I have always been under the impression that sulfites are just part of the natural by-product of wine making. The other day I heard a person at a wine store telling another person that such and such wine has no sulfites. Is this possible?
I failed chemistry multiple time, but I think all wines have some sulfites…more do than others of course due to sulfur addition during the winemaking process.
Thanks Bill. So it’s just a case of having to mention it on the labels, used to be there was no mention. Then all of a sudden…
I think the labelling has to do with keeping the general population aware of them as some feel they cause an allergic reaction.
Other science majors can comment more in depth but all wines have sulphites. They are one of the bi-products of fermentation. It is really the idea of “additonal” sulphites that some people feel the need to comment on. Sulphites help to preserve the wine and are not necessarily a bad thing but they are demonized by some. Having said that, most all conscientious wine-makers use a little as they see fit to make a sound wine.
I’m not a professional winemaker, though I did try my amateur hand at it some years ago, but this is what I know about sulfites…
There may be trace amounts naturally produced, sometimes, but the “issue” is generally about sulfite that is added to the grape juice. It’s added for a couple of reasons. First, the acetobacter that is responsible for the creation of acetic acid (vinegar-like substance) in a must is very sensitive to it, so it is a good control agent early on. Second, sulfites are quick to combine with any free oxygen that may be in the juice, so it acts as an anti-oxidant too.
Sometimes a young freshly-opened bottle will show signs of the acrid sulfite aroma, especially in white wines, where the anti-oxidant properties are important. Sulfite in water forms sulphurous acid, and that is the smell! It used to be that many young German Kabinetts would show this smell when first opened(don’t know about recently). A decant will introduce oxygen into the wine and counteract any sulfite present within maybe 30 minutes or so. I’ve never encountered any signs of sulfite in a red wine, though it has to be fairly strong for it to be noticeable, at least to most people. Some may have an allergy to it, so that is why the mention on some labels I suppose. I don’t think the amount that might be “naturally” produced would be of any concern, as it does combine with any free oxygen to form a tasteless sulfate very quickly.
Sulfites are sulfur compounds. Sulfur combines with a lot of things and really likes to combine with oxygen. A sulfite is SO3, a sulfate is SO4, and a sulfide is S combined with something, like say, hydrogen, to make hydrogen sulfide, or H2S.
Sulfur compounds often stink.
SO2 is sulfur dioxide. You make that when you burn coal and gas. When that combines with rain, it forms H2SO4, which is sulfuric acid. That’s acid rain. It doesn’t exist under some belief systems.
SO2 is used for bleaching and fumigating. They burn sulfur in barrels to clean them - using chlorine bleach may promote TCA or other undesirable things.
SO2 is a preservative, so your dried apricots and raisins and tomatoes are usually treated with it. It’s also a preservative used in wine. It’s usually found in the form of some kind of salt that gets dissolved in the wine. You don’t need much to get a lot of protection. But sulfur is also an element in some of the proteins in the grapes and when it’s floating around in the wine, and comes across some oxygen, it forms sulfite compounds too. So you get it both naturally and from additions. The idea is that it will mop up the oxygen, which destroys your wine.
The max level of sulfur dioxide allowed in wine by the EU is 160 parts per million (ppm) for red wine, 210 ppm for white wine and 400 ppm for sweet wines. Red wines often have lower sulfite levels than whites because reds contain tannins, which act as anti-oxidants.
You overheard someone in a store? Usually you just gotta ignore that kind of stuff. Cheers!
(edit - clarified what I meant by “bleach”)
Usually when someone says a wine has ‘no sulfites’ they are speaking of a wine that has no additional sulfites. However the first rule in discussions about sulfites in wine, particularly with people whom you don’t know, is that both retailers and consumers are generally poorly informed. ![[berserker.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/8600bbd4810d342b8fbd4ffb62b4f0026275fd37.gif "berserker"){kind=small}
a PSA we put out once in a while:
What…happened…to him…Bones? He died of Sulfite Deprivation Jim…
So you don’t want to ingest any Sulfites, eh, Mr. Natural? That stoner manning the counter at the Co-Op told you they were “toxins”, right? Well here’s some sound scientific advice from someone who not only attended and passed High School Chemistry but went on to earn a Master of Science in Public Health Microbiology, WINE EXPO-ista Linda Olsen Weber, R.E.H.S., M.S.:
“Are you CRAZY?!?!? We need these chemicals. Your body contains about 6 ounces of sulfur, mostly in amino acids, which combine to make proteins, which in turn combine to make all sorts of body parts- - -Skin, hair, nails and connective tissues. Sulfur is also a part of insulin, heparin and polysaccharides in the matrices of your cartilage, bones and teeth. You NEED to consume sulfur to replenish the supply to your body. Sources include meat, legumes, cabbage, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic and - - - you guessed it - - - wine and beer! What do you smell when you chop garlic? Diallyl disulfide. Chives, leeks and onions? Other disulfides. And when you cook cabbage? Hydrogen sulfide, methyl sulfide and trisulfides. And when (pardon my French) you fart? You guessed it - - more sulfur byproducts! If you’re still bothered by the idea of sulfur products in your wine (you’re on your own with garlic), aerate the wine - - - pour it into another container before serving. This will allow excess sulfur dioxide to escape, but you may lose some good aromas as well. I think I’ll pour mine directly from the bottle to my glass, Bon appetit!”
