Labels

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Sulfites

Sulfites

Many people travel to Europe and they notice that the wine bottles do not say "contain sulfites". They assume that the wines in Europe are different from the wines that are imported here or produced here. This is completely false, it is required by law in the United States to have on the label "contains sulfites". It is the exact same bottle of wine you see in Europe, but the labeling laws are different.

Even though some people are allergic to sulfites and get headaches when exposed to wine, we have found that more people are allergic to some aspect of the oak treatment. European wines tend to use less new oak and as a result will give you less chance of a headache. We have many customers that have switched to unoaked wines and have not had a problem with headaches.
(This is just an observation, so consult your doctor if you are allergic to sulfites.)

Sulfite facts:

Organic wines are not sulfite free, they have no added sulfites.
ALL wines have sulfites - French, California, Italian, Spanish....
Sufites occur naturally in wine, some will add sulfites as a preservative.
Almost all fruit has natural sulfites
Your body produces 1000 mg of sulfites everyday. **
There are about 10 mg of sulfites in a glass of wine **
** Taken from UC Davis.

Feel free to comment if you have noticed that unoaked wines do not give you a headache.


No comments: