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Use of Sulphur

Sulphur Dioxide is a very important compound in the winery, where it used as an antiseptic, an antioxidant, and to kill yeasts at certain times. Sulphur will kill bacteria that can form in the must and during the fermentation process. In most wineries, the natural yeasts present on the grape skins are killed with sulphur and then cultivated yeasts are used instead. It is again used after fermentation to make sure any yeasts in the wine are gone, which could affect the flavor of the wine.

Their is a certain myth you might hear about in the United States. This myth is caused by the label you see on every bottle of wine, that says ” This product contains sulfites.” I had been told at one point that the FDA requires the addition of sulphur as a preservative, when wines are imported from other countries. The idea is that when winemakers in Europe make wine to be sold in the United States, they are forced to add these nasty chemicals to the wine.  Someone also told me that the lack of sulphites in foreign wines is the reason why when you drink wine in Italy, you never get a hangover. I can tell you  authoritatively that this myth is absolutely false. Wines from Europe have just as much sulphur in them as wines made in the United States. There may be some small scale producers (like people who make wine in their garage), but you’d never see any of that wine here. Sulphur is indespensible in the winemaking process. It’s use is very controlled by law, and the amounts that are used are very small. The amount of sulphur in one typical dried apricot, for example , is far more than what is in one entire bottle of wine. The only people that really need to be concerned about sulphur in wine are asthmatics, for whom sulphur can provoke all kinds of nasty symptoms. These people are the reason we have the label in the United States. Because of our litigious nature, wineries must protect themselves against the possibility of an asthmatic suing for damages. As for the reason you don’t get a hangover in Italy, I suspect it may have something to do with the amount of food you eat there, and perhaps even that the food is much fresher and therefore nutrient-rich, counteracting the deleterious effects of alcohol. But you’ll have to decide for yourself on that one.