The other day I was touring with clients and the guide who was leading us through the caves mentioned a story. A women who was very familiar with their wines mentioned that she was very sensitive to sulfites in red wine, and often had severe reactions. Yet, she was able to drink their red wines without a problem.
They asked the winemaker about that; he is also the owner and vineyard manager. They asked him if he had any ideas about that. Now, this is a certified organic winery and all of the work on the vineyard, including harvest, is done by a small full time team. They have been with the vineyard for two generations and during harvesting they are very particular. That's because they are full time workers, rather than pickers paid by the ton.
They know that the winemaker personally dumps the bins of grapes into the de-stemmer and anything that he rejects they are going to have to cart back to the compost pile among the vines. So, they only bring him good, clean grapes. The winery only produces about two thousand cases of wine, but it is all good quality.
They use only the natural yeast, but they still add some sulfites to prevent spoilage. I have heard that it is the cleanliness of the grapes that make a difference in the occurrence of headaches. The presence of MOG (Material Other than Grapes) supposedly promotes histamine reactions, or sinus headaches. But many of the wineries that I visit are scrupulous about this part of the process and they are not all immune to red wine headaches.
This was where the winemaker made an interesting comment. Apparently, many of the popular sulfites used in wineries are petroleum based. A huge number of products are made from carbon from petroleum, because we are carbon based life forms. Through chemistry a lab can rearrange carbon atoms into an amazing variety of compounds. Even if the sulfur compounds are coming from a mined source the additives and binders may be petroleum based.
This winemaker spends the extra money for the naturally mined, petroleum free sulfites. Now, chemists will say that there is no difference between a manufactured and natural product chemically, that assumes that they know every factor at work in a natural compound, which is unlikely. To bring up the old example, scientists can create water in the lab from hydrogen and oxygen, but fish can't live in it. What did they miss?
So, herbalist, natural physician and wine lover that I am, more research will be necessary. If you have any personal experience with comparing, or using these two products, please let me know. Thanks.
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