Wines without sulphites

[mrdutton]

I did as I said I'd do......... The e-mail was answered promptly and is posted here for all to read. It appears that Amity really produces a wine that has no detectable sulfites.

That does not mean there are no sulfites in the wine. It does mean that whatever amount is there is below the minimum detectable level of the current testing method used by the lab to which Amity sends their wine.

Here's the e-mail:

From: "Amity Vineyards" <amity@amityvineyards.com>
To: "Michael Dutton" <mrdutton@mindspring.com>
Subject: RE: Sulfite Free?
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 14:41:21 -0700
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We have our Eco Wine tested every year at a BATF approved lab. Their tests show "Not Detectable". Because other people wonder about the same thing, we have a flyer about it. I will attach it below. But basically different yeasts produce different amounts of SO2. We use a yeast that scavenges the SO2.

Peter Higbee
Amity Vineyards

Amity Vineyards
18150 Amity Vineyards Road
Amity, Oregon 97101 USA
Phone: (503) 835-2362, Fax: (503) 835-6451
Email: amity@amityvineyards.com Web Site: www.amityvineyards.com

Where did the Sulfites Go?

This is perhaps the most asked question I have about the Eco Wine. "Why, if sulfites are naturally produced by the yeast during fermentation, are there none in your wine?"

I have seen many other organic wines labeled "contains naturally occurring sulfites, no sulfites added," but none that say "sulfite free" like mine. Other wines have no reference to sulfites on the label which means, according to federal law, that they contain less than 10 ppm SO2 naturally occurring or not. To say sulfite free I have to submit a sample to a federally approved laboratory and get results that show there are no sulfites. But again the question is why aren't there any.

The best answer I heard was at a seminar at Oregon State University this winter. A professor from Oregon Health Sciences University was doing a study of sulfite production by yeast in wine as part of a larger study of why some asthmatics are hypersensitive to SO2. He said that some yeast produces more SO2 than needed to complete fermentation. Others produce and consume the same amount. Still others seem to scavenge it from over-producers.

Fermentations are not carried out by just one yeast. This is particularly true of fermentations where no SO2 is added to the crushed fruit. This is because SO2 tends to kill or inhibit "Wild" yeast while allowing the SO2 tolerant commercial yeast to grow fast and dominate the fermentation. The Eco Wine with no sulfites added to the crushed fruit seems to be fermented by yeasts that don't produce more SO2 than they need,
or, the winery is home to lots of scavenger yeasts.

We did an interesting experiment this fall that supports that hypothesis. We added 50 ppm of SO2 to a batch of grapes and then fermented them with no other sulfite additions. When the wine was finished fermenting, we sent a sample of it and the Eco Wine to the laboratory that does the test to verify sulfite free status. They found no sulfites in our Eco wine and only 5 ppm SO2 in the other wine. Thus we can see that, in our winery, the normal fermentation process consumes most of the added SO2 as well as any that is naturally produced.

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Dutton [mailto:mrdutton@mindspring.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 8:40 PM
To: amity@amityvineyards.com
Subject: Sulfite Free?

Sirs;

How can your pinot be sulfite free? Sulfites are a naturally occuring
by-product of the fermentation of grapes. All wines have sulfites in them.

Some just don't have "added sulfites".

Please explain.

Very respectfully,

Michael R. Dutton

[This message has been edited by mrdutton (edited 10-06-2000).]