Over my time purchasing for the wine department, I have noticed a common request asked almost daily: "Do you have any wines with low/no sulfites?" The answer, unfortunately, is more complicated than a simple yes or no. So let’s start with the basics.
First off, what are sulfites, and why are they added to our wines? As we all know, wine is made from grapes (duh!), which are perishable. Wine reacts poorly to oxidation (which will cause off flavors), and sulfites help to stabilize the wine and extend its shelf life. They are simply a preservative with antioxidant and antibacterial properties. People often think red wines contain more sulfites and therefore cause headaches, but in fact the opposite is true. Red wines have a long shelf life due to their naturally occurring tannins from leaving the skins in during fermentation. Whites contain fewer tannins because the skins are typically removed. White wines on average contain more sulfites since they don’t have the tannins to help preserve them.
To be legally bought and sold in the US, wine can contain at most 1000 parts per million added sulfites (which is a very small amount, .001%). Now, to be considered a “low sulfite wine”, it must contain no more than 100 parts per million (that’s .0001%). All of this is to say that sulfites are likely not the culprit of your wine headaches. The FDA estimates that only 1% of Americans are sulfite hypersensitive, and people with severe asthma are the most likely to be hypersensitive. Symptoms typically include hives or itchiness, flushing, and trouble breathing, but not headaches. This also means that if you are hypersensitive to sulfites, there are quite a few things that you cannot consume, including beer, certain high tannin fresh and dried fruit, and potatoes, which all contain an increased level of sulfites!
So who’s to blame here? Well, I’m sure you don’t need another person in your life telling you to drink more water (especially someone like me, who has a very bad track record of drinking water herself), but the most common cause of wine headaches is in fact dehydration! (Hey, no judgement here, trust me.) Another reason is the naturally occurring sugar content of grapes, as well as tannins. Lastly, red wine contains higher levelsof histamines and tyramines (an amino acid produced during the fermentation process), so if you also get headaches from cured or smoked meats, aged cheeses, and citrus, you may have histamine/tyramine sensitivity.
If wine headaches are a recurring issue that a glass of water can’t fix, I recommend focusing on different grape varietals that don't typically cause headaches. Sometimes it's just the type of grapes or wine styles that can cause headaches.
All of that being said, the wines that I prefer to stock here at the Co-op are typically made using low intervention practices, meaning they have little to no additives. This does not mean that there are “no sulfites”, as sulfites do naturally occur in grapes and wine, but it does mean that the winemakers focus on avoiding unnecessary additives, both in the vineyard and in the cellars. My current favorites are Morphos & Morphos Rosé from Oyster River Wine Growers in Maine.
“Bottled during the end of active fermentation, this wine continues to ferment in the bottle leaving it dry, cloudy, yeasty, and full of life, with a natural effervescence. Released just after bottling, it is the fresh wine of the harvest. It is fresh and fruity after bottling, but ages gracefully into more yeasty, toasty aromas. Made from a blend of Cayuga and Seval grapes from Fingerlakes region, New York.”
“Morphos Rosé is a pétillant naturel style wine made from 100% Merlot from the North Fork of Long Island. The wine is native fermented in our barn with no added sulfur and bottled toward the end of active fermentation. It continues to ferment in the bottle and is never filtered, creating a fizzy, yeasty and refreshing living rosé.”