Well, there’s some good news and some bad news regarding our recent Wine FAQ contest, which officially ended on Monday.
The good news is that we have a winner – Stuart Yaniger, who sent us two great questions:
1. What’s all this sulfite stuff? Is it true that only American/French/Australian/
Slavokian wines use them?
Every wine has sulfites – yeast produce sulfur compounds along with alcohol, carbon dioxide and other substances. Most wineries can or do add sulfites to help preserve wine because it resists spoilage by other organisms. So even German and Italian wines will have sulfites.
2. Why do I get headaches when I drink red wine? (often mistakenly coupled with question 1).
Allergic reactions to sulfur are common. But nitrates and nitrites can trigger reactions and they are present in wine through natural processes. Since the skins are what give red wines their color, the problem may be in compounds that were in the grape skins.
The bad news is that we didn’t get enough entries to pick more than one winner. Sorry about that.
But if you still have a question, by all means, please send it to us. And we might just try another contest in the near future.