Comment 21

From: Pat Henderson [mailto:Phenderson@kenwoodvineyards.com] 
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 11:05 AM
To: Rulemaking, TTB
Subject: Attn: Notice No. 62

Director, Regulations and Rulings Division
Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
Attn: Notice No. 62

Sent via email nprm@ttb.gov

Dear Sir or Madam,

            I am writing to voice my concerns about the proposed regulations concerning allergen labeling for wine outlined in Notice No. 62.  I am employed as the Senior Winemaker at Kenwood Vineyards as well as a winemaking instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College.  Having a food allergy myself (shellfish) I wholeheartedly support the concept of allergen labeling in food products.  However, I feel that implementation of the proposed regulations for allergen labeling in wine will do little to improve consumer safety and will actually make maters worse for those suffering from food allergies.  My two primary points are that there is no conclusive evidence that fining agents derived from egg or milk products used in wine processing represent a threat to consumers with allergies, and furthermore that the regulations as proposed will inadvertently require me to increase the amount of these agents that are used in our wines.

            Firstly, the protein based fining agents derived from eggs and fish that are used in wine are altered by their presence in wine and are settled or filtered out before the wine is bottled.  This is evidenced by the fact that there are no peer reviewed studies that show that these cause allergic reactions in wine drinkers.  In fact one of the assistant winemakers at our winery is allergic to milk and has never had any problems tasting wines that have been fined with casein (milk protein), even in their raw unfiltered form.  The experience of our assistant winemaker is just one anecdotal situation that does not have any particular scientific relevance, yet this is exactly the kind of evidence with Dr. Rogers’s reaction in an uncontrolled restaurant setting that is being used to justify the introduction of these new regulations.

            My second concern is that wineries will not be able to use the phrase “may contain” to denote whether allergens may have been used in our wines.  Of the more than 1.2 million gallons that our winery produced last year less than 2% was treated with egg proteins, moreover our computer based record keeping system can give me instant information on exactly which wines were treated and the amount that was used.  Since wine is a hand-made product were the blends and treatments change from wine to wine and vintage to vintage in spite of our advanced record keeping system I do not know months in advance if wines treated with egg whites will be used in the final blend.   Production logistics require however that I order the labels months in advance before the final blend is determined.  This situation leaves me two alternatives:

            1. Stop using all egg-based products and reduce the quality of some of our wines that would have benefited from their use.

            2.  Have the labels for all of the wines that we make printed with “Contains egg products” and then add a small amount, less than one part per million, of egg protein that is below the sensory threshold to each blend we make whether it needs it or not to stay in compliance.

Since it is our desire to produce the best tasting wine possible we would most likely take the second alternative, which would leave all of our winemaking options open to us.  This would result in all of the wines we bottle being processed with egg protein rather than just a small fraction.  Consumers would not be best served by either of these scenarios.

            At this time the Wine Institute is working on an experimental protocol to determine if allergens that are used in winemaking remain in wine and represent a threat to consumers when best practices are used in processing.  The use of allergens in wine is not a health crisis by any measure and I encourage you to delay implementation of the new labeling until the results from the Wine Institutes research are in.  This would avoid consumer confusion as to what products people with allergies should avoid as well as any undue hardship on wine producers.  If this cannot be done I hope that you will allow us to use the phrase “may contain” on our allergen labeling as this will allow us to minimize the use of allergens as well as make the best tasting wine possible.

Thank you for the opportunity to express my reservations about Notice No. 62.

Sincerely,

Pat Henderson
Senior Winemaker, Kenwood Vineyards
P.O. Box 447 
Kenwood, CA. 95452-0447
phenderson@kenwoodvineyards.com