Breathless title, I know. But that is how the distributor of Velcorin jokingly refers to the chemical they sell, so I think I’m safe in being a little sensational.
About a week ago I mentioned that after talking with folks at ZAP that I heard about a fairly toxic chemical that winemakers were using to kill microbes (yeast, mold, bacteria) and stabilize wines. It turns out that the chemical has been around and in use, with FDA approval I might add, since 1988. So basically I’m pretty late to the party on this one. Cyril Penn at Wine Business Monthly has even written a piece on new mobile Velcorin dosing services back in July of 2005.
In any event, since ZAP I’ve been on the phone with a few folks getting the skinny on dimethyl dicarbonate, the chemical name for Velcorin. It turns out that the trick in using Velcorin is in getting the proper training on the dosing machines that you use to inject the liquid sterilant into wine. The FDA has only approved its use at levels of 200 ppm or less, so proper dosing is really important. The dosing machines (pictured above) are quite expensive, around $50,000. This is a large part of the reason why Velcorin’s use isn’t more widespread. That and, well, the fact that it’s basically poision.
Velcorin is a toxic combustible liquid that can be absorbed through the skin, through eye contact or through fume inhalation. The MSDS sheet is chock full of super-fun health hazards. Here’s a taste:
Potential Acute Health Effects:
Hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant), of ingestion, of inhalation. Severe over-exposure can result in death.Potential Chronic Health Effects:
CARCINOGENIC EFFECTS: Not available.
MUTAGENIC EFFECTS: Not available.
TERATOGENIC EFFECTS: Not available.
DEVELOPMENTAL TOXICITY: Not available.
Repeated exposure to a highly toxic material may produce general deterioration of health by an accumulation in one or many human organs.Special Remarks on other Toxic Effects on Humans:
Acute Potential Health Effects:
Skin: Causes skin irritation.
Eyes: Exposure to vapor or mist will cause eye irritation.
Inhalation: Inhalation of vapor or mist may be irritating to mucous membranes and upper respiratory tract. May affect behavior/central nervous system. Symptoms may include somnolence, tremor. May also affect respiratory system (dyspnea), and metabolism
Ingestion: May cause gastrointestinal tract irritation.
The toxicological properties of this substance have not been fully investigated.
Scary stuff. But when introduced into any aqueous solution Velcorin quickly breaks down (hydrolyzes) into CO2 and methanol. The reaction is a complete one, so there’s no need to worry about ingesting any crazy toxic substances when you drink wine treated with Velcorin. Thus the FDA approval.
Still, with new wine labelling laws potentially on the horizon, I think it would be a pretty tough sell to try and convince consumers that any wine treated with Velcorin was a “natural” beverage. Sunlight into wine is romantic. Sunlight into wine by way of Velcorin is something else entirely.
I know I don’t want to ever have to put it on my label. PR nightmare.
MIke
3 years ago
Ther are quite a few well known and highly rated winerys that promote unfined and unfiltered wines that use DMDC. Talk to you local mobile bottler, they will usually tell you who is using it. Fun thing to know.
Josh
3 years ago
Hey Mike,
Juicy gossip is always fun…
I don’t really have a problem with high end wineries using DMDC in principal. HCl is nasty stuff as well and it doesn’t prevent me from cooking with salt.
I just don’t see how I could mesh our brand and Velcorin into anything resembling a palatable package for wine consumers.
Thanks for the comment!
jhajdu
3 years ago
I worked with one particular winery that was steril filtering everything because of some brett in the cellar… it sucked!!
for some of the reserves we brought in the Velcorin no more filtering … it didnt suck anymore ;’ ) and that was nice
toni reid
3 years ago
~~I know I don’t want to ever have to put it on my label. PR nightmare.~~
Wouldn’t want to give consumers the power to choose, now would we???
Josh
3 years ago
jhajdu,
No argument from me – I’m sure Velcorin has its place in emergency situations.
Toni,
I think you may have misunderstood my post – I’m not against labelling. What I said was that if I did use Velcorin, it would be a nightmare to have to explain to the public if it were listed on the label.
The intent of my post was to inform, not to obfuscate. I apologize if that wasn’t clear.
John
2 years ago
Hi folks. Wine’s various dirty little secrets are on my mind quite often these days. Whether DMDC, PVPP, artificial tannins etc. It does gripe me to be put at something of a competitive disadvantage by those willing to adopt any interventionist technology that comes down the pike while still pretending to be traditional winemakers (usually by omission). Where will this lead us? Is a person who makes twinkies for a living still a baker?
