A recent allergic reaction (non-sulfite) to a fruit drink I'd purchased, combined with yet another customer commenting that she doesn't drink much wine because the sulfites give her a headache, prompted this article. As a matter of fact, we get asked about sulfites so often, I thought I'd already written about it in this newsletter.

All wines contain sulfites. They are created naturally as a byproduct of fermentation in the winemaking process. Sulfites or sulfur dioxide is a preservative widely used in dried fruits as well as wine. It is also produced by the human body at the level of about 1 gram per day.

There are a few (very few) winemakers who make wines without adding sulfites. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is used to keep the freshly pressed must from spoiling. Winemakers have been adding sulfites to wines for millennia. The Greeks and Romans used sulfur candles to sterilize their wine barrels and amphorae. Sulfur protects the wine from damage by oxygen and helps prevent organisms from growing in the wine. This helps the wine to age and develop those complex flavors we all love and enjoy so much. Modern technology has allowed the use of significantly less sulfur than was used in the past but some is necessary to make a stable wine. In the US, organic wine must be made without added sulfites. These wines are very perishable and often have unusual aromas from the aldehydes that are normally bound and rendered aroma-less by the sulfites. But even organic wines still contain some sulfites.

A very small percentage of people are allergic to sulfites. This is a dangerous and potentially fatal allergy. However, if you are allergic to sulfites and if you are still alive, it is pretty obvious that you know what foods and drinks to avoid. (We have very few non-breathing, sulfite allergic, wine drinking readers of the Guy du Vin newsletter and website. Or if we do, they are a disturbingly quiet bunch.) There are a variety of foods that contain sulfites. Some of them include baked goods, soup mixes, jams, canned vegetables, pickled foods, gravies, dried fruit, potato chips, trail mix, beer, wine, vegetable juices, bottled lemon juice, bottled lime juice, tea, condiments, molasses, fresh or frozen shrimp, guacamole, maraschino cherries, and dehydrated, pre-cut, or peeled potatoes. (So why the warning label on wine and not your dried apricots and frozen fries? The FDA passed the law in the late 80's that any wine with over 10 parts per million - virtually all - must have a warning label. But some processed foods can have over 6,000 ppm. Who had the better lobbyist?)

There is no consistent data that shows that headaches are reliably caused by ingesting sulfites. (I, on the other hand, after laborious study, have concluded it is the last glass in a bottle of wine that produces the headache.) If you find that you get stuffy or headachy after drinking wine, you are most likely reacting to histamines, a common allergen that occurs primarily in red wines. (But you should always seek a doctor's advice if you think you may be sulfite-sensitive, especially if you have a history of asthma.)

Click here for detailed, mind-numbing information on sulfite sensitivity.