J Agric Food Chem. 2002 Jan 2;50(1):177-84. Links

Wheat gluten used as a clarifying agent of red wines.

Marchal R, Marchal-Delahaut L, Lallement A, Jeandet P.

Laboratoire d'Oenologie, URVVC, UPRES EA 2069, Faculté des Sciences, Université de Reims, BP 1039, 51687 Reims Cedex 2, France. richard.marchal@univ-reims.fr

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy caused a situation of crisis leading the public and winemakers to lose their confidence in the use of gelatin as a fining agent and to reject animal proteins in general. Therefore, we started the search for a substitute for gelatin and egg protein by comparing gluten with these fining treatments currently used. This study concerned the fining of a Burgundy red wine (Rully, Controlled Appellation). For 6 g/hL, enzymatically hydrolyzed glutens (EHG) gave better efficiencies than deamidated glutens. The efficiency of the egg proteins treatment was situated between those of the hydrolyzed glutens and deamidated glutens. For 12 and 18 g/hL, turbidities of the wine treated by five glutens were 67 to 86% less than that of the control wine. Better results were obtained with egg proteins for short kinetics particularly. Wine fining with gluten was always better than gelatin treatments. The differences between the five glutens became very small when the dose incorporated in the wine increased. The volumes of lees generated by fining with gluten are situated between the values obtained with egg proteins and gelatin. After fining, immunodetection with gluten polyclonal antibodies failed to detect residual deamidated gluten.

PMID: 11754564 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Post #1

Diane wroteon July 16, 2009 at 11:16am

Has anyone seen the ICOR postings with this information this week?
See below

"It seems that there is a lot of controversy as to whether there is gluten in wine or not. This stems from the fact that indeed, ageing barrells can indeed be sealed with a flour paste. Follow this link to see that this tradition is alive and well: http://www.stavin.com/barrelsystems/insert.htm Also, another consideration, especially for organic, specialty or vegan wines is the method of 'fineing" or clarifying the wine of sediments and impurities. This link from Frey organic wines explains this process: http://www.freywine.com/vegan-wine.html In talking with E&J Gallo representative yesterday, I was informed that import wines are more likely to be stored in barrells sealed with flour paste, as are wines from smaller wineries. The rep informed me that ALL Gallo wines, including Peter Vella box wine and Turning Leaf box wines are totally gluten free from picking to bottling. The wine is aged in 1000 gallon stainless steel casks, and they use a gelatin based fining agent. From the research I have done, and the responses I have gotten from a few wineries, I would say there is DEFINITELY a chance that there could be gluten in certain wines. I am supplying the 2 different responses I got from Inglenook and Black Box Wines to clarify this. If you have ever not felt well or felt like you got gluten somewhere after a meal that included wine, and never suspected the wine but could not figure out what else could have sickened you---now at least you know it was not all in your head. It could have been the wine!!

Response from Inglenook Winery:

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee our wines are gluten free. I'm
sorry for the disappointment.

Cordially,
Tammy Mikus
Consumer Relations

Response from Black Box Wines:

July 10, 2009

Dear Mrs. Berry,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us at Black Box Wines Consumer
Relations. We appreciate hearing from you!

We do not test our products for gluten. However, to our knowledge, they do
not contain it.

We buy our barrels from many different cooperages. As a result, some of
our barrels may have been sealed with wheat paste.

Fining agents are used on a lot-by-lot basis to optimize the quality. Some
fining agents contain proteinaceous materials. Proteinaceous fining agents
are used to react with color and/or tannin molecules to make them removable
by subsequent filtration. Both the fining agent, the color and/or tannin
it reacts with are removed by the filtration process.

All of our fining agents are approved by the Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade
Bureau (TTB, formerly the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms)

One of our standard fining agents contains Micronized potassium casseinate
[casein is milk protein], food grade gelatin, egg albumin and other food
grade components.

Where one's health is of a concern, we always recommend that you consult
with your physician.

I hope the information we have provided is helpful. We appreciate your
interest in Black Box Wines and hope we can look forward to serving you as
a valued customer.

If I may be of any assistance in the future, please feel free to contact me
at 1-800-836-9463 Ext. 67674, Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm
Eastern Time.

Sincerely,

April Stewart
Consumer Relations Representative
Black Box Wines

Reference # 263701

And finally, the response from Gallo Wines:

Dear Mrs. Berry,

Thank you for contacting us. We appreciate your interest in Peter Vella Winery.
In response to your inquiry, all of the wines and champagnes produced by E. & J. Gallo Winery in the United States are in compliance with the Food and Drug Administration's current proposed rule defining the term "gluten-free", which means the products contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten.

We hope this information is helpful and appreciate you giving us this opportunity to answer your question. It is our further hope you will continue to enjoy our fine products for many more years to come.

Sincerely,

Peter Vella Winery

Consumer Information Center
Case ID#: 362134

If you respond, please click on "reply" without changing the subject header of this email.

I hope this information helps!! So indeed, wineries need to be contacted in the same exhaustive manner as food companies---especially since there are no ingredient labeling laws for alcoholic beverages yet!"

Post #2

Joe wroteon July 22, 2009 at 10:36am

This topic has come up several times. Personally, I think it's a red herring. If the paste were applied in such a way that the wine could reach it, and leach out the flour, it wouldn't seal the barrels.

As to fining agents, yes, they're proteins. As far as I understand the fining process, the protein attaches itself to the impurities, and the whole mess is filtered out. Notice that the proteins they use are already a gel, a liquid, or something that can easily form a gel or liquid. Wheat gluten isn't mentioned as even being used. I suppose someone who is allergic to albumin or bovine casein might want to stay away from wines fined with those two items, but I doubt that any protein is actually left in the wine.

(total aside--Of bigger concern to me is the gelatin, which could be sourced from any animal. This is why good kosher wines are more expensive than their non-kosher counterparts--they wouldn't use most of the readily available gelatins, and may not use casein (depends on whether it's considered sufficiently removed from milk to not be dairy).)

Joe Ellison