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Wine Headache? Chances Are It’s Not the Sulfites Since the government
insisted that wine labels include a “Contains Sulfites” warning, folks have
been blaming the compound for their wine headaches. Very likely, finds
Lettie Teague, the cause is something else
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/wine-headache-chances-are-its-not-the-sulfites-…>
By
Lettie Teague
March 13, 2015 8:48 a.m. ET
93 COMMENTS
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/wine-headache-chances-are-its-not-the-sulfites-…>
*THE LATE SENATOR* Strom Thurmond was famous—some might say infamous—for a
good many things, including a marathon filibuster against the Civil Rights
Act, but the South Carolina congressman’s most lasting contribution may be
the two words found on every bottle of wine sold in this country: Contains
Sulfites.
ENLARGE
Illustration: Aad Goudappel
The fiercely anti-alcohol senator successfully lobbied for this particular
warning to be part of the 1988 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, a continuation of the
so-called War on Drugs. Never mind that the average bottle of Cabernet
contains far fewer sulfites than, say, a can of tuna or a bag of dried
fruit, products that carry no warning at all. (A glass of wine contains
roughly 10 mg of sulfites; two ounces of dried apricots, 112 mg.)
This back-label notification has led to a great many misunderstandings
among those who attribute health problems, primarily headaches, to sulfites
in wine
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/are-sulfites-in-wine-bad-for-you-1408056869>,
specifically red wine. Over the years, I’ve received many letters from
readers lamenting the headaches they’ve suffered due to their alleged
allergy to sulfites.
Often as not these readers wrote in the hope that I could recommend a
“sulfite-free wine.” Alas, I could not, since there is no such thing as
wine completely free of sulfites, which are inorganic salts produced as a
byproduct of the fermentation process.
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It is important to note that sulfites are also commonly added
post-fermentation to combat oxidation and stabilize the wine. Many
winemakers use sulfur dioxide, potassium metabisulfite or some combination
of both. The latter is also used in a broad range of foods, from potato
chips to shrimp (fresh and frozen) to lemon juice, like that in the small
plastic lemon I have in my refrigerator—and perhaps you do too.
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My plastic lemon doesn’t carry a sulfite warning, and until approximately
10 years ago, neither did wines sold in Europe. This may be why some
American wine drinkers who’ve traveled abroad believe European wines
contain no sulfites (another issue I am asked about quite often). They do,
but European governments only recently required that wine labels
acknowledge the fact.
A reader named Diana emailed me a few months ago about a sulfite-related
encounter she’d had with a snobbish (and misinformed) sommelier in
Salzburg. The sommelier told her that regulations required European
winemakers to add sulfites to bottles for export, which is why Americans
got hangovers from European wines stateside. This is, of course, false and
hopefully not a reflection on the knowledge and trustworthiness of Salzburg
sommeliers.
More important, only a tiny percentage of the U.S. population—less than
1%—actually suffers from true sensitivity to sulfites, and these people are
invariably chronic asthmatics, according to David Lang, M.D., chairman of
the Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology of the Cleveland Clinic
in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Lang told me that in his 28 years of practice, he’s seen only one
person who had “true allergic reactions” to sulfites. Such reactions, he
added, typically involve shortness of breath and wheezing, not headaches.
“Sulfites have been around for centuries and have been very
well-tolerated,” Dr. Lang pointed out.
Non-asthmatics who come to Dr. Lang with sulfite-related fears might
actually be allergic to something else in the wines, such as proteins or
histamines. What’s more, white wine contains more sulfites than does red,
so those who suffer from “red-wine sulfite allergy” may be reacting to
tannins, which tend to be more significant in red wine than white.
I asked Dr. Lang how he tests whether a patient is actually
sulfite-sensitive. He performs what he calls provocative dose testing,
administering capsules of small amounts of sulfites in successively higher
doses every thirty minutes, and closely monitoring the patient’s reaction.
‘‘Sulfites have been around for centuries and have been very
well-tolerated.’’
—allergist David Lang, M.D.
