Sulphur use in wines is a very sensitive little topic. We all know somebody who has said “I like wines, I just cant handle the sulphur, it gives me headaches” You may have said this yourself, I know I have.
And true: some people do have a sensitivity to the common preservative ‘sulphur dioxide’ which may cause headaches. However, those people with a genuine reaction to it should also have the same reaction to dried fruits, fruit juices and almost any product which contains fruit, many of which contain many times the amount of preservatives of any quality wine. You might also know it as preservative 220.
This little preservative has been used in the production of wine for a long long time, regardless of white or red. Even if not added by human hand, the fermentation process with yeast produces a small amount of it themselves as a natural protector, so a preservative free wine will in the fine print note “no added preservative”, and never ever be 100% preservative free. These low preservative wines, although trendy and natural, will rarely be able to hold up to bacterial spoilage or oxidation,,,it will go off 9 times out of 10.
Take this to its next logical step: if you start with lesser quality grapes and have a lesser quality wine, then you will need a little more SO2 to keep it going off. However, it is more probably another additive or the plain bad taste of that drink which will induce a headache.The most common one I pick up is some type of acidity adjustment (common practice) by the winemaker which went wrong.
You may have seen some magic little products on the market that promise to reduce the preservatives in your wine? Is it true?
Yes, BUT: Winemakers define between “free” sulphur which can be removed by adding a special agent, and “dissolved” sulphur is basically not going anywhere. This little agent does reduce the amount of free sulphur and is that same little magic stuff you can buy. If you are sensitive to sulphur, yes it may well reduce the headaches you get from wine and it should not affect the flavour of the wine.
But why not just use it all wines to start with? well
,a) the winemaker doesn’t want their wine going off in the bottle you are about to buy and possibly store for many years AND
b) that little compound is a food grade peroxide…so you are trading off one nasty sounding compound, sulphur dioxide, for another, peroxide.
c) a lot of this free sulphur will naturally ‘blow off’ if you let the wine aerate properly in a decanter or similar.
Some tips to reduce headaches:
– watch the amount of alcohol intake (dont blame the headache of sulfur when you have 4 empty wine bottles on the table in the morning!)
– eat something to absorb and gradually release the alcohol into your body (bread and cheese has worked well for a few centuries)
– get wine from good wine producers (you get what you pay for)
– drink double the amount in water that you drink in wine (put out a caraffe of water!)
– properly aerate/decant the wine and/or use the little removal compounds if you feel necessary
– never try to convince somebody at a party who is convinced they cant handle preservatives, that they may be incorrect. It is similar to insulting a religious belief and will not be worth it.
For more in-depth info visit: http://www.awri.com.au/industry_support/wine_and_health/faqs/
- WINEDUCATION - 