Are there sulfites in white wine

It's a terrific aid to winemakers—and ultimately wine drinkers, because it destroys bad microbes. Frey winery produces wines made with natural sulfites, but doesn't add any, which means: drink up ASAP.

Photo: Courtesy of Frey. If you are allergic, you may get hives and have trouble breathing within 30 minutes of sulfite exposure, and should arm yourself an Asthma rescue inhaler because an order of shrimp has more sulfites than an entire bottle of Sangiovese. Starting in the s, anti-alcohol lobbyists were trying to pass legislation that would require wines to list their ingredients.

Wayyy more. So do those French fries you had at lunch. Everything from pickles to pizza crust to painkillers contain sulfites. The reason sulfites became such a big deal is because in the s there was a rise in sulfur allergic reactions due to the large amount of sulfur used in preservatives. Now that would give you a headache!

Do we believe that all these other mass produced brands available on the UK high street are keeping within the rules? Not wishing to be sceptical about big business in the wine industry, the UK supermarkets anually sell 5 times more 'Pinot Grigio delle Venezie' than the region can physically produce! We have numerous government departments who's purpose is to protect us from this sort of thing.

I hope it's not the same quango responsible for checking the sulphur levels too. Major brands are likely to contain considerably more free sulphur and should be vehemently avoided! Try switching to a low sulphur wine and you will see your symptoms improve or more likely disappear altogether. Please also note that sulphites are widely used in a variety of other foods and drinks, particularly, fruit juices, dried fruits, processed foods, alcopops and lagers.

If these affect you, try drinking German Pils brewed to the purity laws — there is no added sulphur. Or there are plenty of artisan micro breweries in the UK now, many of whom don't add sulphites. Email: sales goodwineonline. Allow Cookies.

Good Wine Online. Skip to Content Default welcome msg! Compare Products. Call Home Sulphite Allergy. Wine Sulphite Allergy. The closest you're going to get to wine without sulfites natural or otherwise is an organic wine that does not have the "contains sulfites" label.

While all wine contains some level of sulfites, the prevailing myth has been that red wine has more sulfites than white wine. But the science doesn't hold. Sulfite levels depend on how the wine is made and how much sugar it has. When producing red wine, the juice has contact with the grape skins and seeds. This results in a higher amount of tannins , which act as a natural antioxidant that protects the wine from bacteria.

As such, less sulfur dioxide is required. By comparison, white wine ferments for a shorter time than red wine and the juice doesn't have contact with the grape skins.

As a result, white wine tends to have more sugar than red wine, thereby attracting more bacteria. And you know what that means: more sulfites are needed to halt these microbes from growing wild and ruining the wine.

Still, there are always exceptions to the rule and not all white wines are high in sugar — dry brut and high-tannin white wines like Chardonnay are two such examples. When it comes to sulfites, it's not simply a matter of red vs.

And those are just the H's. The red wine headache is a common complaint attributed to sulfites. While there is some recent research that shows sulfite concentration in wine can induce headaches, there are other studies that indicate histamine is more likely the cause. As it turns out, red wine has significantly more histamine than white wine. Another side effect usually attributed to sulfites is the dreaded hangover, that painful combination of throbbing headache, body aches, fatigue, nausea, and thirst.

However, rather than blaming sulfites alone, don't forget to pay close attention to the alcohol levels of your wine since this could be the more probable cause. While the jury is out on the effects of sulfites in headaches and other wine-drinking side effects, sulfites seem to play a significant role in triggering asthma. The more likely culprits are alcohol content, histamine, and tannins.

Or, perhaps it's one or a combination of the plus ingredients that conventional winemakers can use without disclosing on the wine label.