This is the only viable test because blood or skin tests cannot detect a
sulfite sensitivity, said Beth Corn, M.D., associate professor of medicine
at New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine and part of the faculty of the
Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Dr. Corn sees quite a few
patients who believe they have wine-related allergies; the real problem, in
some cases, probably has more to do with excess alcohol intake than
sulfites. “Sometimes patients tell me they don’t have a reaction to wine if
they stop at one glass,” said Dr. Corn, who replies, “Then, why don’t you
stop at one glass?”
Oregon-based winemaker Rollin Soles of Roco Winery in Willamette Valley has
fielded his share of allergy-related questions from wine drinkers. Before
founding Roco, Mr. Soles was head winemaker at Argyle winery for many
years, where he made high-quality sparkling wine as well as Pinot Noir and
Chardonnay.
Some tasters told Mr. Soles that, while most sparkling wines gave them
headaches, his never did. Mr. Soles asked where they drank sparkling wine.
Often as not, the answer was gallery openings or weddings, where the
cheapest sort of wines are often served. Inexpensive wines often have
sugars added to boost the alcohol content, and this added alcohol is often
what causes the pain.
These headache sufferers were also likely drinking sparkling wine without
eating. Drinking even a modest amount of alcohol without food is a sure way
to a headache.
The anti-sparkling mind-set is similar to the prejudice against red wines
that presumes they are the cause of sulfite-related headaches. Mr. Soles
cited a study conducted in the early 1980s by Cornelius Ough, then a
professor at University of California at Davis. Professor Ough was
interested in tracing the source of red-wine headaches and devised a study
in which people with a history of red-wine sensitivity were served both red
and white wines as well as white wines colored red. He found that tasters
had no more adverse reaction to red wine than to white.
For drinkers who do have a reaction to sulfites or an unshakable fear of
one, there are wines with no added sulfites, known as NSAs, which I decided
to try. I found about half a dozen bottles in my local wine shops,
sometimes in a “no sulfites” section, despite the fact that no-sulfite
wines don’t actually exist.
The NSA wines were so hard to find at the ShopRite store in Little Falls,
N.J., I asked the salesman to lead me to them. What did he think of the NSA
wines? He wasn’t impressed, although he said that the 2013 Badger Mountain
Chardonnay, from Washington state, was better than the rest. So I bought a
bottle of the Badger Mountain and a few others, both white and red,
including the 2013 Mother’s Choice Organic California Red, which has the
words “Contains No Detectable Sulfites” emblazoned on the front label just
under an ersatz portrait of Whistler’s mother holding a wine glass.
The faux “Whistler’s Mother” was the best part of the wine, which was
devoid of any character or flavor and possessed a flat, tinny finish. The
same was true of the next two reds, but none were as terrible as the
whites: the 2013 Pacific Redwood Organic Chardonnay, Frey Vineyards Organic
“Natural White” Table Wine and the recommended 2013 Badger Mountain
Chardonnay. They were among the worst wines I’ve ever had. All three looked
and tasted like old apple cider and smelled oxidized. Upon tasting the
wines, a friend of mine said, “Bring on the sulfites!” There wasn’t a
single NSA wine from my selection that I could recommend.
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I called a winemaker friend, Kareem Massoud, at Paumanok Vineyards in the
North Fork of Long Island, for some professional insight. Mr. Massoud
wasn’t surprised to hear my report of the undrinkable wines. “Those wines
are completely naked, from an oxidation point of view. They have *no
*protection
at all,” he said. “Any winemaker worth his salt knows that wine is
susceptible to oxidation.”
I mentioned to Mr. Massoud that several bottles carried advice to
refrigerate or store them in a cool, dark place, and that the shop in which
I purchased them was actually quite warm, no doubt hastening oxidation. Mr.
Massoud wasn’t surprised by this either. “Once a wine is out in the market,
there is no guarantee of the storage conditions. Even when you buy from the
producer, there’s no guarantee,” he said.
Mr. Massoud has heard complaints about sulfite allergies over the years but
thought wine drinkers should probably focus on something else, such as
alcohol. Wine has alcohol. And too much alcohol can cause headaches.
Perhaps that’s the warning that Senator Thurmond should have lobbied for
instead.
See wine videos and more from Off Duty at * youtube.com/wsj.com
<http://youtube.com/wsj>.* Email Lettie at * wine(a)wsj.com <wine(a)wsj.com> *
--
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Great Lakes Brewing News, 5219 Elliot Ave, Mpls, MN 55417
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