It is a complex issue, but certainly not a question of right or wrong, more a question of personal taste and well-being: above all, we should be wary of generalizations and ultimately appeal to the common sense and responsibility of each individual.

We are talking about dealing with alcohol and alcoholic beverages.

What is certain is that humans have been confronted with the consumption of alcohol since time immemorial. Eating fresh or preserved food inevitably means that people consume alcohol with food and drink in varying concentrations. Many foods contain alcohol by nature. You would have to give up a lot of things if you wanted to avoid alcohol completely. At times, people may even have consumed considerable quantities of it for their diet. The different alcohol tolerance of different ethnic groups is no coincidence.

What’s more, the human body is capable of processing alcohol to an astonishing degree.

A large proportion of alcohol is metabolized in the liver. A person of normal weight is able to metabolize around 240 grams of alcohol per day due to their physiology. This is due to the enzymatic reactions that are responsible for the breakdown or conversion of alcohol in the body. No one doubts this from a scientific point of view.

Consuming 240 grams of alcohol a day will certainly be too much in the long run. The harmful side effects of such a level of consumption would quickly become apparent. So far, so good, the producers of alcoholic beverages have also been propagating the responsible use and moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages for a long time.

Until now, about one tenth less was considered a safe daily amount for men and half less for women.

That is 20 to 25 grams of alcohol per day for men and 10 to 12 grams of alcohol per day for women. These quantities were previously regarded as a recommendation for moderate consumption.

The consumption of alcoholic beverages in Germany is currently at this level, provided one is able to correctly calculate the alcohol content and quantities consumed. This moderate consumption was previously also supported and recommended by the German Nutrition Society (DGE ), which has now revised its view in a new position paper.

The DGE now recommends avoiding alcohol altogether according to the motto “No safe level”, thus adopting the argumentation of a WHO study, which turns out to be quite a hodgepodge of different, sometimes contradictory studies, which the DGE has enriched with its own information for its position paper.

The DGE admits that there are currently no current representative figures for the average intake of alcoholic beverages in Germany. But then quotes a figure published in 2008 from the National Nutrition Survey II (NVS II, 2005-2007), which presumably has little to do with the reality of today’s consumption.

This raises the question of whether the flat adoption of this recommendation by the DGE is scientifically tenable or whether it is more the result of a contemporary fashion trend.

In a separate position paper published at the end of October 2024, representatives of the German wine and brewing industry point out that the DGE’s recommendation is not scientifically tenable and that the DGE itself doubts the validity of the studies used.

I think that the recommendation of moderate consumption of alcoholic drinks can continue to apply in the future and that everyone should decide for themselves whether they want to consume alcoholic drinks or not.

By claiming that any consumption of alcoholic beverages is harmful, the DGE is joining the ranks of missionary zealots.

The position paper of the wine and brewing industry is definitely worth reading and certainly helps to make the discussion more objective. The paper, which is packed with references, can be found here: https://deutscher-weinbauverband.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Verbaendeposition-No-safe-level-Okt.-2024.pdf

Hermann Pilz

If that weren’t enough, the topic also pops up in countless publications and radio and television reports. Whether in lifestyle magazines, guidebooks, test magazines or on the websites of consumer advice centers, it is a popular topic that can be illustrated well with atmospheric Christmas decorations. The good old days with romantic half-timbered houses, kind grandpas and angelic maidens are returning. As if mulled wine had always been there.

But mulled wine, as we know it today, is a young drink. Mulled wine first appeared at Christmas markets in southern Germany and Bavaria in the mid-1960s. The Nuremberg schnapps distillery Gerstacker claims to have been the first to offer mulled wine at the city’s traditional Christmas market. Its predecessors as a hot drink for high society were the legendary Feuerzangenbowle or a hot punch made from fruit juices and spirits.

