the winery was found would make a perfect place to store wine.

Traces of malvidin - the plant pigment that causes red wine to be red - was found on some drinking cups also located there.  However, the lack of tartaric acid might point to the wine having been made using pomegranates instead of grapes.

Evidence of wine has already been discovered dating back 7,000 years in Iran, but there was no winemaking facility discovered there.  The new discoveries lead scientists to believe that Armenia, Georgia and neighboring countries may be the birthplace of viticulture.

There were also some burial sites discovered in the area, leading the team to suspect that wine was a big part of the civilization's funeral proceedings.

According to the report, these discoveries are important because of what they show about prehistoric societies.  Vine growing represents an advanced form of agriculture and the knowledge of how to make something with culinary and nutritional value out of what were once wild grapes indicates a certain level of sophistication.

CHINESE WINE SCANDAL

A wine scandal has surfaced in China.  Tainted wine was pulled off the shelves of Chinese stores and a number of Chinese wineries were shut down when government officials found chemical additives in wine that was falsely labeled as a better brand.  The wine in question comes from Changli county, in a Province known as "China's Bordeaux," an area which produces about a third of China's domestic grape wine.

Yahoo News reports the irregularities came to light over the weekend.

There are reports that at least some of the wine consists of only about 20% actual wine, with the rest being sugar water mixed with other chemicals, including artificial colors and flavors.

One of the wineries shut down was reported to have used nothing but water and chemicals to make its wine, a wine which sells for less than a dollar and a half a bottle.

The Chinese government says some of the additives found in the tainted wine could cause headaches, heart irregularities and cancer.

Six people were detained in connection with this latest food scandal in China.

STEALTH WINE

Maybe you've been shopping for wine and have come across a brand you've never heard of before.  Maybe the merchant told you it was a good deal, because it was wine from a very famous winery which has been bottled under a different brand.

An article by Dave McIntyre, which appeared in the Washington Post recently, explains that this can happen when the wine is sold in bulk by the winery to another party who bottles it and sells it as his own.

According to the article, "stealth" labels, as they are called, are appearing a lot in our down economy.

Wine producers that may sell, for instance, a Cabernet Sauvignon for $75 a bottle, sell the wine in bulk to another party.  This party then bottles it with his own label and sells it for $20 a bottle.  Same wine, better price.

The thing is, it's hard to know what's a stealth label and what is not.  Purchasers usually make a secrecy agreement with the winery.  This protects the original brand.

It also gives you an opportunity to pick up some real bargains - if you can spot the stealth labels!  Ask your wine merchant to point you in the direction of these good values.

WINE VERSUS BEER

On this weekend's CBS Sunday Morning, Barry Petersen did a report which included some comments from a UC-Davis professor of brewing, Charlie Bamforth.  He’s a beer man, and he made some comments that were downright inflammatory about our favorite beverage, wine.

For starters, Bamforth claims beer is a more sophisticated drink than wine, but I’ll limit my comments to those statements of his which merit them.

He states that Thomas Jefferson was a brewer, which may be so.  Some important documents may have been written in pubs over a few pints, but Jefferson devoted his life to wine.  He grew grapes in an attempt to make wine.  He traveled several times all over Europe in an effort to find great wines and, in the process, made volumes of notes about their winemaking processes.  It’s folly to think he cared more for beer than wine.

Bamforth talks about how beer is the Rodney Dangerfield of beverages - it gets no respect.  In many cases, he’s right.  But there are literally hundreds of quality beers readily available to beer drinkers these days.  Why is the top three still Bud Light, Miller Lite and Coors Light?  Oh, sure, wine sells to a lowest common denominator audience, too.  We’ll call that a draw.  Suffice it to say that when a beverage-based parallel is needed for low-class vs high-class, Joe Six-Pack does not live in the Champagne District.

Finally, when Bamforth compares beer tasting to wine tasting, he chides wine tasters for spitting out their samples.  “We swallow,” said Bamforth, “none of that ridiculous spitting.”  It’s worth pointing out that when you are at a wine tasting event where you expect to taste 50 to 60 different wines, even at one ounce per taste, without spitting, you would be consuming a gallon of wine!  After that kind of bender, you would be in no shape to drive home.  So I think Bamforth should back off on his derision of wine tasting habits which are actually beneficial to society.