Thank you, Linda! Now, for those of you attributing all manner of symptoms such as hives, sinus, migraine and flushing of the skin to sulfites, these are in fact often HISTAMINE reactions and are caused by pigments, tannins and the effect of fermenting and aging in wooden barrels. Give us a call and we will fax or e-mail you a full-page info sheet on what causes these reactions and commonsense ways to avoid them (most of which do not involve giving up drinking wine!). Cheers!
I beleive most winemakers add sulfites to wine in the form of potassium metabisulphite. It does three major things:
- keeps oxygen from causing various chemical reactions. Perhaps most imoportantly it keeps aldehydes (oxidized sherry smell) from forming
- It can bind with already existing aldehydes and thus “remove” them
- Kills off unwanted micro organisms that can spoil or add off-flavors to wine
Sulfites are usually added at the time of crush and then right before bottling.
Yes, even wine without any form of added sulfite will have a small amount of naturally occuring ones, but the levels are very very low.
Not sure if this was a serious post, but I’ve never heard of a link between SO2 and TCA, Greg.
SO2 does cause bleaching of some compounds. But the bleaching that is implicated in TCA is chlorine-based bleaching, quite separate from SO2.
I think he is saying that SO2 is used INSTEAD of Clorine Bleach because clorine is a precursor to TCA.
Just to echo everyone else, it’s likely they meant no added sulfites. If the wine is contains less than a certain amount of sulfites you don’t have to put the “Contains sulfites” warning on the label, but that number has to be really low, I cant remember the exact number at the moment. If you look at the Coturri winery website I think they have some info about this
Kinda reminds me of Joly arguing that Bordeaux mixture is good for you, since the body requires copper to function properly.
The body is predominantly comprised of water yet people drown every day.
With all due respect to the good Ms. Weber Linda Olsen Weber (R.E.H.S., M.S., M.S.P.H.M.), if you’re ingesting sulfur dioxide to meet your nutritional demands for elemental sulfur, you’re not the brightest bulb in the marquee.
SO2 IS slightly toxic. Of more of a concern to consumers is the fact that it can spark bronchial problems when present in high concentration (as anyone tasked with gassing MT barrels well knows). Simply decanting a bottle of wine won’t help all that much with very heavily sufured wines, since the equilibrium reactions between free and bound sulfur and volatile vs. aqueous sulfur aren’t fast enough to make a huge difference at higher concentrations.
Now, the important point: used responsibly, in the relatively minimal quantities required to stabilize a sound wine, the health concerns are minimal to none. If you happen to suffer from a serious, chronic bronchial condition, though, you should probably seek out both low sulfur wines and a physician’s advice.
Oh, okay… never mind.
Really? Allergists I have spoken with have said that what you’re saying here is trading completely bunk science about sulfur dioxide for marginally less bunk science about histamines. It sounds like that info sheet is a placebo.
Jim, By getting folks to avoid wines with extra pigment and excess oak elements, we have helped THOUSANDS of folks who thought they couldn’t drink red wine anymore continue to do so, just different red wines. And, I consulted with two highly esteemed allergists when we put that fact sheet together.
Bruce, that was a tongue in cheek way of getting folks over the FEAR of sulfites in minimal quantities, not urge them to ingest more.
Cool. Of course there’s this study: No correlation between wine intolerance and histamine content of wine - PubMed which suggests histamines have no real role in wine intolerance. But hey, other studies show placebos are often as effective as anything else in treatment. As long as they believe it works. Still, thousands? I’ve been working in busy wine shops for over a decade, and I encounter maybe three people a month who claim to get red wine headaches, if that. They should do a study on why people with allergies seem to live in California and not New Jersey or Missouri. Or at least people who think they have them.
JIm something approaching 50% of folks in Cali are sure they are allergic to anything from wheat to Syrah to particulate rubber in the air from car tire erosion to non fair trade chocolate and refined sugar. Seriously, it’s maddening how this has become a meme here (and there is a massive pseudo medical industry both feeding and “treating” this). I easily have this conversation three to for times a day. Over the course of 25 years, it is indeed thousands.
The sulfite warning is on the label because it is a requirement of the FDA for any processed food containing more than 8ppm of sulfites. Broccoli has more sulfites than that but it has en exemption as a non processed food.
There is a small percentage of the population that has an adverse reaction to sulfites. The number is about 1 in 500 in the US and it’s slightly higher for those with Northern or Western European backgrounds and almost non existent for those from Asia. Those people are lacking an amino acid in their digestive system that breaks down and digests sulfites. The condition is genetic. Symptoms are a slight increase in heart rate, flushing, slight increase in body temperature and in extreme cases a headache. Basically your body is working in overdrive to process the sulfites.
Many foods have much higher sulfite levels than wine and a person truly effected will have a more severe reaction to: Broccoli, white bread, dried fruit or dried tomatoes among other things. In the time I’ve been making wine I’ve hand hundreds of people tell me they are ‘allergic to sulfites’. First off it’s not an allergy, but in every single case the person had diagnosed themselves and had not seen a doctor. In every single case I was able to eliminate sulfite reactions by quizing them about other foods. The only person who had a real reaction, was actually having the Asian Alcohol reaction and he’d mis diagnosed it as sulfites. (He could drink lower alcohol sweet whites without a reaction, even though those wines are highest in sulfites and he did react to other alcohol above about 20 proof.)
Basically people read it on the label, think it’s bad and assume they have what ever it is. My mother called that hypocodria but now it’s called fibromylangia and there’s a drug for it.