Netscape Forum Poll: Genetically modified yeast in wine?

[Robin Garr]

Jumping off from this forum discussion, we'd like to know what you think about the use of GM yeast in wine. Are you all for it, adamantly opposed, or somewhere in-between? This week's ballot offers you the opportunity to express your opinion; then click the link above to join in the conversation.

<b>Click here to vote</b>

I voted Adamantly Opposed. Why? Because I am already more or less opposed to yeast inoculation. I believe that the natural yeast thriving in vineyards and wineries to be an integral part of individual terroir and therefore individual expression and taste. What could possibly be the upside of using GM yeast? A more thorough, controlled, and consistent (to my point of view predictable and mundane,) fermentation? A wider range of chemical and phenolic compounds to greater enhance the flavor of wine? Encouraging ever-higher ABV? I don't want to muddle the issue, but what we are really talking about here is the eventual acceptance of GM vines. I'm not worried about health consequences nor am I anti-science. I am opposed to the de-naturalization of wine and the turning and twisting of an agricultural produce that has been made (basically) in the same way for for thousands of years into the end-product widget and commodity that some already see it to be. This Wine-Machiavellianism cannot stand if we wish to retain individuality, serendipity, and scarcity in wine. If we are against these things, why do we belong here?

I don't care if the yeast or vine was genetically modified fast track or by the traditional slow method of selective breeding - the result in the glass is all that matters to me.

FWIW, I think the poll has fundamental problems. Like Bill S., what matters for me the result in the bottle. I don't care whether yeast is GM or not because I don't believe GM yeasts present either food safety issues or escape issues that don't already come with other strains. I don't believe labeling should be mandated for the same reasons I believe the "Contains Sulfites" label requrement is bogus.

The point is, those like me who really don't care have no option in this poll beyond "Other". There are three options for the Luddites among us varying from "Adamantly against" to "OK with a label" but the most obvious choice for the rest of us is missing. Also, when you have two camps, those opposed and those who don't care, it's predictable that you'll generate more energy among the former than from the latter. This poll doesn't seem to have been a hot seller anyway but the asymmetrical results should come as no surprise.