The idea for Lumen’s ginger wine was born, as all good ideas are, at a party.
Winemaker Lane Tanner had acquired excellent ginger from a holiday in Hawaii. She had friends over, cooked with it, and wondered what to do with the leftovers. Wouldn’t it be really cool to make a ginger-infused wine?
She poured Chardonnay in a Tupperware, added ginger, and popped it in her fridge. “Of course, it got pushed to the back and forgotten,” laughs her colleague Will Henry.
A few months later, when Tanner found it, she discovered something strange. “It was the craziest thing,” says Henry. “She said, ‘The wine is as fresh as the day I pulled the cork. It didn’t oxidize at all.’ She got goosebumps.”
A fluke turned into a few sample batches of Chardonnay spiked with ginger. A few years later, Lumen is using ginger instead of traditional sulfites.
The great sulfite debate
Sulfites are controversial. On one side, many winemakers argue that sulfur dioxide (SO₂) is essential for making a stable, ageable wine. It stops oxidation, preserves the wine, and battles bad microbes. Others argue that sulfites mask the character, identity, and expression of a wine, or that it gives drinkers headaches.
“Sulfites absolutely work to preserve and stabilize wine for long-term enjoyment, but they can also have an impact on color and aromatic intensity,” says Paulien Lhote, the winemaking director at Chandon.
Winemakers have been looking at alternatives. They’re playing with everything from green tea to chestnut flowers to alternative yeasts to find a viable substitute for sulfurs—ones that preserve the wine but don’t override flavors.
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Ginger
Lumen’s Hey Ginger! Wines are made by sourcing local ginger, masticating it in a food processor, adding it to large cheese cloth bags, and steeping it in the wine for several days.
Lumen’s ginger wines do taste ginger-y but not aggressively so—a pét-nat, a Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir are subtly floral with a kiss of spice. Wine Enthusiast’s Tasting Department designated the 90-point Chardonnay as a coveted “Editors’ Choice” pick. In his review, Writer-at-Large Matt Kettmann says, “The nose shows baked peach, lemon syrup, and floral aromas, hinting at that ginger. The palate rides deeper into that spicy floral flavor, with stone fruit and intriguingly savory hints of parmesan rind.”
Will ginger wine be the next big thing? Perhaps not, but it is a promising alternative to sulfur.
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