Following the recent bushfire disaster, wine laboratories across the country have been working tirelessly to test grapes for potential smoke taint. ABC News reported on the major issue of smoke taint, mentioning Vintessential’s very own Greg Howell.

As part of a recent project to develop a new Test Kit for the determination of Sulfur Dioxide for use with Spectrophotometer and Discrete Analysers, we tested a batch of commercially purchased wines labelled “low preservative”, so we could be sure that the Test Kits worked across the full range of sulfur dioxide levels. To our surprise, a number of these wines were not low at all! This is of concern to our industry as some consumers are very interested in and aware of the preservative levels of the foods and drinks they purchase. Is it time for the wine industry to decide what the level of sulfur dioxide should be to qualify for a “low preservative” statement?