Mulled wine only began its triumphal march during the years of the economic miracle, and soon producers were bottling and marketing mulled wine as a ready-to-drink beverage. The growing food markets were eager for products to heat up the busy Christmas period with inexpensive mood enhancers. It was mostly fruit juice producers or distillers who devoted themselves to the subject. It is estimated that 60 to 80 million liters of mulled wine are consumed in Germany during the season, which runs from mid-October to New Year’s Eve. Sales plummet after the New Year. What has not been sold by then turns out to be a slow seller, as experienced merchants know.

The largest producer, with over 20 million bottles of mulled wine, is the Nuremberg-based company Gerstacker, which has long been involved in disputes with competitors and imported wineries over the naming rights to mulled wine. Gerstacker’s best-known mulled wine today is called “Nürnberger Christkindles Markt-Glühwein mit dem Zusatz g.g.A”, which may be made from different origins but, like the “Thüringer” mulled wine, is considered a wine with a protected geographical indication.

There are many other hot drinks from the same company, including cherry and blueberry mulled wine or mulled wine with mead as one of the other variants. Non-alcoholic mulled wine and organic mulled wine are also part of the range, alongside punch, cider, Federweißer, sangria and many other mixed drinks. In addition to the Gerstacker brand, the products are also available under other names, which are more or less private labels of various retail chains.
For years, the major producers have also included a number of wineries such as Peter Mertes from Bernkastel-Kues with his Rotwild Glühwein or the Hechtsheim winery in Mainz, which today belongs to the empire of the French winery and vineyard group Grands Chais de France.

The Hechtsheim winery offers a Nuremberg Rauschgold Engel mulled wine from the Nuremberg Christmas market, also with the PGI label, which at first glance looks quite similar to the Gerstacker mulled wine. The market is highly competitive and producers are aware of the importance of Christmas symbols and decorations. The Germans’ hearts are warmed at Christmas time and so the Hechtsheim winery also quotes the story on its website of the “skilled Nuremberg master craftsman who created the first example of the tinsel angel many hundreds of years ago – as the image of his beloved daughter. At night, his child appeared to him as an angel in a dream, wearing a robe of gold, velvet and silk. The next day, the father recorded this vivid memory: “The tinsel angel was born”.

The Nuremberg Chirstkindl in the shape of pretty blonde women still delights visitors to the Christmas market of the same name, which is considered by many to be the model for the 4,000 or so Christmas markets that now open in Germany every year. Christmas markets are a real German export hit and, like the Oktoberfests celebrated around the world, are now enriching the culture in other countries.

Like mulled wine from the Hechtsheim winery, Gerstacker’s Nuremberg Christkindles market mulled wine is made with natural flavors or extracts thereof. Natural flavors can be obtained from plant, animal or microbiological source materials using physical, enzymatic and microbiological processes.

The EU Flavorings Regulation sets out the legal requirements and so natural flavors must occur in nature, but this does not mean that the flavors used in the food industry come solely from the fruits or spices mentioned. Over 10,000 flavors are known to food chemists today and probably more than 2,500 flavors are used in the food industry.

Legally speaking, mulled wine is not a trivial product, even though almost every consumer should know what is needed to make home-brewed mulled wine: a decent wine, sugar, cinnamon and cloves as well as orange and lemon slices. The mulled wine can be further flavored with vanilla pods and a variety of other spices such as star anise, nutmeg or cardamom. The Gerstacker winery, for example, claims to use around 25 spices for its mulled wine according to a secret, time-honored tradition.

Homemade mulled wine, copyright Michael Kugel

In wine law, mulled wine is defined as an “aromatized wine-based beverage” that contains at least 7% and less than 14.5% alcohol by volume. The alcohol content of the finished products is usually 10 to 11 percent alcohol by volume. Mulled wine is red, if white wine is used, the term “mulled wine made from white wine” must be used.

