On “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg,” Todd White, founder and CEO of Dry Farm Wines talks about why he holds his wines to such high standards—and why the wine industry needs more transparency. “The top three wine companies in the United States make 54 percent of all the wine,” says White. He wants to require content and nutrition labeling on wine bottles, telling Food Tank, “we believe the consumer should know what they’re drinking.”
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According to White, the lack of transparency in the wine industry means that consumers often don’t understand their wine’s impact on the planet. Dry Farm’s wines come from dry-farmed grapes, or grapes produced without irrigation. “[Irrigation is]bad for the planet, bad for the vine, and bad for your health,” says White. No grape growers in the United States meet Dry Farm Wine’s natural and irrigation-free standards, says White, so his commitment drives him to source from Europe and other parts of the world. “You irrigate for greed and money, it has nothing to do with grape growing,” says White.
And because in the U.S., wine bottles are not required to have content or nutrition labels, White notes that the lack of transparency in the wine industry allows companies to hide any additives in their wines. “There’s no labeling on a wine bottle… because [the wine industry] doesn’t want you to know what’s in it,” White tells Food Tank. This upsets White because he believes consumers should know what they are consuming.
White is passionate about transparency in the wine industry as a self-proclaimed biohacker and wine-lover. “[There’s] art and science to how we shape our behavior to influence our biological and neurological outcomes.” All of Dry Farm Wines’ products contain 12.5 percent alcohol or less, which is lower than the industry standard. The wines are also “living wines,” containing beneficial bacteria and fermented with native yeasts found on the skin of the grapes. Dry Farm Wines are also sugar and carb-free, making them friendly to the Paleo and Keto diets that White supports.
