Is Drinking Wine Making you Sick during the Festive Season?

The Use of Preservatives in Wine

Preservatives have been used in the production of wine for many decades. They serve three purposes:

1. Control undesirable microbial growth
2. Inhibit browning enzymes
3. Serve as an anti-oxidant

Grape juice behaves like any other fruit in that when it is exposed to air, it begins to deteriorate due to oxidation. To preserve the fresh fruit flavours of the grape (and also in the wine), preservatives are added immediately after the grape skin is broken. They are continuously used throughout the wine making process until bottling.

The use of preservatives throughout the food industry has been a concern for consumers for many years and many producers have removed them from their products.

Some winemakers have been aware of the harmful effects these preservatives have on consumers and have been trying to produce wines without their use for many years. 

Largely this endeavour has been unsuccessful, particularly with white wine, as it is simply impossible to produce high quality wine without their use.

Most commonly the preservative is added either as a sulphur salt such as Potassium Metabisulphate (which releases sulphur dioxide gas) or sulphur dioxide gas.

Sulphur dioxide gas is well known as an undesirable pollutant. Exposure to sulphur dioxide gas is very unpleasant even at quite low concentrations.

Typical reactions to sulphur dioxide are headaches, shortness of breath, sneezing, watery eyes, weezing, sinus congestion and dizziness. 

Asthmatics are particularly susceptible to sulphur dioxide.

The level of free sulphur dioxide in most wines at bottling is between 25-35ppm, depending on style. After the addition of 5 drops of pure wine the level is normally reduced to 5ppm or less. This is achieved despite the level of preservative varying for different wines.

The wine is kept fresh and vibrant for up to 24 hours after opening due to a slight increase in the preservative level due to a buffering effect.

Public authorities have been concerned with daily intake of sulphur dioxide and there are many cases of increased illness of residents in high sulphur dioxide regions such as near refineries.

There is also research indicating that preservatives are a significant contributor to the

 after effects of alcohol (hangover)

Winemakers have known and used the chemistry behind removing preservatives for many years as it is often practiced in the winery to adjust sulphur levels. 

This knowledge was critical in enabling the preservative to be removed immediately prior to consumption. 

James developed several different methods for achieving this but believed the easiest and most effective is the Pure Wine system described on this web site .http://www.purewine.com.au/index.html

By adding 5 drops of neutralising agent (dilute hydrogen peroxide) from the dropper bottle almost all of the free sulphur dioxide is removed. This is achieved despite the level of preservatives in wines varying considerably.

This very special product has a unique action when used as directed. It is able to remove almost all the preservative in the wine but allow the wine to remain fresh and vibrant for up to 24 hours after opening. Another great feature is that you can treat individual glasses (150ml) by adding 1 drop.

Please take good note I copied these information from the Pure Wine website because I am so happy with the product. 

I was reacting so strongly to the E220 or sulphur dioxide that I did not drink wine for the last two years.

(yes :( even the most expensive French Champagne has E220!)

Thanks to “Pure wine” I can drink again!

Happy New Year!

Marlene Daniels