The Pesticides we Ingest

May 11, 2015

The Pesticides we ingest are not always the best. Yikes!!

Just for a moment realise most wineries use an array of different pesticides to prevent the onslaught of insects and fungal diseases which are known to partially destroy or completely ruin a harvest. They spray their vineyards with either organic or non-organic substances and as you might guess, the organic is best for the consumer’s health and the non-organic is not. The ill-affects of non-organic pesticides have been well documented by numerous cases that can be easily found on the internet. The reason most wineries do not use organic substances is because it cost more and usually takes longer to affect the vineyard and therefore is more labour intensive in the long run as it needs to be reapplied more often.

Some types of organic pesticides include, naturally derived sulphur dioxide and hydrogen peroxide which leave no toxic residues on the grapes.

Types of non-organic substances include pesticides, herbicides and fugnicides all of which stay on the grape even after picking. Most wineries do not wash their grapes after picking but go directly into the holding vats due to the type of machines used in the harvesting process by most vineyards.

More often than not the non-organic preservatives used are what affects most people and the focus of a past subject we touched upon before, Sulpher Dioxide known as Sulphites and preservative numbers 220 through to 226 on most wine labels. The numbers are measured in parts per million labelled PPM for short and most wines usually contain between 250ppm of sulphites while an organic wine would contain less than 60ppm this being in your standard 750 millilitre bottle of wine. Again, be aware that there are two types of Sulpher Dioxide out there, organic and non-organic; one harmful to your health and the other not.

Sorry but the Amigos are over any further discussion on this subject. We’re tired of the same old rhetoric as all of this information we just presented is readily available to you but as always people want to know quite simply what in the hell does it all mean? Quite frankly, we don’t blame you.

So here is a really simple antidote.

Bottom line, if you feel tired after the first glass of wine, yawning after the second then ready to hit the hay after the third and then wake up feeling like you should have stayed in bed, plain and simply it’s time to switch wines. It’s that simple!! I could feed you all the statistics about Sulpher Dioxide, pesticides, herbicides and all the other “cides” in between along with the numerous studies that have been done and what the Doctors say. But just STOP for a moment…and listen to yourself. What does your body say, how do you feel and more importantly did the glass you just drink have the desired affect? If it didn’t then you have two choices, stop drinking or find yourself another wine and preferably Chemical Free if not, the next best thing which would be Biodynamic.

We found this to be the easiest and simplest solution for everyone. If you find a wine that you like, stay with it and no further discussion is really necessary. Maybe we should have just written this paragraph first?

The Chem Free Three

The Amigos

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