I hear a lot of people talking about sulfites and how they prefer a wine that doesn’t add sulfites. I know sulfites can naturally occur in wine and other foods. Because of that, it got me thinking and I decided to do a little checking around about sulfites in wine and other foods.
There is a myth that red wine contains more sulfites than white wines. In fact, it is the other way around. Red wines contain tannins (again, a naturally occurring compound, but we’ll get into that another time) and tannins are a natural preservative, so winemakers can add less sulfites as a preservative. Because wine is fermented using yeast, all wine has some sulfites because they are a product of yeast metabolism. This is also the reason you see “no added sulfites” on wine bottles.
So, what are sulfites? Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is simply sulfur and oxygen. They occur naturally but can also be created in a lab. They are sulfur-based compounds that naturally occur in food such as fermented beverages and wine. They have also been used as a food preservative for hundreds of years, in fact, the Romans began using sulfites because they found out that it kept wine from turning into vinegar. If you have brewed beer or made wine at home, you have probably used potassium metabisulfite to clean your equipment and that of course is one of the forms of sulfites.
To put sulfite levels in wine into perspective, if a product contains more than 10ppm sulfites, it is required to be labeled as containing sulfites. Because sulfites are a very effective antimicrobial, a lot of the food we eat contains sulfites. Dried Fruits, condiments, frozen seafood, grains, jam, jelly, and tea all contain varying levels of sulfites.
There are most definitely people that have a sensitivity to sulfites, and I know of some people that take an antihistamine before eating or drinking foods with sulfites. I’m not sure how effective that is, but if you are trying to avoid sulfites, organic, or biodynamic wines could be a great idea. There will be some sulfites in them, but the levels should be much lower and may not trigger a headache.
I hope you enjoyed my pseudo-rant on sulfites and that you keep reading my blog. You’ll notice that below there is a comments section and please feel free to leave comments, questions, or suggestions!