It’s a good-natured rivalry, this wine versus beer thing.  But really, there’s no need to take potshots at one another.  Drink what you like.  Whether it’s beer or wine, good for you!  There’s plenty of enjoyment to go around!

WINE AND THE ECONOMY

Do you have wineries in your area?  If you live in the United States, the answer is probably “yes,” because there are now wineries in all 50 states.  These wineries and the associated businesses that serve them are making a huge contribution to their states’ economies, and to the nation’s economic health.

The annual Vintage Virginia Festival is a good example of how tourism affects the wine industry.  The Virginia Wineries Association depends in great part on this festival for revenue.  The only other revenue stream the VWA has is dues from members, and they only have 54 members, according to Wine Business Monthly.  This wine festival is marketed heavily all along the East Coast and its success in large part determines how much good the organization can do for its member wineries.

The Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association says that the wine and grape industry now has a 1.35 billion dollar impact on the Lone Star State.

Missouri Wines.org shows that Missouri’s economy sees a boost of some $700 million dollars annually from wine. - and those are 2007 figures.

The king of wine states in the U.S., California, receives an economic infusion of around 52 billion dollars a year from the wine industry, according to the Wine Institute, and the nation as a whole gets a 162 billion dollar shot in the arm from wine.   

WashingtonWine.org reports that wine is responible for three billion dollars a year to the state of Washington’s economy.  

A recent study, cited by Wines & Vines, showed how even local economies benefit from wine.  The study claims that hotels in Walla Walla, Washington have experienced a 25% growth in room occupancy since wines from their area have been receiving high scores in Wine Spectator magazine. 

GRAPE CAPERS

Several news items from the wide world of wine caught my eye recently.  You may have heard about these incidents involving the theft of grapes, right off the vines.

In Kirkland, WA, an estimated one and a quarter tons of Bushvine Mourvèdre grapes were taken from the Grand Reve Vineyard.  The crooks apparently left the outer row untouched in an effort to hide the fact that the fruit from the inner rows of bushes was gone.  Other grape varieties nearby were not taken.

Then, a few days later, the BBC reported that Villeneuve-les-Beziers was hit by grape thieves.  According to the report, illegal harvesters used the light of a full moon and a harvesting machine to strip the French vineyard of its 30-ton crop of Cabernet Sauvignon.  A farmer in the area said he had heard of similar crimes being committed in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.  Using a harvesting machine, the farmer said, would have meant the grape caper could have been pulled off by only two people.  The vineyard was reportedly quite isolated, so the robbers probably worked unmolested.

A German vineyard near Hamburg was stripped of nearly its whole crop of grapes intended  to be a premium wine used primarily as a VIP gift.  The Telegraph states that only a basket of those grapes remained.

In at least the French and U.S. cases, the vineyard owners registered some surprise at the lack of solidarity among grape growers that the crimes represent.  To say the least.

These thefts indicate a professional level of expertise, not only to pull of the heist but also to know what to do with the grapes once they are stolen - or at least to know who would be interested in buying the illegally obtained fruit.  One would imagine that it's rare for a truck to pull up unannounced at a winery and offer to sell a ton - or thirty - of grapes.  These criminals had to know what they were doing.  A French detective is quoted in the Telegraph that he believes a “wine mafia gang” is to blame for that theft.

I asked a few wine people for their feelings on these events.  I was curious about how common grape thefts like these are, and whether there were any personal stories that mirrored these actions.

Dave Potter, of Municipal Winemakers, told me these are the first crimes of this nature he's heard of in the U.S.  However, when Potter worked in Australia for a Bulgarian winemaker, he heard stories about how it was not uncommon for roving thieves to do their worst in the dark of night in the winemaker’s homeland.  "He said they'd come and take the crops at night before the winemakers were ready to pick.  It ended up being a bit of a race, and the wineries always struggled to get the fruit ripe."  Potter added that because of this, "that winemaker was always surprised at how the Aussies were able to get the fruit so ripe."

Amanda Cramer, winemaker for Niner Wine Estate in Paso Robles, took a break from a busy harvest to say she had never heard of grapes being stolen from a vineyard.  “It’s quite a bold crime, to pick all that fruit without being seen.”  Cramer wondered about the possibility of an insurance scam.  However, at least in the French case, the vineyard was insured but not the grapes themselves.

