I am a private chef and wine specialist. I have had many clients ask for wine w/no sulfites. Wine w/o sulfites is grape juice. No alcohol to ferment. Please explain to me if this is possible?
Answer From Expert Roger Bohmrich MW
Questions about sulfites are very popular - if that's the right word - and no doubt reflect the level of widespread concern. Overall, worries about sulfites are either exaggerated or misplaced. A tiny fraction of the population has a serious physical reaction to sulfites - less than 0.5% according to reliable scientific studies. Quite often, sulfites are blamed for adverse effects of drinking wine - especially headaches - when the true cause may be alcohol or other substances altogether. Sulfites are found in countless processed foods (including many fruit juices) and also occur naturally at very low concentrations in others. They are formed as a consequence of yeast metabolism during fermentation, so wines with zero sulfite content are exceptionally rare, even if no sulfites are added. Recognizing this fact, U.S. regulations require the term "contains sulfites" only if the wine contains 10 ppm or more. To give you one example, Frey Vineyards in California states on their website (freywine.com) that their wines "usually range from 0 ppm to 5 ppm naturally occurring sulfites." You could look for their wines, which are in reasonably good distribution, or try to find others which similarly claim "no added sulfites." For further reading, I recommend an excellent article published in January 2011 in the trade publication, Wines & Vines (winesandvines.com), entitled "Making Sense of Sulfites."