Kipper
2 years ago
Waaa, waaaa. These types of discussions are ludicrous. Chemicals and technology aren’t dirty little secrets any more than modern medicine is the “dirty little secret” of current life expectancy and general quality of life. “Pretending to be traditional winemakers”??? What the heck does THAT mean? Making low alcohol, brett infected, poorly colored wines from heavily virused poorly trellised vineyards while wearing a powdered wig and wooden teeth? Get real. People play golf on artifically greened grass, buy peaches at their grocer in JANUARY and take antibiotics every time they get a COLD. Its 2008 folks…welcome to the modern era!
Josh Hermsmeyer
2 years ago
Kipper,
Good points. But I don’t think the discussion itself is ludicrous. I think it’s necessary.
I think if we’re going to use a chemical or a technique to create a product that people want and enjoy we should also be happy to lift the kimono on how exactly we do it.
Using Velcorin doesn’t make a wine inauthentic. Using Velcorin and not being honest about it does.
Transparency is key. If we communicate our rationale passionately and credibly the market will respond.
Thanks for the comment!
Keith
2 years ago
There are many things that we use in the worlds of wine making and others that use such chemicals. The only fear comes from a lack of understanding about velcorin. Consider electricity, when misunderstood and not properly handled and respected, it can kill you in less than a second yet we still use it every day in a controlled manner. Velcorin is the same way, The only safety issues are in the treatment process (which can only be done by certified professionals I might add). The FDA has done extensive studies to show that it breaks down completely into Methanol and cO2 as Josh pointed out. There is absolutely no logical reason to be afraid of drinking a wine that has been treated with velcorin. Within 24 hours of being in solution it breaks down (far faster than anyone could drink a wine after being bottled anyhow). If there is any danger to Velcorin it is to the production staff and certainly not the consumer. My general comment is that Velcorin is no different from any other tool we use, as humans, we always fear what we do not know.
John
2 years ago
Last time i checked METHANOL was toxic. Would you drink wood alcohol?
Josh
2 years ago
John,
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing :-p
Methanol, that toxic substance you seem to be super concerned about, is a natural byproduct of fruit fermentations. ( http://www.ajevonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/26/4/184 )
Vitis vinifera have the lowest amounts present in fermented musts (compared with native American varieties) but it is still there.
However, the amount of methanol in wine (treated with velcorin or not) is vanishingly small. The FDA says that amounts in wine less than 0.1% are safe. The highest amount seen in a wine is 0.02%. That’s at the very high end. As I said, methanol is created in much smaller concentrations in vinifera wines (less than 0.01% typically). The amount added by Velcorin dosing is, literally, insignificant.
Fun fact: A fatal does of methanol is between 100 – 250 ml.
To reach anywhere near that level from wine, it would take hundreds of liters. And at that point you’d already be dead from ethanol poisoning.
But wait! There’s more!
To top it all off, ethanol, the main byproduct of fermentation “interferes” with the body’s ability to break down methanol into formaldehyde and formic acid (the stuff that hurts you). In fact the prescribed antidote for methanol poisoning is actually administering ethanol! 1.5 ml of 100 proof per lb of body weight diluted to a 5% solution.
Velcorin or no, you are quite safe from methanol poisoning when drinking wine.
Trevor
1 year ago
Wine is fall of lots of shit including bugs gut and possum blood! i work in a winery!!
Vic Cherikoff
1 year ago
Scary stuff indeed. Particularly when there are natural alternatives such as Herbal-Active and HerBev available (both are trade marks of Cherikoff Global P/L). They are also cost-equivalent to the common chemical preservatives (benzoates, sorbates and metabisulphites) while simply labeled as natural flavors on the finished products.
The equipment cost, the training of staff needed, the extremely toxic nature of the material and the lack of approval in many countries in addition to its main action being against yeasts (Herbal-Active and HerBev are broad spectrum antimicrobials) means the Velcorin might disappear as quickly as it came onto the scene.
Mikhall Litvienko...
1 year ago
Jarvey juices, Gnutrient water, and almost all cordials within W.A. VELCORIN is used!!! they say it isnt ‘bad’…………………………… yeah..Asbestosis was’nt ‘bad’ until people started breathing it. if this post costs me my job, it will be worth it as long as someone knows…. Oh yeah, read your toothpaste ingredients……… Bolgate 25hr ‘Contains Titanium Dioxide’ .
Joe Mosden
1 year ago
I know of one winery where it easily burned through 20+ cases before they got the Velcorin amounts down to the proper level. Do you think they destroyed the first 20 overdosed cases? Do you want to drink one of those bottles?