sulphites in organic wine

The EU rules quite rightly introduced limits on the amount of sulphites a wine can contain and requires wines to specify if they contain sulphites. They have also introduced the recognition of organic products through labelling.

However, both sulphur and oxygen occur naturally during the course of fermentation and it is normal to find that one of the by products is SO₂. So, without any additions you would normally find SO₂ present in wine.

Also, carbon dioxide is a preservative that occurs naturally during fermentation along with alcohol, tannins, acids and polyphenols. Sometimes additional preservatives are added to wines to protect it - the Greeks did this with resinated amphorae and still do to this day in retsina wine.

Sulphur dioxide will naturally assimilate with the wine, at which stage it ceases to act as an anti-oxidant (but also loses its adverse side effects it can give to some people, like headaches etc). Once bound in this way it has done its job. It is the free sulphur dioxide in the form of dissolved gas that remains active and can be the cause of the adverse side effects in some people.

The organic and biodynamic bodies in France have rule books that cover the management of the vineyards and also the winery. They impose a much stricter limit on the total amount of SO₂ (bound and free) permitted in the wines compared to the EU limits on conventional wines (a maximum of 43% of the amount of SO₂ in conventional wine).

But many organic and biodynamic producers work to reduce this amount substantially (and in some cases entirely) by careful management in the vineyards, attention to harvesting the best grapes by hand, scrupulous hygiene in the winery and clever management of the fermentation process to ensure it is completed quickly, fully and under the blanket of the naturally produced CO₂.

So to summarise,

SO₂ occurs naturally and is a by product of the fermentation.
EU regulation requires indication on the label if a product contains sulphites.
EU regulation requires labels carrying a recognised logo of organic certification ( only extend to the grapes).
National and independent organic and biodynamic certification bodies have rules that also cover the winery.
Organic and biodynamic certified wines contain much lower levels of sulphites than conventional wines.

In conclusion

Sulphites in wine certified as organic or biodynamic does not render them inorganic. The most important thing is to be careful in your choice of merchant and wines. If you are at all susceptible to sulphites the advice is;

go for red wines (they contain more of the natural preservatives like tannins and polyphenols and so contain less sulphites)
avoid white wines and particularly sweet white wines as these can contain high levels of sulphites.
choose wines that are certified organic or biodynamic as these have much stricter limits on the permissible levels of total sulphites in the wine than conventional wine
always drink a glass of water between glasses of wine
drink in moderation
choose wines that are Estate bottled as opposed to Brands (some brands – especially the cheaper ones - buy in grapes for use in their wineries and may have limited information on how they were grown, harvested and transported. The risk is that these wines require the addition of more sulphites.

The bigger issue in wine is the use of synthetic chemicals in the vineyard and winery – a recent study by Pesticide Action Network as shown that 100% of non-organic wines contained traces of these chemicals many of which were on the EU hazardous chemicals list as being carcinogenic and mutagenic.