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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Healthy Living / How to Be Sure Your Wine is Gluten Free

How to Be Sure Your Wine is Gluten Free

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • Gluten in Winemaking+−
    • Common Fining Agents
  • How Much Gluten is in Wine?
  • 3 Strategies to Avoid Gluten Contaminated Wine
  • Drank a Wine Cooler by Mistake?

is wine gluten free

Most people assume that wine is gluten-free food. It is made from the fermented juice of grapes, after all, not wheat, barley, triticale or rye.

However, for much of the wine on the market, wheat is frequently used during the winemaking process! Fortunately, there are ways to find truly gluten-free wine with just a few simple strategies up your sleeve.

Gluten in Winemaking

According to winemaker Paul Frey, wine can become contaminated with gluten at two different points during the winemaking process. (1)

The first is via the fermentation container.

The traditional European practice for making wine barrels is to put a small amount of wheat paste in the croze. This is the groove carved into the top of the staves that secures the barrel head. (2)

The wheat paste provides a very effective leak-proof seal.

This practice is common for barrel makers (cooperages) in other parts of the world as well, including North America.

The second way wineries use gluten is during the fining process.

Fining or clarifying wine involves adding a substance that will react with the color and/or tannin molecules. These particles bind to undesirable solids and drop to the bottom of the barrel because they are heavier than the wine.

Filtration then easily removes them.

Common Fining Agents

Some of the most common fining agents in winemaking include:

  • Micronized wheat
  • Potassium caseinate (milk protein)
  • Gelatin
  • Egg albumin
  • Isinglass powder (from fish bladders)
  • Food-grade bentonite clay

How Much Gluten is in Wine?

Given that wheat is commonly used during the winemaking process, how much residual gluten remains?

With regard to the amount of gluten in wine aged in barrels sealed with wheat paste, only one tiny study provides any information.

In 2012, GlutenFreeWatchdog.org tested the gluten levels of two different wines finished in barrels sealed with wheat paste. The finished wines contained less than 5 and 10 ppm gluten, respectively. These levels are well within the FDA’s 20 ppm standard for gluten-free foods.

Many wineries are aware of the potential for gluten cross-contamination, so they thoroughly steam-clean or pressure wash their wheat-sealed barrels before use.

Theoretically, this reduces reduce the possibility of any bits of wheat getting into the wine. So far, the limited data appears to support this practice.

For wineries that use micronized wheat as the fining agent before bottling, studies have also shown that residual gluten levels are below the 20 ppm threshold required for gluten-free status. (3)

According to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, most wines in the United States comply with the FDA’s gluten-free regulations.

The operative word here is “most”.

What if the wine you choose isn’t gluten-free?

How would you know until you’ve had some and perhaps experienced a negative reaction?

3 ways to spot gluten free wine

3 Strategies to Avoid Gluten Contaminated Wine

If you are gluten-free and concerned about the potential use of wheat during winemaking, I would recommend three strategies.

First of all, skip the wine coolers and any other types of wine with added color or flavoring as those are potentially made from barley malt.

Second, check wine labels very carefully! If you are ordering in a restaurant, ask to see the bottle before ordering a glass. You can do a quick look-up of winery practices on your phone if necessary.

Before you buy a bottle of wine, do some research.

What types of barrels do they use?

Some use stainless steel tanks instead of barrels. While this eliminates the risk of gluten contamination, it introduces the chance of heavy metal leaching since wine is an acidic liquid (pH 3.0 – 3.6). Furthermore, the wine remains in contact with the stainless steel for a very long time, giving ample opportunity for nickel contamination to occur.

Your best bet is to find a winemaker who uses traditional oak barrels sealed with a gluten-free wax substitute instead of wheat paste.

Third, patronize wineries that use a gluten-free fining agent such as food-grade bentonite clay or egg albumin. For reds, some winemakers use gentler methods for clarifying such as aeration.

Drank a Wine Cooler by Mistake?

If despite your best efforts to avoid gluten contaminated wine, you drink a glass that has made you ill, remember that accidental exposure to gluten is treated like food poisoning.

Since wine is allowed on most gut-healing diets, but gluten is not, a friend of mine who is a Certified GAPS Practitioner encounters this problem frequently!

She suggests swallowing a couple of capsules of activated charcoal with a glass of filtered water, repeating the process again a few hours later as needed. This helps the gluten pass right through your system without being absorbed.

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Category: Healthy Living
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: Amazon #1 bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (11)

  1. Hugh Thompson

    Nov 29, 2020 at 2:59 pm

    Could you tell me if it is safe for a person with Celiac Disease to drink an Intense Brut Champagne Blend wine that is from the A.R. Lenoble Winery located in Champagne, France?

    Thank you.

    Reply
  2. Natura Wines

    Apr 22, 2020 at 6:51 am

    Hey Sarah, great read. Many wine drinkers are gearing towards gluten free wine for sure. Looking forward to more great articles you decide to write.

    Reply
  3. Aradhana

    Nov 8, 2019 at 4:57 am

    Thanks for sharing such amazing post. I appreciate your efforts

    Reply
  4. lesleyfromkent

    Oct 23, 2019 at 3:24 am

    Good article about a not little-known subject. Thanks for thinking about this and sharing your research. I’m not allergic [or sensitive] to gluten, but I follow the subject closely because I seem to be very sensitive to yeast – and often the 2 seem to go together (wheat&yeast: I do so love bread … so very sad). I didn’t know about gluten in the wine-making process, I now understand it. Thanks again for the information.

    Reply
  5. Nicki

    Oct 16, 2019 at 12:06 pm

    I would have appreciated at least a small list of various priced wines from companies that produce them without using gluten. Also would have liked to see some sources. I feel that you unnecessarily may have freaked some people out. I have celiac and have never had an issue with any plain-Jane wine out there, cheap or middle of the road in price. I have had merlots, cabernets, chardonnays, pinot grigios, and my all time favorite: pinot noirs. And not one reaction. Ever.

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope MGA

      Oct 16, 2019 at 1:57 pm

      The referenced sources are linked in the article with a number and parenthesis if you want to take a look again 🙂

      I also provided a guide at the end for how to find gluten-free wine. Avoiding wine coolers for example that are frequently sweetened with barley malt.

      I think that approach…teaching people what to look for…is best!

    • Andreas

      Mar 4, 2020 at 11:12 am

      Not even sluggishness the next day after a glass of wine.

  6. Blather

    Oct 16, 2019 at 3:23 am

    I’m more concerned about gelatin than gluten. Is the gelatin for pigs? This is a no-no for people who require for religious purposes a kosher diet.

    Maybe you can do an article about wines that are Kosher?

    Reply
    • Ilana

      Oct 28, 2019 at 11:13 am

      Wines with a reliable, internationally recognized kosher certification will not have come into contact with any pig gelatin, or any other non-kosher substance. In fact, if a wine does not have kosher certification, it is not kosher at all (no matter how pure the ingredients are) because there are some very specific Torah laws regarding the wine-making process itself. Furthermore, a kosher-for-Passover certification would ensure there is no gluten involved in the process, since grains are strictly prohibited from use in wine for Passover kosher production.

  7. pi2r2

    Oct 16, 2019 at 2:19 am

    The article is interesting but hides behind the gluten veil.

    Where are some references?

    If gluten is so bad, why is it so bad?

    Thank you for the article. I don’t buy it. Too many assertions, not enough science.

    Reply
  8. Sandra Gracey

    Oct 15, 2019 at 8:55 am

    I always wondered why I have trouble with wine coolers but not straight wine! I always thought it was the sugar, but I bet it was at least partially the gluten too.

    Reply

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