Does white wine have sulfites? - Beer, Wine, Homebrew, and Everything Fermentable!

Does white wine have sulfites?

Written by DJ Spiess

Friday, 28 December 2007

Everyone knows that red wines have sulfites, but do white wines have sulfites too?

Unless the wine was treated with hydrogen peroxide (and thus ruined), the quick answer is yes.

All wines have sulfite in them. In fact, white wine usually has more sulfites than red wine. Sulfites are created naturally during the fermentation process. After a wine has fermented it usually contains somewhere between 2 and 10 parts per million (ppm).

A bottle of German Reisling with sulfites.

White wines are typically sweeter than red wines. To stop the wine from fermenting the residual sugars, potassium metabisulfite is added to the wine to halt the fermentation. This is why white wines typically have more sulfites than red wines

Most wines have additional sulfite added to protect the wine. It doesn’t matter which country the wine is from, almost all wines have sulfites around 80 ppm. Only the United States and Australia are required to note that sulfites were added.

Sweeter white wines usually contain more sulfites.

Wine is a food product, and without sulfites wine would not last long. Organic wines without sulfite added have this problem, and do not last long on the shelves. Sulfites act as a preservative to protect the wine from molds, oxidation, and spoiling.

There is no scientific link between sulfites and headaches, although many blame sulfites to cause red wine headaches (RWH).

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My name is D.J. Spiess I've been homebrewing for many years and I hope I can help you enjoy this hobby as much as I do. If you enjoyed this article, please leave a comment, share it, digg it, or stumble it using the icons to the right or the top of the page.
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