Comments on: Red Wine & Sulfites

By: brynh

brynh — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:27:00 +0000

I enjoyed reading this article, it was full of information for me. I believe that many other people consider it useful, like I did.

thanks.

By: Geoffrey Cornish

Geoffrey Cornish — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:58:50 +0000

With decreasing wine consumption becoming a common situation in several EU countries, the European Health Authority recently released a study of many individual wine and health studies on reactions to sulfites and many other chemical compounds found in wine. The takeaway was that they were unable to find a single piece of evidence to show that sulfites cause any of these allergic reactions you can read about above, and that much higher quantities are of sulfites are commonly found in many foods we all eat every day Wine Spectator reported this same story a while ago too.

By: shane

shane — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:02:44 +0000

I drink Merlot and Cabernet but sometimes I get really flush I wonder if it is because of sulfites?

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:20:55 +0000

Really good information. My few experiences with wine up until this point in my life had not given me such a depth of knowledge as this article present. Thank you!

By: enobytes

enobytes — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:30:00 +0000

Karyn, your comment on Merlot sparked my interest. You might find this follow up report conducted by Dr. Mathies interesting, which suggests Merlot has excessive amounts of Tyramine, which is a compound that causes problems for some: http://enobytes.org/wine_blog/2008/03/31/mars-device-to-ease-adverse-wine-effects/. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been enough research in this area to pinpoint the exact cause of wine intolerance.

Regardless, take Wayne’s advice and talk to your doctor. It could be a plethora of different culprits, from amino-based compounds (e.g. histamines and tyramines), to Cogeners (e.g. impurities) or Sulfites but don’t give up on red wine yet – you might want to try a number of different varieties and see if that helps. You might want to start with less-tannic wines like Dolcetto, Barbera, Pinot Noir, Beaujolais and Tempranillo and/or an organic wine. Hope this helps and let us know how it turns out.

By: wayne

wayne — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 04:43:13 +0000

Karen, you may be allergic to sulfites. talk to your doctor, etc.
You may do better with an organic red wine or some foreign wines where they do not add extra sulfites to the wine which is what happens with most regular american red wines.
Wayne

By: Karyn

Karyn — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:48:00 +0000

When I drink red wine immediately, my cheeks pucker really bad, and my nose gets stopped up. Is this normal? I am not a wine drinker but doctor oz suggested very red wine for the antitoxins or whatever it is in the dark wine that is supposed to be good for us, but when I drink this stuff my nose is stuffy, which is a turn off. I am drinking a merlot made by robert mondavi, 2006 private selection. Should I be drinking another kind?

By: Dyan Clarke-Hill

Dyan Clarke-Hill — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:27:03 +0000

Hello.Thank you for the article,it is most informative. Five years ago I had a back injury which left me unable to walk. I was prescribed Celebrex for my pain. As a result I developed an alergy to sulfate.I get a blistery rash and gastro-intestinal problems. I was always able to enjoy wine before taking this drug. Just this year I so wanted to enjoy a class of wine. I had not had wine for years. I bought one of those little cartons that has about three glasses of wine per container. I nursed the wine and added ice to it as well. It took me around eight hours to drink the little carton. The next day I was listless,had broken out in a rash and spent alot of time in the bathroom. I have yet to find any organic wine in my area that does not contain sulfites. I have to read EVERYTHING I buy to see if it has sulfate in it. Even shampoos have it. At times I cannot afford the expensive shampoos that do not contain sulfate. Thus I must use a regular shampoo and it itches terrible. I get soars and a crust on my whole scalp. It is no way to live. Any one know of a name of an organic wine I can buy that does not contain sulfites? Thanks for letting me vent,Dyan.

By: Pete

Pete — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:37:42 +0000

I can’t attest to any formal scientific or chemical research which would back up any claims, but one thing for certain is that I drink plenty of mineral water during alcoholic consumption and it helps tremendously with any after affects. I usually drink an 8oz. glass of mineral water between drinks, which really helps with dehydration which seems to be the cause of headaches and such.

By: Geoffrey Cornish

Geoffrey Cornish — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:07:39 +0000

Most Europeans particularly women, drink real ’still’ or ’sparkling’ mineral water as they drink wine to relieve the onset of such potential reactions as dehydration which is the main cause of most types of headaches and hangovers. By this I mean real mineral water, not just bottled water.
In my experience French, Spanish, and Italian waiters who have had professional training will almost always automatically ask which you prefer without questioning you as to whether or not you actually want mineral water. Whether any formal scientific or chemical research into why this is so common or such a widely practiced aspect of good “service” I am not aware. Perhaps a community member with hoteliers’ training can comment.