After the very tough job of testing various wines, I’m excited to share my Dry Farm Wines review! They promised wine that’s lower in sugar and free of synthetic additives. In turn, you get fewer headaches. So how did they stack up? Read on for my thoughts on the wines we tried and for how you can score a bottle for a penny! (For the record, I’m ready and willing to test more wine anytime for you guys.)
*Affiliate links used in this post. All thoughts and opinions are always my own.
So what is in your wine? Turns out there may be more than you think. If you caught my wine industry podcast episode, then you likely heard the long list of substances added to wine. From fake color and flavor additives to chemicals to improve mouth feel, there’s a lot packed into that wine glass!
There are 76 industrial additives approved for winemaking
Talk about a headache in the morning. Much of it is added to make the wine look and taste better, but guess what? You can have wine that still tastes great without all the junk.
A Better Option…
For a long time, Teddy had sworn off of wine because of the massive headache he’d get from only a glass or two. Was it Some sort of allergy or was the sugar getting to him? We had no idea. So when I heard about how Dry Farm Wines lab tests their wine for purity and have lower sugar, it caught my attention. Their wines are even ok for Paleo and Keto diets.
Photo by emmaloo.com
How Dry Farm Wines Stacks up vs. Conventional Wine:
- No sugar
- Lower alcohol
- Grown on family farms using more sustainable practices, like dry farming (no irrigation, which leads to heartier plants and richer grapes)
- Full of polyphenols
- Lab-tested for purity
- No additives like thickeners, dyes, and other synthetics
- No GMO yeast
- Unique and delicious taste
Dry Farm Wines Review
In our first Dry Farm Wines box, we tried a mixed box with red, white, and rosé. It was nice to be able to have a good sampling of the different wines they offer. We both have certain wine preferences, but all of the bottles were really enjoyable. How did Teddy fair? No headaches the next morning! Teddy successfully had 2 glasses of wine without waking up feeling like he got run over the next day. That’s a win!
All the wines we tried tasted great. They’re all on the dry side and have a nice depth of flavor. I dislike overly-sweet wine, so I was very happy with the taste.
Wine Tasting Notes:
Bugey Mondeuse Noire: This was the red we tried and both of our favorite. I typically go for Pinot Noirs when I drink reds and this had that nice balance of being mild and very drinkable. I imagine it would go nicely with a variety of meals.
Silvaner Weingut Andi Weigand: This white wine has such a unique taste. It really reminded me of a wine I had a few times while living in South Africa. It’s so hard to describe (especially since I don’t know all the correct wine terms). I will say it was slightly reminiscent of a riesling though not as sweet. It’s very light and even Teddy enjoyed it though he usually sticks to reds.
Strehn St. Laurent Rosé: I love rosés when they’re on the dry side and this was perfect! I imagine it’s even better on a hot summer’s day. Teddy hung in there for a glass but he’s not much of a rosé fan, so he left the rest for me. He said it was pretty good “for a rosé”.
Want to try Dry Farm Wines and grab a bottle for a penny?
They deliver curated boxes of wines they’ve fully vetted. They offer red, white, sparkling, or rosé, or you can choose a mixed box of red & white. You also select how often you want to receive a box and you choose the number of bottles to get.
If you want to give Dry Farm Wines a try, use this link to add an extra bottle to your order for a penny! No code is needed.
What better time to talk wine than right before Valentine’s Day? They also have a box of sparkling wine that’s perfect for an at-home date night!
Want to learn even more? Come nerd out with me below:
I had a lot more questions about their processes and how they select wine. So I reached out to Dry Farm Wines to get some insight. See what they had to say in our interview below:
1. It’s pretty clear that you are very meticulous when sourcing and selecting which wines to carry. Can you give us a peek into your process and what ultimately makes the cut?
Yes, great question! We are proud of our strict sourcing standards and we take great care in making sure every wine meets them. We estimate less than 1% of the world’s wines meet these standards.
Our wines go through three rounds of criteria:
-
Farm – all wines must be organically (or biodynamically) grown, fermented with native yeast, and made by small family growers who avoid machinery and don’t use industrial additives.
-
Lab – every bottle is lab tested by a certified, third-party enologist. We do this because wine labels are not required by law to state the actual contents of the bottle (like the accurate sugar or alcohol levels, for example). We lab test every bottle to find the true alcohol, sugar, and sulfur levels.
-
Taste – Every wine must taste delicious. Each bottle undergoes a thorough review by our tasting panel. We look for purity, honesty, and vibrancy.
2. Dry farming is so unconventional these days and many have never even heard of it! What are some of the benefits of growing crops this way?
In farming today, irrigation is common practice. Conventional wine companies use widespread watering to lower farming costs and increase fruit yield.
“Dry farming” means farming without irrigation. It’s where our name comes from because it’s very important to us.
Dry farmed crops rely on the moisture held in the soil from rainfall, saving 16,000 gallons of water per acre annually compared to irrigation.
Also, dry farming increases the health of the vine and the grapes. While irrigation encourages roots to stay near the surface where there is water, dry farming forces roots to dig deeper to search for their own water. That means dry-farmed vines absorb more nutrients with increased soil surface area.
Our Natural Growers are all dry farmers! They do not irrigate, even though dry farming can be more expensive and often leads to lower crop yields.
3. I’m so impressed that you go the extra mile and lab test your wine. What insights about the wine does this give you?
As mentioned above, wine labels are not required by law to state the actual contents of the bottle (like the accurate sugar or alcohol levels, for example). So, we oversee the independent lab testing of every bottle to find the true alcohol, sugar, and sulfur levels. This is especially important for people who are conscious about what they consume, like people with sulfite sensitivities or those watching their sugar intake.
Plus, we look at a whole host of other metrics, including pH and VA levels, both of which can help inform how balanced a wine is and how it will taste.
4. Many people looking for better wine want to avoid any additives. Do any of the brands you carry put synthetic additives into their wines?
Additives are very common in commercial winemaking. In fact, there are 76 industrial additives approved by the FDA for use in winemaking, including thickeners, dyes, and flavoring.
We only work with Natural Growers who share our philosophy of pure wine made without toxic additives. We vet their farming practices and visit their wineries, assessing their operations to ensure they do not use industrial additives.
You can check out Dry Farm Wines and score an extra bottle for a penny here. Here’s to healthier wine! Cheers!
3 Comments
