by James Halliday and Joel B. Payne
Australian winemakers want to double the amount of water that can be added to their wines. The Winemakers Federation of Australia, which includes well-known producers such as Foster´s, Hardy und McGuigan as members, have petitioned
the Food Standards Board in Australia to raise the limit of water that can be officially added to wine from 30 to 70 millilitres, which would be approximately ten percent of a standard bottle.
According to Tony Battaglene, the federation s director, most Australian wines already contain at least the tolerated maximum of 30 millilitres. This will not affect quality, he assures. We are not interested in lowering the alcohol levels or changing the flavour profile of our wines, he declares. Instead, the producers are talking about insuring that the water used to dissolve, for example, betonite, a legal fining substance that is stored as a dry powder, is legal. In addition, cultured yeasts used to induce fermentation also demand the use of water as a solvent before they can be added to the grape must. Water can also enter wine in small quantities during filtration.
