Sulfites in wine

[Mikepbel]

Can you tell me why sulfites are added to wines and if any wineries market wines that are sulfite free?

[Thomas]

Sulfites are added to wine to protect from oxidation.

Sulfites are also produced, albeit in small quantities, as a by-product of fermentation; they occur in cheese, bread and other fermented products. Your body ferments a little each day--guess what it produces.

The real question is: why do you ask?

Asthmatics must be concerned about sulfites, but even they will not normally react unless the levels are quite high--much higher than is found in the average wine, which ranges in the 20 parts per million area.

Some people think they get headaches from sulfites in wine; there is no evidence that this is true.

[Jackie]

The topic of sulfites comes up regularly here. There have been quite a few threads of conversation on this topic, which you might want to peruse.

Try this. At the top of this page, you should see a link to "SEARCH". Just click there, then type in sulfite or sulfites. Search any forum or all forums at once.

Just as a reminder, the SEARCH feature is a good place to begin looking for any specific information... about wine, that is.

Jackie
webmaster@wines.com

[This message has been edited by Jackie (edited 01-24-2000).]