Sulphite Free Wines

We specialise in Sulphite Free Wines. Some of the terminology has changed since we set up in 2007. As has been pointed out to me by the Wine Standards Board there is technically no recognition of this term under EU law, but the EU only requires the term “contains sulphites” to be displayed on wines containing more than 10 parts per million (and the same with USA law)). In the EU’s own words, according to Part E of annex II EC No 1333/2008 “Maximum levels are expressed as SO2 relate to the total quantity, available from all sources, an SO2 content of not more than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/l is not considered to be present”. So this appears to confirm that the EU regards that when levels are 10 parts per million or below, that S02 is not considered to be present. Perhaps not a conclusive official recognition that a wine is sulphite free, but if the EU consider no sulphite is present I can’t see any reason why the wine shouldn’t be referred to as sulphite free to help the consumer make an educated and informed choice.

Some will have a minute amount (below 10ppm) of natural sulphites produced during fermentation but these are harmless. It is the sulphites which are a man made chemical compound liberally added to mainstream wines at various stages from vineyard to factory, which are bad for you and a danger to your health. Occasionally the naturally occurring sulphite in one of these wines may just go over the 10ppm threshold. According to EU rules we are not permitted to state that any wines above this threshold may be fine for somebody with a sulphite allergy, the wine must contain the words “contains sulphites” on the label. It would be inappropriate for me to elaborate any further on this as I don’t want to appear to be challenging the EU rules, but suffice to say that different people will have different tolerance levels, and the EU’s choice to use 10ppm as their threshold is not definitive as to whether or not sulphite intolerant people will have an adverse reaction. This is simply the level at which they deem it a legal requirement to display bthe words “contains sulphites” on the label.

Our sulphite free wines are made by artisan producers in very small quantities, some literally just a few thousand bottles or even less. Most farm organically or biodynamically although not all are certified, as certification for EU Organic is no longer worth the paper it is written on, let alone the extortionate fees. They relaxed the rules to allow big business to hijack the organic term and now over 40 additives are permitted in EU certified Organic wine, plus dubious practices such as reverse osmosis – a very heavy filtering which removes all the goodness. However our producers are the genuine article, and if they don’t use sulphites they don’t add any of the other 80+ additives permitted in mainstream wines either. These wines are basically just fermented grape juice as wine should be.

Sulphite free wines, particularly whites and roses, have a different taste profile to mainstream wines as they cannot have high levels of acidity. They also don’t have increased aromas or initial flavours from introduced yeasts. But the plus side to this is they also don’t have a bitter finish from added sulphur. So on first sip they can be quite dull. But take another sip and the flavour increases. Then another sip and it gets stronger again. Soon you find yourself loving the wine although you’re not quite sure why! Whereas with a mainstream wine you have to keep sipping to get rid of the bitter finish from the last sip, with sulphite free wines you just get pure delicate flavours.

The reds are more mainstream in style due to the natural tannins which are strong anti oxidants protecting the wine.

We also have a wide range of low sulphite wines on our site including but not limited to our Organic section. For example we have excellent artisan producers like Anton Malan at Rainbow’s End in Stellenbosch producing exceptional quality wines with very low sulphite (or other additive) levels which are delicious and a great healthy lifestyle choice.