My nose started to quiver as my eyes, already bloodshot, screwed up in reflex in preparation for an almighty, juddering sneeze. I was sitting in a café on the outskirts of a major wine growing region in France. It was evening and after a long day's wine tasting we had finally ordered our food and were ready to unwind and enjoy the first glass of wine that we didn't have to spit out. Only I was sneezing, uncontrollably.
"I
do apologize," I said to the rest of the table, a mixed company of
négociants and wine importers. "It must be all that sulfur in the young
wine we tasted."
"Nonsense!" came the
riposte. "There was certainly sulfur in the wines you tasted but it's
highly unlikely that it's causing your sneezing fit," said one importer,
with the weary expression of someone who has been down this road
before.
He was right. Later, I decided to research
likely causes for my sneezing and found that it could have been the
alcohol, or perhaps the histamine found in red wine or, since it was
early spring, possibly pollen…. There were all manner of things it could
have been, but it was very unlikely to be sulfur.
So
why had I mentioned it? Why is sulfur seen as a boogeyman? As British
wine journalist
Jamie Goode
writes in his book "Wine Science": "Sulfur dioxide in wine is one
of the most frequently discussed and yet simultaneously one of the most
frequently misunderstood issues in winemaking."
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