I was musing about how backwards the world of food is and came across this post by Alice Feiring on Saignee. I already knew this, but wine is bizarro too.

Any wine that deploys aromatic yeasts, enzymes, bacteria, new oak, toasted oak, oak additives, tannins, gum arabic, reverse osmosis for concentration or alcohol removal, spinning cone, excessive sugar, mega-purple thermo-vinification, cold-soaking, anti-foaming agents, ultra-sulfuring and god knows what else, in any combination, is far from natural. To argue the point is being combative, or desperate.

This is an unstoppable story, and the plot line gets juicier. California is returning to native yeast. We have our clutch of natural winemakers, are own band de cinq! The reliance on additives is being challenged. But industrial wine will not go down in the rip tide. Lots of people just like thick wine they can depend on year after year. However, to make sure they don’t lose market, brands looking for the loophole will squirrel a way to natural wine flavor extensions just the way Häagen-Dazs has their (actually decent) Five Ingredients. (“Because we make Häagen-Dazs products in the most natural way possible-…. .” Yes, natural IS problematic, but so what?) A name and definition can’t prevent the inevitable dilution and commercialization." ~ Alice Feiring, posting at Cory's 32 Days of Natural Wine.