“When I add sulfites, I feel really flat afterwards because I know part of the wine has gone.”
(DAMIAN DELECHENEAU, FROM GRANGE TIPHAINE, A NATURAL VINEYARD IN THE LOIRE, FRANCE)
“We’re quite vocal about not adding anything, not even sulfites, to our wines,” says Gilles Vergé, a natural wine producer in Burgundy, France. “I guess the fraud and customs officials didn’t like that much as, one day, they landed on my doorstep in Burgundy. So began a four-year song and dance that ended in spring 2013. They did every possible test under the sun to try to catch me out. They even used high-resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy to work out the composition of my wine. They checked everything—to see if I’d added water, the quality of the grape sugars, the lot. It was an analysis of the sort I’d never seen. Absolutely superb.
“And they found nothing. No traces of anything dubious whatsoever. In fact, in direct contradiction to what many think, they even found ‘sulfites: 0.’ Yeasts do normally produce a soupçon of sulfites during vinification, but in my wines they found zero. I feel sorry for them, as it must have been a hefty bill.”
Gilles Vergé’s story is not unusual, as the use of sulfites (or sulphites) is one of the most polarizing topics in the wine world today, not least because of rising health concerns associated with their use in food. Sulfites—or rather a lack of them—is one of the defining characteristics of natural wine.
As Gilles mentioned, yeasts naturally produce small amounts of sulfites during fermentation—usually up to 20mg per liter, although this may be higher with certain strains. However, sulfites can be used at far higher doses by the vast majority of today’s winemakers, most of whom argue that not only are sulfites a necessary preservative, but that it is nigh-on impossible to make good, sound wine without them.
Since 1988 (in the United States) and 2005 (in the European Union), all wines containing more than 10mg per liter have to state “contains sulfites” on the label. The real question, however, is how many sulfites are present in every liter of wine? For example, a truly natural grower, who does not add any at all, but whose wine naturally contains 15mg per liter, has to mention “contains sulfites” on the label just as an industrial producer would whose sulfite totals might be as high as 350mg per liter. In the EU, sulfite totals are legally permitted up to 150mg, 200mg, and 400mg per liter for red, white, and sweet wine respectively, while a blanket 350mg per liter limit applies in the United States. In short, as things currently stand, we have no idea what we are drinking.
Gilles Vergé (pictured) and his wife, Catherine, are natural wine growers in Burgundy, France, who make beautiful, sulfite-free wines.
While sulfites can be derived from elemental sources of sulfur, the vast majority of sulfiting agents are by-products of the petrochemical industry. They are manufactured through the burning of fossil fuels and the smelting of mineral ores that contain sulfur. Some of the chemical agents commonly used for winemaking to produce sulfites include sulfur dioxide (SO2), sodium sulfite, sodium bisulfite, sodium metabisulfite, potassium metabisulfite, potassium hydrogen sulfite, and so on (which are E220, E221, E222, E223, E224, and E228 respectively). As a group they are often generically referred to (by the wine trade) as “sulfites,” “SO2,” or (mistakenly) “sulfur.”
WHY ARE SULFITES USED?
Sulfites are a common winemaking additive that can take the form of a gas, liquid, powder, or tablet. They may be used at any stage of wine production: as the grapes come into the winery, when the grape juice and wine ferment, or when they are being moved around or bottled. Because of their antimicrobial properties, sulfites are often used at the beginning of fermentation to stun or eliminate wild yeasts and bacteria carried in on the grape berry, so that the winemaker can inoculate his/her chosen strain. Sulfites are also regularly used to sanitize equipment and stabilize wine at bottling. Their antioxidant properties shield wine from contact with oxygen and destroy those enzymes that cause a browning of the grape juice (a similar browning affects apples that are sliced and exposed to the air).
The Vergés’ vineyard in Burgundy.
In conventional winemaking, sulfites are often liberally used to control so-called “risk” factors, such as microbes, or to fashion a particular style of wine. Adding sulfites helps to this end. Natural growers, however, welcome diversity and work precisely with the hand that nature deals them each year. They rely on the strength and health of their vineyard to grow great grapes covered with a diverse microflora that will ferment easily and well in the cellar. Not adding sulfites helps to this end.
Some natural growers will not add any sulfites at all, while others will add a dash at most, generally at the bottling stage. If they do add any sulfites, it is usually because of commercial realities (perhaps the grower has to release the wines early, for example), trouble with a vintage (because of illness or climatic influences), worries about transport or storage, or nervousness about letting go and believing that the wine will be okay. As Tony Coturri, from Sonoma County, explains, “Wines are a lot hardier than people think. Left alone—without sulfites—they’re honestly fine.”
To complicate matters further, the use of sulfites is also heavily influenced by culture. “In Germany, Austria, even France, it is a lot more tolerated than in Italy,” says Stefano Bellotti, of Cascina degli Ulivi, in Piedmont, whose entire commercial production has been sulfite-free since 2006. “In the 1970s/80s, I used to sell 90 percent of my production to organic importers in Switzerland and Germany who would literally force me to add sulfites. My Swiss importer once returned a whole pallet of white wine because, he said, ‘it only has 35mg per liter of total sulfites in it and I’m not brave enough to sell a wine like that.’”
“You notice the difference even with the smallest dash of SO2. Like for like, the wine is duller,” says Saša Radikon, a natural grower on the Slovene-Italian border, whose father was one of the first to produce wine without sulfites in his area in recent times. “Between 1999 and 2002 we made two versions of the same wine: one where we added 25mg [sulfites] per liter at bottling and one without. Without fail, the wines with the added SO2 were 1.5 years behind in terms of aromatic development. Each year we’d show both to professionals and 99 percent of the time, they preferred the no-added SO2. It is not surprising in a sense since wine needs oxygen in order to evolve at the perfect speed. What’s more, we noticed that two years after bottling, the wine with the 25mg per liter added at bottling no longer had any detectable SO2 present, so it really makes you wonder, why bother?”
The purity of sulfite- free wine means it is better for you. As Ghislaine Magnier, founder and ex-owner of Le Casot des Mailloles, who is allergic to sulfites, explains: “The problem with sulfites is that not only are there a lot in many wines, but they are everywhere—preserves, charcuterie, fresh fish—and it’s cumulative.
Transporting hand-harvested grapes to the cellar in small crates ensures the berries remain intact for longer, so reducing the risk of oxidation and the need to use (antioxidant) sulfites.
