A while ago we did a blog on red wine headache- basically where people get headaches from red wine after a sip or two. From what I've read it seems the most common cause of this is the tannins in the wine. But one thing that has never really been explained properly by us was the sulphites in wine. Essentially every wine- even organic wines- have sulphites in them. I know I know, people have been scape-goating sulphites for years and trying to avoid them- but I'm afraid they are naturally occurring in the grapes. Its also not all that uncommon for wine producers to introduce a touch more in order to arrest fermentation, but at the heart of it all sulphur-dioxide helps reduce the threat of oxidization, but also kills bacteria... so you see without sulphites- the wine would turn to vinegar! Now there's one more bombshell to be dropped... but i don't know if you'll like it... White wines (wait for it) generally speaking... contain more sulphites than red wines! I was amazed to discover this too but its a fact! Now here's a link to our blog on red wine headache so hopefully if you suffer from it than you might find the answer there.
Just one quick last point on Organic Wine- yes you've guessed it it contains sulphites too- granted these may be on a much lower scale, but next time you pick up a bottle of organic wine check out the back! Having said that I can't really see any disadvantage to organic wine, by removing chemicals and pesticides they let nature take over so the terroir is free to come through the wine- all I'll say though is there are plenty of wines out there that just haven't bothered labelling themselves as organic- so don't be afraid to step outside of the organic range!
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