Hi, does anyone know if French wines in France contain sulfites? My wife usually gets a headache from red wine and recently, in Italy, not one headache in 18 days!! Found out no sulfites. Would like to look forward to that for our trip to France in March. Even though we have read that sulfites don't cause headaches, it is hard to argue with experience. Thanks.

Hi Larry, <BR> <BR>Are you sure the wine in Italy had no sulfites? AFAIK, Italy does not require labelling re. sulfites, whereas the FDA requires that anything more than 10 ppm be labelled. <BR> <BR>While some theorize that sulfites cause headaches, tannins are a much more likely culprit - particularly if white wine does not have the same effect, or if the person has a family history of migraines. I normally stick to white, or if I really want a red, go for merlot which has a much lower level of tannins than other red wines. Hope you have a <BR>great trip.

All wines, to some degree, contain sulfites as sulfites are a natural result of the winemaking process. What you will find, however, is that some wines (organically grown wines for instance) will contain no added sulfites, and depending on the labeling requirements, will usually indicate this on the label. Adding sulfites to wine is done, I believe, to make the wine more stable for shipping and storing. As the first poster indicated, many believe that it is the level of tannins in the wine that contribute to headaches and not sulfites, thus the absence of problems, for many, when consuming white wines. <BR> <BR>I know this doesn't directly answer your question, but more information never hurts. <BR> <BR>

Larry, <BR>I also get headaches in the USA when I drink a bit too much red wine. <BR>I do not get those headaches in France where I tend to dring a lot of red wine. <BR>(As in, daily.) <BR>I to believe that it is the wine that is bottled for export that contains more sulfite.

In this country, sulfites are used primarily in white wines, and Chardonnays in particular. More and more French white wines do bear a label that they contain sulfites, but I think that such labeling is voluntary. <BR> <BR>It is traditionally said that "red wine headaches" are due to tyramines or tyramine-like substances. I know of no reason that French or Italian wines would contain a lower quantity of these compounds, and I think it unlikely that American red wines contain significant sulfites, unless perhaps they were "lighter" reds like from Gamay grapes (a la Beaujolais). <BR> <BR>for what it's worth, "hard"(er) or ""red"(der) cheeses such as aged American cheddar(s) also contain a fair amount of these tyramines (as can chocolates). Could the difference be your wife's eating accompanying cheeses here in the US when she has developed headaches? <BR>

Hi, Rex, <BR> <BR>Thanks for the response - I know sulfites are inherent and almost everything says its tannins, tyramines or something else. It has also been her experience that cheese intensifys the response, the harder the cheese, the worse. Now a minimum of half a carafe and all the parmesan she could cram in her mouth and no headaches for 18 days. She has red wine every night with dinner and maybe a headache twice a week or no headaches for two weeks or every other day. Doesn't make any sense whatsoever but no headaches in almost three weeks is unheard of. The same Italian wines in the US are marked that they contain sulfites. The big question is: "Is the content of the bottle any different or is it just the labeling that the FDA insists on?" She was not the only one to be headache free on our tour. Also read it on a post on Rick Steves. I thought I would try to solicit as much information as possible and really appreciate all the comments. In reality, I wanted to say: <BR>"No sulfites in France either, you REALLY have something to look forward to."

I believe that all red wines contain some sulfites. However, a helpful hint regarding wine. Unless drinking a French red, try and drink only red wines that have above 12.5 to 13.0% alcohol content. <BR> <BR>Don't drink too darn much and drink that alcohol content and you should not have headaches.

BUT TOM, we are going to France- now what?? What is the guideline for red French wine - what is a person to do ?Mon Dieu!

Mon Dieu Larry, <BR>Let her drink the wine. Then upon your return let us know the result. I will bet you a bottle she will not get headaches. Le vin est tres bon. Ils est sans "headaches". It's the stuff they ship to us that gives us headaches. <BR>Never had a headache in France.

This is the practical answer without the techno-babble. It comes from a number of qualified French sources, including a professional sommelier I knew when I lived in France in the Nineties. <BR>1. The French DO NOT routinely add sulphites to wines to be sold in France. They DO add them to those exported to the US. <BR>2. There are, nevertheless, sulphites that occur naturally in wines, but in varying quantities according to the grape, etc. <BR>3. So as to headaches, it comes down to the individual sensitivity of the drinker. If sulphite sensitive, she is most likely to get zapped (that's a technical term, by the way!) by a French import to the US. But if sensitivity is high, it could happen in France as well where the suphites are at much lower levels, but are there quand meme. <BR>If you can find a varietal that doesn't cause your wife to bark at the moon or break out in hives, or (especially) to incur headaches, stick with it. <BR>I remember a big argument about the effect that quantity has. The general experience of my French amis was that if you were sensitive, then you could drink a thimbleful and get a corker of a headache. The sommelier maintained that the big problem for him was that some would insist the wine was bad and there would be a heated discussion on that score. He argued, and the others agreed, that a sulphite headache was distinguishable from a bad-wine headache or a too-much-wine headache. I only recall that a bad-wine headache was usually also in the stomach. <BR>I will end by saying that these guys knew their stuff in the area of wine. None of them was less than 40, two of them were wine professionals, and they loaded me up with some great 82's, 88's, and 90's at a negligible cost before I came home that I am eternally grateful for.