Sulphites

brettmirl

I like my white wine...and red wine too sometimes.

I noticed lately that I was getting very bad sinus headaches after drinking wine the night before and through a process of elimination, I seem to have narrowed it down to wines that contain "sulphites".

Now I know ALL wines contain some degree of them, but some wines were giving worse headaches than others.

Has anyone else noticed any effects from drinking wine that says "Contains Sulphites" on it before?

Frankiestylee

This iiiiiiis interesting. I too get the occasional sinus buzz goin' on but I can't seem to narrow it down.

rediguana

As you correctly said, all wines contain sulphites. It's just that in some jurisdictions, this needs to be clearly stated on the label. But they all contain them, to greater or lesser degrees.

Sulphites are a preservative and are also in dried fruits, among other foods. They're necessary for wines. Imagine when you cut an apple in half - it goes brown. This oxidisation process is similar to the one that would quickly happen to wine if it didn't have some level of preservative in it.

Don't read too much into sulphites. A small fraction of people have a genuine sensitivity to them (perhaps you're one? Get it checked out), but most bottles of wine are unlikely to cause a sulphite-related problem for most people.

I drink a lot of wine and I virtually never get headaches, even when I overindulge (which isn't an uncommon occurence). One possible reason is that I never buy wine costing less than E14 or so, and usually more around the E20 mark. The higher quality the wine, the less the winemaker has had to rely on additives; be they sugar to increase sweetness / alcohol, tartaric acid to up the acidity, or, indeed, sulphites, to mask oxidative tendencies in a cheap and nasty wine.

I would advise you to:
1 - Stay fully hydrated (I take a rehydration sachet after drinking alcohol).
2 - Trade up. You don't need to spend a mint. Just avoid the cheapest wines. If you spend E12 on a bottle, that's still just E2 / Drink.
3 - Get checked out for a Sulphite sensitivity.

Frankiestylee

€12 for a bottle of wine? Dunno what off license you're going to, but I'd nearly knock that down to anything over €7 maybe, though at the mo there are still loads of great post xmas bargains out there to be had (yes, I know it's March, but hey.)

rediguana

Frankiestylee wrote:

€12 for a bottle of wine? Dunno what off license you're going to, but I'd nearly knock that down to anything over €7 maybe, though at the mo there are still loads of great post xmas bargains out there to be had (yes, I know it's March, but hey.)

Yes, you won't keel over if you have a cheeky punt on a E7 bottle of wine. But why not go the extra E5? Those extra euros would barely buy you a sandwich (don't ask where I buy my sandwiches!).

People will happily pay E4.50 for a pint. Multiplied by six equals E27. There are (about) six drinks in a bottle of wine. So even if you spent E13.50 on a bottle of wine, this is just half of what you'd spend on six pints (the ABV % and prices I'm using here are very rough, so please nobody beat me over the head with them!).

The cheaper the bottle of wine, the less the value of the actual wine in it. Trading up can have a disproprtionate effect on the quality of the wine you're drinking. And it's my understanding that the better quality bottles rely less on sulphites.

Theta

rediguana wrote:

Yes, you won't keel over if you have a cheeky punt on a E7 bottle of wine. But why not go the extra E5? Those extra euros would barely buy you a sandwich (don't ask where I buy my sandwiches!).

People will happily pay E4.50 for a pint. Multiplied by six equals E27. There are (about) six drinks in a bottle of wine. So even if you spent E13.50 on a bottle of wine, this is just half of what you'd spend on six pints (the ABV % and prices I'm using here are very rough, so please nobody beat me over the head with them!).

The cheaper the bottle of wine, the less the value of the actual wine in it. Trading up can have a disproprtionate effect on the quality of the wine you're drinking. And it's my understanding that the better quality bottles rely less on sulphites.

I have to agree here spending between 10 - 12.50 on a bottle of wine should be your target. For the extra €3 - €5 your getting a vast improvment in quality for value.