Trying an anti-histamine should you suffer from drinking red wine should do the trick.
Mixing anti-histamines with wine is perhaps not the best idea that has ever been suggested on the board.
Agreeing that the problem is likely not sulfites? Yes.
Jean Marie Fourrier has said that the more sulphur is added to a wine the worse are his headaches when drinking it.
ETA: Which is not to say that he never adds sulphur, of course, but rather that he uses it judiciously.
seriously??? Are you a doctor? I know plenty of people who take antihistamines for seasonal allergies and drink wine regularly with no adverse symptoms. I’m looking at a bottle of Loratadine right now, and there are no warnings about alcohol.
actually, it is. i checked.
Peter too, may truly know that his problem is sulfites, but he hasn’t yet returned to the conversation. We’re just saying that with modern wine, this is a ways down on the list of possibilities for people who regularly get headaches from wine. And sure, the higher the level of sulfites, the more people will get headaches.
Here is a reasonable list for products that may contain 100ppm or more.
You can review how you do with other high sulfite foods to get a handle on whether your sensitivity seems to actually be sulfite related.
Greater than 100 ppm of sulfites:
•dried fruits (excluding dark raisins and
•prunes)
•bottled lemon juice (non-frozen)
•bottled lime juice (non-frozen)
•wine
•molasses
•sauerkraut (and its juice)
•grape juices (white, white sparkling, pink sparkling, red sparkling)
•pickled cocktail onions
If you do OK with the other foods on the list, then it is worthwhile to look beyond sulfites.
As to histamines in wine - nope.
A decent study link:
Same article, but seems to open differently in different windows.
http://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(01)01097-1/abstract
A headache is not necessarily an allergic reaction. Allergic reactions usually manifest as throat swelling, rash, or stuffy nose. A headache could indicate a sensitivity to a compound. It may seem like splitting hairs but to an allergist there is a world of difference. Doesn’t make it any nicer to the sufferer though.
Are you maintaining that histamines don’t exist in wines?
I always have a reaction to wines that have higher sulfite concentrations. My doctor back in Switzerland said that this can happen in certain people and sensitivity to sulfites manifests in a bad headache. Give me a single glass of certain wines and a pounding head is guaranteed within a couple of hours.
The common thread seems to be mass produced, lower end wines that don’t get the same sanitary treatment and loving care as the higher end wines. My two cents.
It is surprising in such a well informed forum that I find no mention of biogenic amines as the suspect in any reactions to wine consumption. Here are a couple of links:
https://www.etslabs.com/display.aspx?catid=48,50,94&pageid=158
Doing a search on this topic brings out many more articles and research on what causes most symptoms that people incorrectly attribute to sulfites. The only known issue with SO2 is with people who suffer from asthma. Of these it is believed that about 5% are allergic to sulfites. It is an accident with sulfites added to lettuce, to retard browning, that caused for the labeling of sulfites in everything. However in food that is regulated by FDA that allows the warning to be buried among other statements. Whereas wine is regulated by TTB, an arm of the Treasury Dept, that has required that “Contains Sulfites” be prominently displayed by itself. Since then , largely due to ignorance, a lot of people have attributed all sorts of ills to sulfites in wines.
Thanks, Charles. I was getting ready to say the same thing.
It’s astounding to me that after more than 25 years of having this conversation, we keep having to have this conversation.
How do you know the sulfite level of any particular wine?
How do you know that’s from sulfites?
Anyone out there who knows: Do ‘mass produced, lower end’ wines have higher levels of sulfites than ‘higher end’ wines?
One would assume so since they are much more likely to have very poor storage / display conditions.
I’d say not necessarily, but even if they do, it wouldn’t be across the board and likely not high enough to be a problem.
Developing headaches or feeling poorly after drinking mass-produced, lower-end wines is not an indication of sulfite allergy. It may, however, be an indication of wine snobbery. 
If your really interested in testing at home about $100 will get you a free so2 kit.
But if you want total you will need $850 for a Hanna free and total so2 titrator.
Though I highly doubt that is what your having an issue with unless your a asthmatic that is on meds or an inhaler. Histamines and biogenic amines do dissipate with time under cork. In my experience with family and friends that claim to be allergic to so2 it is usually due to drinking young red wines. Wines with over 5 years from the vintage date of age on them don’t seem to cause the same issues.
For the list of wineries that you say don’t give you the reaction all seem to make pretty age-able wines that I will assume you drink with some age on them. I know that at Swan (I worked there for a few years) Rod and I both took anti histamines before doing barrel blends to mid-agate the reaction on our sinus’. Many of those wines are held back for a while before release and built to age so that may be why you don’t have the same reactions.