New mom Cameron Diaz has entered the wine-making biz – and they say having kids doesn’t drive you to drink. I’m kidding! In this case, the wine actually came first so maybe it’s wine that drives you to kids. Whichever way the pendulum swung here, Cameron is officially a wine-maker now. Cameron and her business partner, Katherine Power, got tired of feeling like crap after having a second glass of wine, so they set out to make a cleaner wine, and the result is Avaline, Cam’s organic label.
On how Avaline came about: This was two years in the making, with my partner, the cofounder, Katherine Power, who also has (the fashion brand) Who What Wear. And it was one of those things where we were just like, you know, we love wine so much, but we were finding that we were not kind of wanting to have that second glass because we were feeling like, ‘oh it’s not really worth it. I get a headache, I don’t feel so great.” And we started to ask ourselves, “well, maybe there’s a way to make wine better for us.”
On clean wines: We asked our friend, who’s a wine expert, and we went through the process of making wine, she informed us there are 73 ingredients that are allowed to be put into the wine-making process that – I’m not saying all wines have it and not saying that every wine maker uses it – but they’re allowed to be used. And what we realized is that, when we sourced wines that didn’t have those additives or were minimally intervened, we felt better.
On the guesswork of labels: We realized that when we went out, and went to a grocery store or a wine shop or to a restaurant, nobody could tell us if the wine was organically made with organic grapes, which for us, is the beginning of it.
On making her label clear: We wanted out drinkers to know, as they walked down the aisle, that didn’t have to guess. They knew exactly what the wine was because our labels are like no other label. We tell you that the wine is made from organically grown grapes. We tell you what it doesn’t have inside it. The things we knew were important to our consumers.
On Cameron’s love of the science behind it: I love this. This is the kind of stuff (where I’m) like, “What? Tell me more.” You know? It was why I wrote two science books about the body.
I knew Cameron put out two books, but I didn’t realize they were science based, that’s impressive. I like the idea of clean wine and any product that lessens the “feeling like crap” effect is okay in my book. I’m quite intrigued that Cameron and Katherine sat down with a glass of wine and thought, “how can I make this better?” The deepest my thoughts go is, “how many steps will I need to log to work this off?” I’ll admit, I haven’t paid that much attention to the wine I drink. For me, it’s all about taste. I have no problem putting down a glass of wine if I don’t care for the taste. But I couldn’t tell you what’s in it.
So far, Avaline offers a white and a rosé that retail for about $24 and are both vegan. According to the website, the white, “Pairs well with: Fresh cut flowers and your favorite meal,” and the rosé: “Pairs well with: The warmth of the sun and company of your best friend.” So maybe not as clearly labeled as Cameron suggested. Whimsical pairing notes aside, I think cleaning up anything we put in our bodies is a good move. Jimmy Fallon tried the rosé at the end of the video (below) and he declared it, “delish!” I almost exclusively drink red wine, so I’ll have to take his word for it. I know Cameron is looking to pull further away from her acting career. Wine-maker seems like a fun plan B, good for her for wanting to take on such an ambitious enterprise.
Photo credit Instagram and WENN/Avalon. This post was not sponsored or encouraged.
Making sure there are no tannic acids in the wine (that it isn’t oak aged) and it’s fine
Well, they decided to add sulfites to their wines so that takes it out of the running for “won’t cause headaches”
Sulfites are naturally occurring on grapes, all wine will have it whether it’s added or not.
Yes, I know that. They also actively add sulfites in addition to the naturally occurring ones.
Exactly. Such nonsense to take ad-copy as health fact.
Like saying the wines are “vegan” … Sure, unlike all the other wines made with beef broth and cheese. It’s like selling special “vegan” apples. Uh, no duh it’s vegan. It’s made from grapes.
It’s like a sketch from Portlandia.” Our specially curated Vegan Romaine lettuce is artisanally grown to remove toxins and balance your chakras.”
While some people are extra sensitive to the histamines in wine, particularly red wines made with whole cluster grapes (taking a Claritin prior to consumption can help combat this, like any other mild allergen), the best way to avoid a headache after drinking wine is…drink less wine, more slowly, and hydrate yourself when you do imbibe.
Actually, wines aren’t automatically vegan. https://www.thekitchn.com/as-it-is-vegan-week-136676
@S2 Actually, most wine isn’t vegan. It’s clarified using bone char or egg albumen or isinglass (the fish bladder which keeps it balanced under-water), so it is useful to know which wines are truly vegan.
That Claritin advice is really smart, I’ll use it next time! I’m really sensitive to the sulfites in red wines, but it’s hard to find or request them without.
Why is it that some people get headaches from wine and others don’t? I’ve always wondered about that.
The pairing suggestion is a bit twee but the amount of info on that label is so much clearer and informative than most of the brands I see in the U.K.
I just looked up what clean eating is and I still don’t think I fully understand what it means or why it’s taken as scientific fact that ‘clean’ is better all the time. Like I don’t need to be told eating microwave ramen and M&Ms all the time would be a bad move but I’m not 100% sure what level of processing is supposed to be okay, or why. Seems like there’s a lot of potential for class (and possibly racist) arrogance in the idea, too.
I mean, if she was actually interested in science she’d know it was the alcohol in wine that gives her a headache, and its breakdown product acetaldehyde. If additives in wine have any impact it’s minor in comparison to the dehydration effect of alcohol. If she seriously wants to avoid a headache she’d make a wine that’s lower in alcohol, but I guess that’s less marketable…
“Fewer headaches”, not less headaches’!
This is one of my language triggers, too.
Oh lordy. 98% of this is marketing fluff. Actual winemaker here. And you know what? You want to drink organic? Great. Go for it. No additions is something else again and the wines have clearly been fined, so there IS an additional substance used there. There is no real detail on what goes into the wines (and no vintage marked, so what they have made this year, and what gets made next year may be two completely different things that taste completely different), there is no provenance and frankly on ‘organic’ solely as a sales point is inept.
Have a look here: http://www.hudin.com/digging-up-the-details-on-how-avaline-defines-transparently-produced/ and here: https://www.sfchronicle.com/wine/article/Cameron-Diaz-s-new-clean-wine-Avaline-meets-15414046.php
Organic, biodynamic, no additions, minimal additions, sulfur-free, natural – all these have differing implications, and only some are actually regulated. Sulfur is used is WAY larger volumes on fruit, veg and meat at your local supermarket than it is is wine. If you have a medically identified sulfur allergy – I am really sorry, because that is going to be a monumental pain when you eat out, travel, prep food at home etc etc. If you get a headache from a couple of glasses of wine and not from a punnet of strawberries from your major supermarket – yeah, I am sorry, but that is just alcohol. It is a hangover. Sulfur is a really useful naturally occurring substance – and yes, we generally add a little in the winery to ‘preserve’ the wine so when it gets to your glass, it looks as vibrant as when it left the winery. But the volumes Avaline is claiming are ludicrous. Under 100ppm? I use under 40ppm. That is my normal. 100 is big business numbers – bulk wineries making large volumes, not small, ‘natural’, ‘clean’ winemaking.
And don’t get me started on using ‘clean’. #crankykate
I can name at least one brand of wine that gives me a headache straight after a few glasses, and it’s not dehydration: there’s a lot of crap in big brand bottles to regulate the flavour and the difference for me when drinking organic wine is absolutely noticeable
Is she completely ignoring the whole natural wine thing? It’s been so popular the last couple of years (California has so much natty wine stuff going on), and basically covers everything that Avaline is claiming to ‘innovate’.