Hi, my wife suffers from a sulphite intolerance, but she is over the moon after trying one of your sulphite free white wines - so much so that we have just placed another order. Also we are very impressed with your fast delivery, many thanks and I am sure will be placing many more orders, regards, Lyn and Hazel

I have a sulphite intolerance and tried these wines and they are great. No after affects at all. Amazing!

M G

Just had to drop you a note to say thanks for sharing your knowledge on your website. My partner suffers from asthma and cant drink any wine. I've been making home made fruit wines for the last year now with the intention of being chemical free. I thought 'Organic' meant exactly that - how wrong was I!

Glenn

'I have a sulphite intolerance and tried these wines and they are great. No after affects at all. Amazing!' - relating to our low sulphite premixed cases!

M G

'I just wanted to say a big thank you to you. I suffer from sulphite intolerance (mainly severe muscular pain) and have found your wines are completely problem free for me. I'm on my second case and have rediscovered the joys of wine drinking!'

Brian H

Good news, the joy of having a glass of wine has returned. It was a lovely wine. The skin on my tongue and lips did not come off and I didn't stop breathing and no sore throat. I must admit I was really scared. I just put a little on my lips at first to see if there was going to be a problem. It was really great to have a drink. Thanks for your help John it was much appreciated.

Hazel

Check out a review on a customer's blog too. Greg has a sulphite intolerance and he too was delighted when he discovered he could safely drink our low sulphite wines

Legal Disclaimer

This page is for information only based on our personal experiences. If you suffer from these symptoms, you may have something other than a sulphite intolerance and you are advised to seek professional medical help.

Feel ill after wine?

Does drinking wine make you feel ill? Hot flushes? Shortage of breath? Vomiting or diarrhoea overnight? Banging headache next day? (caused by bound sulphur and other chemicals). Do you avoid wine in favour of other drinks as a result?

Well don’t despair, it may not be the wine! You have all the symptoms of a sulphite intolerance and there may be a solution to get back to drinking wine again.

Our Story

About six years ago my partner, Jane, had a bad reaction to some wine we were drinking in Prague. She was violently ill all night but we put this down to quantity as we were having a very enjoyable weekend! On our return the same thing happened a few more times with Jane being ill each time she drank ,wine in particular, but also with draught lager, and as we’ve since discovered with some processed foods and nuts in particular.

As you can imagine this was unbearable to Jane. She thought she would have to stop drinking wine. In fact the draught lager incident nearly killed her as she struggled to breathe and this understandably made her panic which exacerbated the situation. Fortunately my sister, a high level nurse, was present and she was able to avert disaster.

This made Jane all the more determined to find out what was wrong with her. She was referred to specialists for allergy tests. This went on for a couple of years without making any progress. However, having learnt to control her breathing when struck by this shortage of breath, Jane was experimenting with drinking small quantities of various drinks. Having discussed the problem with friends we found that a lot of them, especially the girls, were having similar problems to a lesser extent.

The Problem

To cut a long story short, we tracked it down to the chemicals added to the drinks, usually as a preservative, in particular sulphites. Jane can drink pure lager, such as German Pils brewed to the purity laws, with no problem whatsoever. She still cannot drink any UK brewed lagers though. The same with wine. Factory produced brands, and this includes most of the popular wines in the supermarkets and in the tenanted pubs of the large pub companies, tend to be very highly chemicalled and Jane can tell at one sip if it’s going to affect her.

Sulphites occur naturally in the grape skin, in tiny traces, so all wine must mention it on the label, with the exception of any wines below 10 ppm which are exempt from these regulations. However many of the factory produced wines have extra sulphites added and there’s no guide on the label how much sulphite a wine contains. By law a wine can contain up to 400 parts per million of sulphites, but a good wine can contain less than 40 ppm. Therefore a cheap factory produced wine can easily contain 10 times more sulphites than a good wine!

The Answer

We’ve always drunk good wine at home and noticed that Jane didn’t react to these. It was only when we ate out and had to gamble on an unknown wine, or when we went to friends houses for dinner or they brought wine to us, that the problem recurred. So the answer for Jane is to drink good wines, very low in chemical additives. Where to find them?

Virtually every recommended wine on our list is fine for Jane to drink. This doesn’t guarantee that it will be safe for anyone else, but if you suffer from the same symptoms, it could be worth a try. Of course you don’t have to buy the wine from us. You’ll find good wines with very low chemical content elsewhere. I recommend going for smaller producers, preferably family owned vineyards and wineries, steer well clear of any factory brand and don’t go for the very cheap wines. To make them at this price they’re almost certainly factory produced. And if you’re not used to drinking wine, take it easy. Too much in one hit when you’re not used to it can make you violently ill anyway, as your liver has a panic attack realising that the easiest way for it to get out of a full night’s work is to make you sick!