Unlike in the US, where watering musts to facilitate fermentation is permitted, the procedure remains prohibited in the European Union, other than for dissolving food additives and processing aids including bentonite.
In France, watering was prohibited in 1907 following the revolt of hundreds of thousands of Languedoc producers led by vigneron Marcelin Albert, who rallied against unregulated, adulterated wines during a period of overproduction.
But now in the climate crisis, calls are growing in southern France for the legalization of watering to reduce alcohol levels and prevent stuck primary fermentations – the OIV (International Organisation of Vine and Wine) says stuck fermentations are a common occurrence because high alcohol levels inhibit many yeast strains. Current selected yeasts designed to lower potential alcohol levels and prevent nutrient deficiencies have a limited impact on ABV levels.
"I think changes to legislation in Europe that would allow producers to add water to musts by 3-5 percent in a measured, controlled way, should be looked into," Thomas Montagne, owner, and wine producer of Château de Clapier, located in Luberon, in the Rhône valley, and former chairman of the CEVI, the European Confederation of Independent Winegrowers.
"Soon, we’ll have no other option but to add water to musts," said a reputable winemaker in Bordeaux's Graves appellation. "What will I do when I have shrivelled grapes, low yields and 16 percent ABV? My wines would be unsellable."
Rather than watering, Fernando Zamora, president of enology at the OIV, advocates the legal employment of spinning cones and reverse osmosis machines to reduce alcohol levels. Such equipment is used by large wine companies, but remains financially out of the reach for most EU producers. It is thus not a solution for many European vintners grappling with the impact of global warming in a changing climate.
With a growing number of winemakers lambasting legislators in France and the EU for adopting slow and cumbersome adaption approaches to climate change, (including the limited use of permitted alternative grape varieties in PDO appellations), some producers took the law into their own hands in 2022, by adding water to musts, a Wine-Searcher investigation can reveal.
"Several producers in Bordeaux and southern France added water by 7 percent and reduced alcohol levels from 16 percent ABV down to 13.5 percednt in 2022. It is illegal, yes, but comprehensible too," said one winemaker in Bordeaux speaking anonymously.
Watered wine and world trade
In France, the open secret is that some producers add water prior or during fermentation during remontage (pumping over) or when flushing winery equipment.
Imminent EU rule changes are not on the horizon. Adding water to musts that have high sugar concentrations reduces osmotic pressure allowing more stable fermentations, but the OIV, which advises the EU on wine rules, remains steadfast in its opposition to regulated water addition to musts, which Zamora says can dilute wine, weaken color, and increase yields and volumes.
Yet calls in France from some producers to allow controlled water addition in musts has highlighted different legislative approaches outside the EU.
In Australia, it is known as black snake fining – the black snake being the water hose. Watering to facilitate fermentations is permitted in the US, but legislative differences have become a trade issue; US wine imports to the EU for instance, do not need to state legal water additions on wine bottle labels.
"In Napa Valley, there are producers who add 3 or 4 percent of water in production but you won't see it written on the label of the bottle, it's perfectly legal; but here, despite the impact of climate change, you can't do it,” says a grand cru producer in Pomerol, a Bordeaux appellation where lower yields together with small, shrivelled berries were reported during the 2022 vintage.
The OIV's Water into Oenology report of 2021 states that the addition of water is a "real issue because there's more and more countries asking for certificates, stating that there's no water addition in the product. That's why the OIV started to deal with this issue," it reads. An OIV taskforce created to address the issue of water was established after the issue was raised at the WTO in 2019; differences in legislation regarding the addition of water can cause technical barriers to trade.
Ther OIV has embarked on new technical solutions to determine the origin of water in wine, especially in small percentage additions to volume that could come from exogenous (not from grapes) illicit additions, or rainwater, or irrigation.
Renewed calls for the regulated addition of water into musts come after renowned Rhône producer Michel Chapoutier publicly advocated the legalization of adding water or what he described as "must rehydration". Speaking at conference in Bordeaux in March 2021, Chapoutier said: "I have a vineyard with a potential production of 40 hl/ha. To achieve ripe tannins, have to wait until I lose so much volume through evaporation that the yield falls to 34 hl/ha. Why shouldn't I be allowed to bring some of what I lose through evaporation back into the cellar?
"How long will it be before alcohol levels creep up further?" he asked.
Alcohol level concerns
While the highest alcohol levels have been associated with southern France's Mediterranean vineyards, 14 and 14.5 percent alcohol levels have become the new norm in the greener Atlantic vineyards of Bordeaux in recent vintages. Despite the adoption of viticultural techniques, harvesting earlier and using selected and wild yeasts in production to reduce sugar levels in musts, ABV levels reached, in some cases – such as Saint-Émilion producer Château Valandraud – 15.5 percent in 2022.
In the hot Mediterranean climate of southern Europe, where grape ripening takes place under high temperatures, sugar levels are increasing faster than polyphenol levels – high temperatures inhibit the accumulation of these compounds; wines are more alcoholic and, in some cases, quality levels are lower.
Growers can either pick grapes when sugar levels and pH are at the correct level without grapes reaching phenolic and aromatic ripeness, or they can wait for optimal ripeness and end up with high alcohol and low acidity (high pH) wines.
