Tonight is a special night for two main reasons. Firstly, I had a very nice dinner with my colleagues and, secondly, this website (lifeintherightdirection.com) is being migrated tomorrow to a new website host, so I have to pause any site updates tonight.
I hope the migration to the new website host goes very smoothly and easily. I must admit that I’m a bit nervous about it, but I’m sure it’s in good hands. I hope that you don’t notice any downtime and that the webpage loading speed is very good with the new host. Only time will tell.
Sulfites in wine
During the very nice dinner tonight, one of my colleagues suggested that the South African wine I ordered would be high in alcohol and have added sulfites (sulphites). He suggested that he could drink two bottles of French wine and be ok the next morning, but with two glasses of wine like this (high in alcohol and sulfites) he’d have a terrible head tomorrow.
True enough, the wine was labelled as 14% alcohol and with added sulfites.
I just had to check out if the sulfites were really a problem. Even though I’m really against any additive, I wanted to know if I should be really worried about sulfites.
Why add sulfites?
This is a key question for me. Why would someone add sulfites to wine?
Well apparently, sulfites are part of the natural fermentation process, but adding extra sulfites is done because of its preservative effect. It’s a preservative that has antioxidant and antibacterial properties.
So, it’s not added for our benefit (surprise, surprise!!), it’s added so the wine can be sold over a longer period of time and a greater portion of the globe.
Are sulfites a problem?
Well, it appears (see links below as examples) that sulfites are not really a major problem, unless you have an allergy to them. I don’t like additives, so I’ll avoid sulfites when I can (I’ve been buying organic wines when possible lately and they taste fine to me), but it seems that they are a minor issue compared to other additives. I’m glad to find an additive that doesn’t seem to be a really serious problem.
What wine to drink?
In the end, the best wine to drink (if you can manage it) is none. See the posts Detoxification Through Avoiding Alcohol – Step 2 and How to stay healthy in the business setting? Sparkling mineral water is a good alternative to wine, but it’s not always easy to have the required discipline.
Am I wrong? Please let me know in the comments below what you think. Thanks.
Related links
- Here’s a detailed article with health benefit claims from (don’t we all want it to be true!) – Health Effects of Red Wine – How Moderate Drinking Can be Good For You – from Gerard Paul at ManyEats.com
- http://www.thekitchn.com/sulfites-in-wine-necessary-or-100878
- http://www.marksdailyapple.com/dear-mark-hot-laptops-wine-sulfites-glutamine-wheres-mackerel-and-more/
Sulfites in wine is a huge problem for me, as I am allergic to them – end up with sinusitis, headaches and sneezing fit to clear the room.
Like your colleague I would rather drink French wine, which almost always ensures no problem. Most Australian bubblies – forget it! The next morning I feel like I have a hangover. Sometimes it is. Most times it is Sulfites.
Thanks Sue. It didn’t take long to find someone allergic to sulfites. Even if others are not noticeably allergic, I assume they can’t be good for any of us.
I’ll certainly keep avoiding sulfites and try and buy organic wine whenever I can.
Lucky there’s still plenty of wine that you can drink!