The addition of alcohol and water is prohibited. Mulled wine can be sweetened with grape must and/or sucrose or other natural sugars. Sorbic acid and sulphurous acid up to 200 mg/l may be added as preservatives, which must be stated on the label, as well as the ingredients and nutritional information. These have been mandatory since December 8, 2023 and can usually be accessed via a QR code on the label. The sugar content is not without its usual 80 to 100 grams of sugar per liter, making mulled wine a real calorie bomb. If you want, you can specify the flavor on the label. This ranges from “extra dry” with less than 30 grams per liter of sugar to “sweet” with over 130 g/l.

In addition to the large producers, many wineries and winegrowers naturally also want to get a slice of the hot mulled wine market. If the wine is made from own products in the “labeling company”, the product may be offered as “Winzerglühwein”. As the aromas used in mulled wine can easily settle in the bottling plants, equipment and hoses of winegrowers and wineries, most businesses shy away from bottling in their own cellars and commission wineries or contract bottlers to fill the bottles. The risk that even traces of mulled wine aromas can be detected and make the contaminated wines unfit for consumption is causing many winegrowers to refrain from bottling mulled wine themselves.

Comment

There is a lot of criticism of the massive flavoring of many foods. Many products would be inconceivable without synthetic flavors, including both artificial and nature-identical flavors. The relevant industry offers a wide range of flavors and flavor enhancers in the form of natural and synthetic products. Just think of the many vanilla, raspberry and strawberry yogurts for which neither the fruit nor the flavors of the expensive vanilla pod are used, but which exude an intense aroma. Artificial and synthetic vanilla flavors are probably the most widely used flavors.

From a young age, people today are accustomed to massive aromatization, be it food and luxury foods, personal care products, medicines or even textiles and everyday consumer goods. The effect of many flavors on the human organism is in many cases unknown and unresearched, and the labeling of products is still a closed book. The criticism that we all too easily surround ourselves with a multitude of chemical substances and compounds and absorb them into our bodies without knowing what effect they have cannot be dismissed out of hand.

Hermann Pilz

The range of winter hot drinks is extensive. The popular branded mulled wines usually cost less than 3 euros in the shops. Mulled wines from wineries often cost twice as much.
Image rights Michael Kugel

On the occasion of Vinitaly, the existing regional associations from South Tyrol, Trentino, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardy and Piedmont launched PIWI ITALIA and a working group for the promotion of products made from fungus-resistant grape varieties.

The working group consists of producers of wines and grape varieties that are defined as resistant to fungal diseases in vines. Representatives from Italian research also belong to the group. The association has set itself the goal of strengthening the activities of the regional groups and spreading the cultivation of varieties resistant to fungal diseases in other regions.

There are currently 36 varieties approved in Italy, 18 red and 18 white, in the regions of Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lombardy, Marche, Piedmont, Veneto and Alto Adige/Tentino. The number of wineries dedicated to the cultivation of PIWI varieties in Italy is currently stated by the association as 165.

You can read more about current developments in Italy in the following interview with the President of PIWI International, the South Tyrolean grape grower Alexander Morandell.

FWA: What is the current status of the cultivation of PIWI varieties in Italy? Is the figure of around 2,000 hectares on which PIWI varieties are now cultivated in Italy correct?

Morandell: There are currently 2,000 hectares of officially registered vineyards planted with resistant grape varieties. I think that the Veneto region accounts for almost half of this.

FWA: At present, most wines are usually marketed as “Italian wines” (editor’s note: formerly the “table wine” category) with an indication of vintage and grape variety: are there any plans to create IGT or even DOC wines?

In Italy, it is not permitted to write the variety on the label if it is VINO (formerly table wine or Vino da Tavola). This has only been possible since the change in the law in the EU that new varieties from crosses between vine species (whereby the proportion of Vitis vinifera genes should be at least 95%) can be developed as IGT and thus the variety can/may be written on the label. This was an important first step.

The task now is to find out which PIWI grape varieties are really interesting for widespread cultivation in the individual wine-growing regions. Currently, it only makes sense to include these in the respective DOC grape variety list.

FWA: What are currently the most important PIWI grape varieties? Which ones are most in demand?

