Nurses and Drs- Am I allergic to...?

[Elan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Elan]

Hey, it could be worse. You could be allergic to wine.

Speaking of which, about 10 years ago I started getting migraines from alcohol. Talk about sucking! Takes the fun right out of kicking your heels up...

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Hey, it could be worse. You could be allergic to wine.

Speaking of which, about 10 years ago I started getting migraines from alcohol. Talk about sucking! Takes the fun right out of kicking your heels up...

I actually did have a sensitivity to wine for a while--I couldn't drink wine at all without getting very hot, flushed, overheated, palpitations, the whole deal. After just a couple of ounces, especially red wine. It was the opposite of being pleasantly buzzed. No buzz, just the general sensation that you might be on the way to having a stroke.

I stopped drinking wine for a couple of years and then when I tried again, everything was fine. I don't know why it affected me that way for just a short time.

[Jestjoan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jestjoan]

Sulfites? DH has a problem with wine.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Probably. They do sell sulfite-free wine here and there, btw. Maybe Vintner can make some up for your DH, Joan!

[Jestjoan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jestjoan]

Bbq

Thanks for the sources. I will check them out on Amazon and Umich. Hard for an OSU alum to type that.

[Jestjoan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jestjoan]

WM

DH's just fine with his Scotch. Darn my BIL for hooking him on the really expensive stuff he sent for his b'day.

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

Probably. They do sell sulfite-free wine here and there, btw. Maybe Vintner can make some up for your DH, Joan!

Unlikely it is sulfites. Many people blame it, but there are more sulfites in dried fruits and some preserved foods or lunch meats than in wine. There are theory’s that it is histamines, or alcohol in the wines that cause the problems.

I would start an experiment with wines, all done with only one glass of wine:
Try a white wine, something neutral, maybe sauv blanc, or pinot grigio or pinot gris. I would not do a chardonnay.

A couple days later, try a rose` wine (NOT white zinfandel). Please do not bring any near me ish. Some people like it...I can not stand it.

Then, a few days later, try a pinot noir. It is a light bodied and light tannic red.

Next, a few days later, try something like a cabernet or syrah (or shiraz-same grape from a different growing area and the shiraz may be more fruity). Much heavier wine, more tannic.

Record your results an hour after each wine and then the next day. See if you feel the effects of the wine.

If you are like most people, the whites will not bother you at all. You may have the problem with the red wines. It may be worse with some reds than others. Red wines are heavy with tannins and alcohol. Some zinfandels may be 16 percent alcohol level, or even more.

I read that if you drink a cup of black tea before drinking wine, you may reduce the headache problem. I am a tea drinker-don’t drink coffee, and I can consume a heavy wine with no problem. Maybe it is all the practice I do.

Let us know if you or the DH lives through the experiement.

BTW-at bottling, my wines, and most commercial wines are less than 50 parts per million sulfite. By the time it get to the cork screw, the wines are probably 10-15ppm sulfite. Very low.

Next Saturday I am getting about 180 pounds of cabernet, merlot and syrah grapes that will make a blend 3/5 cab and 1/5 each of the others.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Personally, I'm good. Thanks for the pinpointing instructions, though. Funny about white zinfandel--we have friends who love it and always bring it out when we visit, because they know we drink wine. When we're at their house, we drink the white zinfandel and it's kind of good...not really like wine...kind of like wine-flavored fruit juice punch. At our house, we never think of drinking it, because we have real wine. (Although you know what that kind of sweet stuff goes with? Chinese food. That's a good combination, probably because the taste of the food itself is so strong.)

[Barbeque Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Barbeque]

All the sulfite stuff I have problems with most domestic wines, salad bars and processed meats. I can drink Ruffino Chianti (An Italian Red wine) Without any effects unless I drink over a bottle. A friend of mine is a grower and he had told me that they use metabisulfite here in California on growing but it is illegal in Italy. It makes sense to me. He told me that is why I can tolerate the chianti from Italy but do not do as well with California wines.

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

All the sulfite stuff I have problems with most domestic wines, salad bars and processed meats. I can drink Ruffino Chianti (An Italian Red wine) Without any effects unless I drink over a bottle. A friend of mine is a grower and he had told me that they use metabisulfite here in California on growing but it is illegal in Italy. It makes sense to me. He told me that is why I can tolerate the chianti from Italy but do not do as well with California wines.

If you have a problem with the salad bars and processed meats, then yes, you are probably one of the 1% of the population that will have a sulfite problem in the wines.

There are two types of metabisulfites (meta or sulfites) that are used, potassium and sodium. I use potassium meta for my wines.

Just came back from the Ren Fest. Best I could do was a third place with one of my wines. Two years ago I took best of show. Entered the same wine today and it didn't even place.
It is cold and rainy today, and standing in that for several hours has me cold. Time to go warm up and drink a glass of wine.