Have never noticed anything different about Chardonnay in terms of post-consumption effects.
Any alcohol without accompanying non-alcoholic hydration is going to heighten risks for adverse results.
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Do you consistently eat a lighter meal with Chardonnay than with other wines?
Extreme version, but if every time you drink red wine you eat a big steak and a baked potato, and every time you drink white wine you eat a small piece of fish and some sautĂ©ed vegetables, you could easily have a higher incidence of hangovers with white wine. I know you said you drink other whites so maybe the food hypothesis is too just-so, but if thereâs some specific meal you love with Chardonnay consider whether it is a smaller meal than you usually have.
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It is definitely the same with Chablis or stainless fermented. The amount of new oak doesnât matter - I feel the same from Kistler as I do a Chablis. Now age is an interesting question I hadnât actually considered. Most of what I am drinking is on the younger side, and on the few occasions Iâve had something with a bit of age, I canât specifically recall the hangover issue. I may experiment with this.
I feel it must have something to do with this, but thereâs clearly other factors influencing it. Most of the whites I drink are under 13% ABV, however all the Chardonnays are over that. However I do frequently enjoy Bordeaux Blanc style blends that are at, or above, the ABV of a Chardonnay.
Also I drink a healthy of Zinâs that really pack a punch - last night I finished off half a bottle of Turkey Dragon that I believe is over 15% ABV and I feel completely normal today.
The drinking is always before, and then with, dinner. I rarely drink after dinner, and if I do its an Amaro. We donât open more than a single bottle. And I promise the answer is not that I drink 3 glasses of Amaro every time I have a Chardonnay 
No - should I try? What are you thinking?
This is the most likely - right? Otherwise google would be full of other people complaining about itâŠ
The internet is also full of people who think the earth is flat and that dinosaurs lived 3,000 years ago.
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Have you ever had anyone pour you a chardonnay but not tell you it is and have you had the same effects? And you are not seeing any âeffectsâ until the next morning?
Cheers
Two things:
- There isnât much about Chardonnay to differentiate it from the other varieties youâve said you donât have problems with. This makes a potential mechanism tricky.
- Iâm extremely reluctant to dismiss peopleâs individual experiences. Both human physiology and wine are complex things and if youâve identified a pattern then who am I to say it doesnât exist?
Testing and confirming these things is tricky, especially separating out psychological components. But assuming for a moment that this is not psychosomatic, what could be causing it? The only thing that comes to mind for me is farming. Chardonnay is particularly prone to powdery mildew and so, at least in some places, receives more fungicide - typically elemental sulfur - than other grapes. I will say that if it was related to elemental sulfur then you would expect to have more of a problem with red wines than whites, because elemental sulfur tends to stay behind in the solids when white grapes are pressed prior to fermentation. But a farming component is all I can think of right now.
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Yes many people do, I myself treat them interchangeably based on the lineup and food pairings but many people do not so it was worth asking.
Chardonnay grapes themselves before fermentation would be an easy way to see if itâs the molecular makeup of the grape itself. We are all of course shooting from the hip, just an additional data point.
I would also suggesting drinking it later, say after a bigger meal as another test point - even red meat to see if it has an alternative effect. Worth the trial if you like Chardonnay?
So sorry this happens as it must be maddening.
This is true - but it also coud be something that is released during fermentation or is created during aging as well.
As you point out, it really is a âchallengingâ problem to diagnose - but above all, it must be very frustrating to deal with.
Cheers
I was thinking this. Iâd suggest (as mentioned above) trying some natty, zero sulphur Chardonnay to see if there is any difference.
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There may be something going on related to differences in sun exposure that is different according to cultural practices of the different white varieties. While this paper focuses on queretin, which is higher in red wines, there may be other compounds that act similarly that may not have been specifically studied yet that donât end up in red wines at significant levels. Inhibition of ALDH2 by quercetin glucuronide suggests a new hypothesis to explain red wine headaches | Scientific Reports
This is an excerpt from the discussion portion of the paper: âStudies have repeatedly noted that the level of quercetin is 4 to 8 times higher in sun exposed grape clusters than the shaded clusters33,34. Ritchey and Waterhouse35 evaluated the total quercetin content in high-volume versus ultra-premium commercial Cabernet Sauvignon wines. The average total flavonols was four times higher in ultra-premium wines (202 mg/L) than in high-volume wines (53 mg/L). The study explained that vineyard practices (trellised vines, crop thinning, leaf removal) in the areas that produce ultra-premium wines would result in more sun exposure, which in turn, allows higher production of quercetin. But, the variations in levels arise not just from differences in grape composition induced by sun exposure, but also from wine-making techniques, including skin contact during fermentation, stabilization/fining procedures, and aging methods26.â Again, there may be some kind of compound that tracks the quercetin/exposure effect that has a similar effect on alcohol metabolism, backing up acetaldehyde in the body.
Seems Chardonnay is generally more (to excessively) sun-exposed than the other whites I see farmed. There may be some correlation to look for.
SO2 is likely quite a bit higher in Riesling and Gruner. So I donât think looking for SO2-free Chardonnay would be the answer. And vineyard applied elemental sulfur is most likely to be in the form of H2S if there is residual elemental at harvest. This would stink and would be removed before bottling with Copper addition.
Biogenic amines from MLF could play a factor, but youâve also had issues with non-ML Chardonnays and none with reds (that would likely have even higher levels than ML positive Chardonnay).
Lees excretions might be a viable theory, but the widely different styles that cause issues makes me think itâs not likely. You might find a winery that would bottle a sample from a barrel at dryness and compare with one from the same site that has aged for some time on lees and see if you react differently.
F
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I used to think grenache gave me a hangover but, like you, I felt pretty crazy admitting it even to myself. I thought maybe it was because of the way it frequently reaches pretty high alc levels but I drink a lot of Nebbiolo and that also routintely weighs in over 14%. Plus I love sherry so I donât think itâs purely the alcohol. While I like grenache, I like other grapes a lot more so I still tend to avoid drinking pure grenache wines and havenât really had one for more than 10-15 years other than tasting for work.
Going way back, I also developed what I call an allergy to beer. Used to work in the craft brewing industry and other than purely excessive drinking hangovers never had a problem until just a beer or two would leave me feeling hungover for as much as two days. Tried all kinds of variations from low hops, different malt roasts, etc and could never pin it down. After getting the same effects from just a shot or two of whiskey or other grain-based spirits I decided it was the barely. Thatâs how I got into wine : )
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I no longer drink much beer, but I used to get the hangover feeling you mention even after one beer. Blue Moon was the worst but Hoegaarden was OK, had to be psychological.
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Iâve seen that happen many times with tequila.
Experiment for the OP: Use three snorts of Afrin 20 minutes before trying another Chardonnay and see what you think.
Same perhaps with beer, for Tom!
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This is a bigger issue than the hangovers.
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I get physically ill on Coors, Bud, Miller Lights⊠I actually am weirdly fine with Natural Light and Heineken. There is something in those others that makes my stomach want to immediately want to evacuate.
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I cannot tell if this is in jest Whatâs the Afrin hypothesis (or joke)?
Afrin prevents dilation of the blood vessels in the nose and can help decrease the hangover.
Itâs just a âtry and seeâ thing.
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