Richard Maier, proprietor of St. Helena Road Vineyards and Winery in Napa Valley was also unaware of these events, or any others like them.  Maier says, “We have never had a problem here, a little out of the way and hard to find.”

Peggy Evans, Executive Director of the Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association, echoed the previous sentiments.  She was familiar with these recent events, but had never heard of them happening in California.

Tyler Coleman, under his guise of “Dr. Vino,” asked in his blog, “Will this outburst lead to the rise of Chateau Razorwire, a fenced vineyard with a panopticon in the center?  Of course, back in the day, some of the best vineyards in Burgundy were 'clos,' or walled vineyards.  Chateau Razorwire would have a tad less charm.”

While searching the internet to see if any other incidents of this type appeared, I came across an article from the California Farm Bureau Federation website from harvest time 2007.  In it, accounts of metal theft from California vineyards in Kern and San Joaquin counties were discussed.  It was pointed out the money made by selling the metal equipment for scrap was a pittance compared to what the thief could have earned had he simply asked the grower for a job.

There was also an account of a half ton of grapes stripped from a vineyard, but the van the thieves were using to carry away the loot got stuck in the mud and was abandoned.  Another 700 pounds of grapes were dumped on the ground behind the vehicle.  Vineyard thieves have apparently upgraded their skills in the few years since then.

WINE NUTRITION

Health-conscious types are always worrying about the nutritional value of the food they consume.  There's good reason for that.  For instance, if you have tried to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from your diet, you have no doubt found that there is almost no prepackaged food available in regular supermarkets that lacks that substance.

The wine drinkers I know aren't losing too much sleep over how nutritious their favorite beverage is.  In case you are wondering, the nutrition facts for wine, according to Calorie Count , are as follows:

One glass of wine - one 3.5-ounce glass of wine - contains 85 calories, none from fat, 5mg of sodium, no fat, no cholesterol, 2.8 grams of carbohydrates, less than a gram of sugar, almost no protein, no vitamin A or C, 1% Calcium and 2% Iron.

You won't find the familiar nutritional grid on a wine label like you do on other food and beverage items.  Winemakers are not required to conform to that regulation.  For one thing, the nutritional labeling you see on prepared food is the result of regulations from the Food and Drug Administration.  Wine is governed by the Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).  Rarely do federal agencies get a first-column check mark in "working and playing well together."

So, while not a particularly nutritious item to consume, wine does not appear to be harmful from a dietary standpoint.  Aside from nearly 11g of ethyl alcohol - the major detriment which causes wine to receive a nutritional grade of "C" from Calorie Count - and some trace elements, the main ingredient is water, 89g per serving. How bad is that?

Obviously, the abuse of alcohol takes its toll in ways not measured by a simple nutritional profile.  Also, some are allergic to alcohol and react to wine with flushing in the face and neck.  Some people simply have no tolerance for alcohol and shouldn't drink at all.  But let's go forward assuming no alcohol-related health problems and a healthy, light-to-moderate wine consumption level.

After water and alcohol, sugars come in a distant third place on wine's ingredients list.  Sucrose, glucose, fructose and maltose are present, but at least there's no high-fructose corn syrup in there.

The type of wine has a lot to with the nutritional numbers. The nutritional profile above seems to be about the same as that for white table wine.   Red wine shows far less sugar and sodium amounts.  Dessert wines contain much higher levels of sugar but the numbers on other ingredients are pretty much the same as in a table wine.

All this attention to the nutritional aspect of wine is rather silly, of course.  We don't drink wine for its nutritional value, we drink it for taste, for aromas, to complement a meal, for metaphysical or philosophical reasons.  We drink it because we like the way it goes with a salad, with a cool night, a sunny day, a fireplace, Chet Baker, Chet Atkins, the news, a movie or haiku.

The bottom line is, there appear to be no nutritional roadblocks that would prevent you from enjoying a glass of wine.  Conversely, there are no compelling reasons - nutritionally speaking - to include wine in your diet.  If you need to focus on the nutritional value of the things you consume, your time would be better spent looking into high fructose corn syrup than into wine.  Cheers!