WINE WITHOUT USING STABILIZER PACKS

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JerryF

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Well, I've never had this experience before but after quite a while of making wines, mostly from kits, but a few times from scratch, it seems as I've gotten older, my body has developed somewhat of an intolerance for the sulfites in almost all wines where the stabilizer additives are used. Within 8-12 hours of drinking some wine, I develope a bit of a skin rash (which is sometimes unbearable). Usually it's gone in anywhere from 2-4 days, but not without treatments. I love wine and am pretty disheartened after my doctor and allergist informed me of some test results. Of course I know there are things you can do to take most, if not all, the sulfites out but I was also wondering, what happens if I just leave out those stabilizer packs containing the metabisulfites and thereby not introduce sulfites into my wines? To my thinking, it would only mean my wines couldn't be expected to stay good corked in the bottle for longer than 4-6 months. Is my thinking correct or am I missing something? I'm of a mind to just continue doing as I've always done and suffer the consequences rather than give up wine or stop making it. Any comments or suggestions would be welcomed.
 
I am sorry to hear of your problems. If I were in your shoes, I would want to make sure that it was indeed sulfites that was causing the problem. Commercial wine contains sulfites, as does, for example, raisins and other dried fruits. Do those bother you?
 
To be honest, I have not purchased a commercial wine in probably 10 years or more because I like the ones I make better. I haven't eaten raisins or any other dried fruit in probably closer to 18-20 years. No real reason I could pin that on, just not a fan. This whole effect has just developed in the last 18-24 months and only manifests itself after drinking wines, red in particular it seems. I have gone through testing with an allergist and very clearly the sulfites cause a sigificant reaction. If I don't drink wines, it doesn't happen, simple as that. My problem is that I LOVE wine and am looking to see if there's a way around it somehow.
 
Both interesting reads. I will pursue further when I next see my doctor.
 
This is from an article in 'Bon Appetite":
No, You Are (Probably) Not Allergic to Sulfites
Believe me, I get wanting to blame your wine headaches on something other than the fact that you’re drinking too much wine. But you’re probably not allergic to sulfites. The FDA estimates that less than 1% of the U.S. population has a sulfite allergy, and those who do are most likely asthmatic. If you are allergic, you may get hives and have trouble breathing within 30 minutes of sulfite exposure, and should arm yourself an Asthma rescue inhaler because an order of shrimp has more sulfites than an entire bottle of Sangiovese. For the rest of us trying to explain our “headaches” away, there is a chance that red wine headaches are caused by the histamines present in red wine. If you’re predisposed to allergies like hay fever, you could try Claritin before hitting the bottle—but do some with an abundance of caution, or a designated driver. And don’t forget to drink plenty of water, allergenic or not.
And No, Sulfites Aren’t Generally Bad for You
Despite the ominous “CONTAINS SULFITES” warning that accompanies most wine labels, sulfites are not the nicotine of wine, although that is exactly what lobbyists wanted you to believe. Starting in the 1970s, anti-alcohol lobbyists were trying to pass legislation that would require wines to list their ingredients. After those efforts continuously failed, a 1987 law required any wine with 10 PPM (parts per million) or more sulfites to be labeled with “contains sulfites.” But this has nothing to do with actual health risks and was entirely meant to scare people away from drinking wine. If it was really about health, the “contains sulfites” campaign would have included products like dried fruit, which have around 3500 PPM, compared to wine, which averages around 80 PPM and by law cannot exceed 350 PPM.
Yep, Your Kid’s Fruit Leather Has More Sulfites than Wine
Wayyy more. So do those French fries you had at lunch. Sorry, I know you don’t need any more reasons to not love French fries but they do have approximately 1900 PPM. But you just shouldn’t worry about it. Everything from pickles to pizza crust to painkillers contain sulfites. The reason sulfites became such a big deal is because in the 1980s there was a rise in sulfur allergic reactions due to the large amount of sulfur used in preservatives. Imagine if suddenly everything had a ton of peanuts in it without any warning, and then a bunch of kids with nut allergies ended up in the hospital, or worse. It makes sense that you’d want companies to disclose that peanuts are in their products, but that doesn’t mean you, a non-peanut-allergic-person, need to spend the rest of your life terrified of every Chex party mix.
So Now What?
Dude, live your life with the wine flowing freely. If you’re concerned about added chemicals in your wine, you’ve got 99 problems and sulfur is just one. There are dozens of sugars, added yeasts, gelatin, and worse in wine that no one is required to tell you about. Shop at a local wine store and ask for low-intervention wines. These wines use as few chemicals as possible, tend to go natural for sugars and yeasts, and are very often “sans soufre” (without sulfur). And for those of you who still think your wine headaches are sulfite-related, these wines are just what the doctor ordered. And by “doctor,” I mean “Me, Marissa A. Ross, Professional Wine Drinker who never gets headaches anymore, just trust me on this.”
Read more: Let's Make Port Cool Again
 
To answer the original question, yes, you can bottle the wine without sulfite and sorbate, as long as the wine is dry. If it's not dry, a renewed fermentation in the bottle is likely and you'll blow corks. BTW, when making dry kit wines, I skip the sorbate as it's not necessary.

In addition, not using sulfite will likely reduce the shelf life of your wine. The no-sulfite wines I've purchased all went bad within a year from purchase, which was roughly 2 years from crush.

I would suspect histamines, as so many foods contain sulfite. If the problem is sulfite, you can stop using it, but watch your wines to see how long they age.
 
Any idea if the sulfite reaction is specific to Potassium or Sodium Metabisulfite? I find it interesting reds are worse for you. Don’t whites typically require more sulfite than reds?

It would be easy to test yourself. Just make something quick and cheap (Dragon Blood comes to mind). Use acid blend instead of Real Lemon, or use juice from organic lemons. Use berries or fruit that have no preservatives (home grown would be best), and skip all the extra chemicals and fining agents. This is a batch you could discard if you don’t like it. If you don’t react to that, try adding things one at a time. If it’s the k-meta that triggers it (start with maybe 1/4 tablet in a gallon), then try Sodium Metabisulfite - maybe it’s the Potassium, not the Sulphur. Try sorbate (no Sulphur). Try a clearing agent like SuperKleer (shell fish). To make a valid test, I would not use a kit wine - no telling what’s in the juice pack.

Disclaimer: do not attempt any allergy testing without taking proper precautions, including consulting a doctor or specialist.
 
I found this on a health site -- I'll accept that it's generally correct.

White wine contains between 3 to 120 micrograms of histamine per glass, while red wine contains between 60 and 3,800 micrograms of histamine per glass.

This is why red wines are a problem for people who are sensitive to histamines, but whites are not usually.
 

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