The Sulphite Question

March 11, 2015

The Sulphite Question

Hola you Chem Free Lovers,

The Amigos now understand why sulphites get so much air time in wine world. There are very few people on the planet who are actually allergic to sulphites (SO2) or as wine labels indicates (220). In fact, less than 1% of the population are unable stomach sulphites and this percentage strangely enough, are usually asthmatic and unable to metabolize sulphites in their system due to a lack of a digestive enzyme. Therefore, it is extremely dangerous for them to ingest any sulphites because it could literally end up killing them and thus all the publicity and understandably so.

Wines with added sulphites contain between 6 to 40 parts per million (ppm). Yet, most wineries will add sulphites to their brews and we have just found out there are two types of sulphites that can be added; organic and non-organic. Take a wild guess which is worse for you, cheaper and used most? No surprise that most use the non-organic alternative. Thus Biodynamic or Organic wine for obvious reasons, would be far better for you in the long run. And surprisingly, contrary to our own beliefs, on average white wine usually contains more sulphites than red wine. That literally blew our sumbrero’s off our heads. The Amigos thought the contrary as I’m sure many of you did as well.

While being distracted over the sulphite issue most forget about all the other “baddies” allowed in wine from preservatives, hormones, artificial fertilizers, stimuli and histamines. The Amigos feel if these were taken out of the equation all together and only organic sulphites were used than most of the common hangover effects people experience would be alleviated as organic sulphites have no adverse effects on 99% of us. And let us all not forget alcohol is alcohol and if you consume a lot you will end up paying for it financially and physically, though the latter usually causes the most pain. The old saying ‘no pain no gain’ should never enter into the wine arena…ever!!

The question now arises can you make wine without sulphites? It solely depends on a couple of factors. First and foremost sulphites are part of the wine making process. Wine yeast produces sulphite in the fermentation process. Secondly, we would therefore suspect if you don’t use wine yeast then it is possible not to have sulphites in your wine at all but have yet found a winery that doesn’t use wine yeast and therefore all have some sort of sulphites in their ingredients. The only time we have heard of wine with no sulphites is home brewed wines but we are always looking of course.

This is where you can all help. We’d like to hear from you in this regard, so drop us a note and let us know if there are any wines out there that you are aware of, that do not have any sulphites in them or better yet have no baddies at all! Imagine that, a wine that is actually good for you and has health benefits to boot. Like we said in our previous blogs, we have only found one wine so far but the Amigos are not going to give up. So let us know if you’ve found any other commercially viable wines that can prove the same and we’ll send you a 12-pack case absolutely free.

We look forward to having you take us up on our offer.

Adios for now… from the Chem Free Three

The Amigos