Sometime in the past year there was an interesting thread on avoiding a headache when doing wine tastings. If memory (and it gets worse by the day) serves me correctly someone advised taking antihistamines prior to beginning the wine tastings.
If someone can top that thread for me, I would appreciate it...Or if you have advice would appreciate it.

Taste the wine, but don't drink it. Buckets are provided for discarding wine and pitchers of water are available to rinse classes.

Advil, before AND after.

What really helps me is if I sip a glass of water along with the wines. Once I discovered I had managed to finish an entire bottle, but was drinking water right along with it. Was a bit loopy , but no headache! More water afterwards and the ibuprofen does really help!

My first thought was: don't drink the whole box!;-) Seriously, I think you have to use the bucket, as someone above suggested. And even a little bit of red wine will give some among us a headache!

Better wines will treat you better. No guarantees with the low priced stuff at Trader Joe's and Costco. Im sure some will blast me for that remark,lol.

I've always had to avoid reds, though I love them, because of sulfite sensitivity. I've gone to tastings and tried many others without any trouble.
It is recommended to use a cup in order to dispose, i.e. spit, the wine you try- quite acceptable amongst tasting pros-
leave the wine in your mouth for 8-10 seconds. Have a simple snack such as crackers or bread- this prevents the possiblility of headaches as well.

My wine store suggested sulfite free wines. Here is a link to sulfite and :-<headache info.
http://wine.about.com/library/encyc/bl_sulfite.htm

I agree with blacktie.

Try better quality wines.

Way to go bonnie....I knew someone would tell me to be moderate instead of excessive!

JohnD..interesting about the sulfite free wines...but, reading this article it states white wines contain more sulfites than red wines. Interesting.

Also, said sulfites are found on onions..Just the other day I told my husband that I thought onions gave me a headache. Guess they did.

Thanks everyone...but, does anyone remember reading about the anithistimines?

iceeu2,

Unfortunately, the few sulfite free wines I have tried didn't compare to the quality of vintage wines.
BTW, I also agree with above recommendation for ibuprofen and fine wine, skip the cheap stuff!!!

I've found that the sipping water trick works well.

You do want to be careful taking ibuprofen and drinking. I think it even says on the bottle that you should be moderate, I think it can cause stomach bleeding.

blacktie, not blasting, but the Costco I go to has a great wine selection. They have the cheap stuff to, but I've gotten the last couple of vintages of Joseph Phelps Insigna there for a great $!!

Definitely take ibuprofen (Advil) before and after. For me, it has never failed in preventing a headache hangover.

Oh, I agree - I actually like Trader Joe's but wanted to warn folks off the two buck stuff, which is actually three in our area. Their selection, however, needs some significant help!!! And I've looked carefully. I think a lot of late Sunday afternoon shopping works against this.

Iceeu2, thank you for posting this, I feel a bit better now knowing I'm not the only one... I had to switch to drinking white wine only. I don't understand the concept of drinking wine with pills when this combo can cause long-term medical problems.

Ok, I'll go for the fine wine drinking, but isn't a sulfite a sulfite? Plus, the better the wine..the more I want!
And, what distinguishes a good wine from a cheap wine...I have tasted some very very good inexpensive wines.
FainaAgain...you really think switching to white wine helped?

Sulfites are a natural product of wines. Large production wines have sulfites added. That is why the better bottled wines have less and won't affect you as much. If these are migraine headaches that are being triggered you may need to just not taste wine.

Hi Faina, yes alcohol and acetaminophen - (Tylenol) can be toxic (deadly) as both are excreted through the liver. However alcohol and ibuprofen (Advil) isn't a problem as ibuprofen is excreted through the kidneys.

Imagine what we all used to do back in our college days before we knew about this huge difference! Just a little FYI.

Found a site listing wines to avoid:
http://www.tcsn.net/rags/bum/
Would also generally avoid labels referring to trains, hills & strawberriesor wild.

White wines and Champagne give me instant headaches. The doctor told me also that it was the sulfites, you can usually tell when I have a wine headache, my nose is all stuffed and I sound very nasal.
I skip tastings, but I find that some wines do and some don't cause headaches these days, perhaps I am becoming immune?
Then if that is so-I suggest a glass a day until the headaches go away~
Cheers~