In Portugal's Alentejo – one of the European wine regions bearing the brunt of global warming – several producers approached by Wine-Searcher say water additions to musts have taken place during recent dry and hot vintages. That said not all are convinced by watering, which could, if not regulated, lead to yields increasing beyond their permitted limits.
"Adding water is not a magical solution. It alters yields and the pH level in wine, which means producers would need to correct pH levels," Paulo Amaral, winemaker at producer José de Sousa said.
This year, Amaral plans, for the first time, to carry out an innovative experiment using a Cation Exchange system in which tartaric acid will be removed from Tempranillo grapes to increase pH levels (acidity), suggesting that pH levels are more of a concern currently than alcohol levels.
"Adding tartaric acid [to increase acidity] presents its own problem as, if too much is added, it can give a metallic taste to wines on the palate and alters their flavor profile," he points out.
Amaral says he picks grape varieties like Trincadeira at full phenolic maturity, but harvests Alicante Bouchet earlier when potential alcohol levels are less than about 10 percent ABV. In 2022, his average alcohol level of blends was 13.7 percent.
Likewise, Pedro Ribeiro, winemaker at producer Rocim, says he's not overtly concerned by alcohol levels and more concerned with low pH (acidity) levels.
"Phenolic ripeness is not a religion for me. Alcohol level is not an issue for me. I prefer to have low pH and acidity levels and freshness. I pick grapes very early and I don't really mind the green character anymore. In fact, it helps the style of wine I want to make. People don't mind the green aromas and flavors so much as they did a few years ago," Ribeiro told Wine-Searcher.
Concerns of over low acidity levels in wines has prompted LowpHwine (www.lowpHwine.es), a consortium formed of prominent Spanish wine producers Pago de Carraovejas, Barbadillo, Roda and Hoyada de los Lobos, wine industry companies, and scientific research centers to create yeasts that produce lactic acid to lower pH levels in wine. They are designed to enable producers to avoid having to acidify wines.
The €5.8 million ($6.3m) four-year research program, funded through Spain's CDTI (Industrial Technology Development Center) started in 2020 and has entered its final practical stage of development, Spanish daily newspaper, the Diario de Jerez said this month.
The Colour and Clarity of Wine
Moving away from chemicals
Looking northwards maybe provide options for Southern European producers. Rocim, a producer known for its collaboration with Niepoort, is for the first time this year has made still and sparkling English Chardonnay wines produced in amphorae in England, in collaboration with producer Gusbourne.
Back in Bordeaux, many producers play down concerns over high alcohol levels.
"Alcohol levels on wine bottle labels do not indicate what a wine tastes like," argues Charlotte Mignon, director of development at Château Larrivet Haut-Brion. She says old vines and the adoption of whole bunch fermentation for 25 percent of Merlot grapes bought about freshness in wines despite elevated alcohol levels in the 2022 vintage.
Despite 14.5 percent alcohol, Château Dassault 2022 tasted en primeur was remarkably fresh.
Meanwhile, Saint-Émilion producer François Despagne, owner of Château Grand Corbin Despagne, said organic and biodynamic viticulture was instrumental in bringing an adequate pH level of 3.6, bringing freshness to his 14.5 percent 2022 wines.
"Organic viticulture means I have lower pH and subsequently less sulfur addition. In 2022, I was able to produce wines with 3.6 pH level showing freshness despite alcohol levels of 14.5 perecent ABV," Despagne points out, adding that if pH is 3.7 or 3.8 then the amount of sulfur required increases exponentially.
"The use of chemical inputs in the vineyards probably stimulates the vineyard and decreases acidity levels, therefore non-organic or biodynamic producers have to increase sulphur levels to protect their vines from bacteria. Global warming means we have very hot and dry summers in Bordeaux and therefore a lot of photosynthesis and a lot more [sugar] concentration in grapes," Despagne told Wine-Searcher during a visit to his estate in June.
"When you harvest at the beginning of September, with temperatures at 30C or 32C, each day you lose 1 percent of volume as the thin skins of grapes means more evaporation. So, the more you wait, the more you concentrate. For me, this is one of the reasons why it is important to be organic, because I am lover of pH."
Emmanuelle Fulchi, winemaker at organic producer Château Bellefont-Belcier in Saint-Émilion, and former winemaker at Château Angélus, says the use of large foudres vats are used to ensure pH levels are maintained at adequate levels during the aging of wine. "There is less reduction of tartatic acid in foudres – which we use to age a third of our wines," Fulchi told Wine-Searcher.
Although the use of amphorae is renowned in Alentejo, they are increasingly commonplace in Bordeaux, where producers are using less wood to help produce wines showing freshness.
There is much to praise about the 2022 vintage in Bordeaux and elsewhere in Europe, but some producers bemoan the overriding perception that global warming and a changing climate is impacting their farming at much faster rate than the adoption of any environmental adaptation legislation required to assist them in their survival.
Irrigation, viticultural practices, and more flexibility over grape variety choices and development, may provide some solutions in some regions. When I ask Despagne about the eventuality of the regulated addition of water to must to reduce alcohol levels, he said: "We need to keep an open mind on climate change adaptation rules."