Morandell: Depending on the list of approved grape varieties, there are major regional differences. The range is also constantly being expanded. It is difficult in regions where there are only or almost only DOC wines on the market, such as Piedmont. Current favorites are Souvignier Gris, Soreli, Fleurtai, Bronner, Sauvignon Nepis, Johanniter (all white) and, among the red varieties, Merlot Khorus, Cabernet Cortis, Cabernet Volos, Prior, Cabernet Cantor, Merlot Kanthus, Pinot Regina, Nermantis, Termantis.

FWA: Is there enough planting material available? What about support from the state?

MorandelI: I think so, planting material is available. The changes don’t happen so quickly. Bottlenecks only arise when larger wine-growing areas permit cultivation and therefore a lot is planted at once. For the future, we need meaningful cultivation trials and time. In this respect, action has been too hasty in the past and is still too hasty in some cases today.

Another problem is the lack of communication between the players – winegrowers, cellar owners, authorities, breeders and propagators. It is unacceptable that a grape variety is suddenly approved and neither the breeder nor the vine propagator are prepared for it.

Thank you for the interview

The questions were asked by Hermann Pilz

At Vinitaly 2023, the regional associations launched PIWI Italia, the 16th country section of PIWI International.

The project is funded as part of the implementation of the “Organic from Baden-Württemberg” action plan and has been running since the beginning of 2021. Ernst Weinmann and Kolja Bitzenhofer from WBI, who are supporting the project in terms of production and marketing, presented the project and its goals together with nine committed producers.

“The large number of red PiWi varieties now grown by winegrowers and cooperatives in the Baden and Württemberg growing regions would make it difficult to publicize the varieties individually and establish them on the market,” argue the initiators of the project. In contrast to the white PiWi varieties, where some names such as Cabernet Blanc, Souvignier Gris, Sauvigniac or Caldaris Blanc have already become more established, it is much more difficult to make varieties known in the red wine sector. The solution is a Community trademark that combines a “coherent and catchy story with a clear wine profile”.

As a solution, the umbrella brand “Tamino” was created, which was selected from a number of suggested names. With the support of Medienagenten, Bad Dürkheim, the brand positioning, the design of design elements and a communication concept were developed.

While producers have a great deal of freedom in their choice of varieties and all red PiWi varieties can be used with a minimum proportion of 85%, the production guidelines and wine profile for the cuvée are strictly formulated: A maximum yield of 80 hl/ha, a minimum of 85 ° Oechsle and more than 12.5 percent alcohol by volume are required. A BSA must be used in the ageing process and at least 50 percent must be stored in barriques, large wooden barrels or stainless steel, and then with chips and micro-oxygenation. Before bottling, 12 months of barrel or tank storage are required. The residual sugar content may not exceed 6 g/l.

In the subsequent tasting, the wines presented by the nine producers present confirmed the wine style aimed for in the production guidelines: dark ruby to purple in color, fruity berry aromas with slightly spicy-vegetable notes, subtle but palatable use of wood, pleasant phenolic structure and a harmonious balance of acidity, tannin and residual sugar.

There are now 30 producers involved in this pioneering project, of which nine producers – Weingut Hummel, Weingut Kuckuckshof, Bio-Weingut Maier, Weingut Andreas Dilger, Winzergenossenschaft Britzingen, Weingut Schmidt, Weingut Zähringer, Staatsweingut Freiburg and Roter Bur Glottertäler – were able to present their wines.

As different as the individual cuvée compositions of the wineries are, all the wines showed a uniform character of dense, fruity, spicy-Mediterranean wine style.

With Tamino, the Baden-Württemberg wine industry is presenting a type of red wine that is more likely to be found in the Romance wine-growing countries and considerably expands the existing German red wine spectrum.

For consumers, Tamino offers an excellent accompaniment to food that promises a long storage period, which is exactly what is needed for optimal presentation, as representatives of the producers such as Martin Schmidt and Andreas Dilger emphasized at the presentation of the wines.