Jell-O

Is your wine standing in for a jello-shot? Is this the effect some winemakers are after? Have you experienced pudding in your wine? By this not just a plop in the glass, or one of the newer jiggle and go breast implants, but a wine that feels more like it is a forty-five minutes away from actually settling fruit in the mold than a bechamel that has been thickened with a bit of flour. I have experienced this wine assault increasingly. My first awakening to it was a few years back in Prague with their local wines, and now it seems to have encroached upon the American Market and I come across it way too often. Have you questioned it? Do you like it? Have you used it? Could this possible be the cause? (Taken from the Scott Labs Catalogue) Gum Arabic for Prevention of Colloidal Sedimentation and for Soft Palate Enhancement ......... Stabivin SP contributes a perception of sweetness and softness on the palate. Add to the wine after filtration just prior to bottling basing levels on winemaker trials and preference. One kilogram of liquid Stabivin is equal to one liter...... NOTE: The manufacturer's (Laffort's) recommended dose for Stabivin and Stabivin SP exceeds the current legal US limits for gum arabic additions. Gum arabic is a GRAS product and has been used at the suggested levels in Europe for several years. However, you may use Stabivin and Stabivin SP at the elevated recommended levels ONLY after requesting and receiving permission from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. ............ I've written about the use of gum arabic derivatives before and yesterday, when I tasted some well-reviewed Napa and Carneros samples priced between $20-$35, (Chardonnay, Merlot and Pinot) I was confronted with a pudding like consistency, I let out a typical Alice Sari like rant. Truly, I don't know why I take wines like this--confected ones--so personally. Live and let live? Why not. However it was a weak moment. I tasted these, filled with the middle of winter doldrums, and was wondering about the next step was in life, where to go, what to do, what is the next goal. Is there even a next step. Deciding which bottle of wine to open is a far easier task than how to live the last bits of life in a meaningful way. Yes, I opened those wines in the moment of a drama queen low. I posted. I named names. Yet, in the middle of the night, the torture and self-doubt started to creep in. Feeling as if my comments were out of line (because there is always a human being behind even a bad bottle of wine who could possibly get their feelings hurt by careless words) I revved myself from bed, waited for the inspirational tone of the Mac start up and retracted the arrows I slung, knowing they would leave holes in cyberspace that would one day scar over. I spend so much time around real wine, that when I am reminded of those manufactured and passed off as the real thing, I want to put on the post traumatic stress disorder suit and go on the attack. Super Girl saving the world from Bad Wine. I believe the love of Stabivin and other Gum Arabic additions started in Europe. The fellows over at WineSurf had a good survey that might warrant a look over. try reading this