The main issue in wine is sulphites ... even most organic wines are full of them.

Sulphites are a natural product of fermentation - maybe up to 40ppm. A small part of the population do have sulphite allergies, probably linked to asthma. Sulphites are used to perserve wines, sweet have the most, then white and then red [the tannins tend to help]. Sulphites decrease in the bottle over time. Better quality wine often has somewhat lower sulphites.
If I was allergic to sulphites I would not be drinking wine, but sulphites are a larger issue in lots of other food products. If I was looking to lower my sulphite intake I would be looking at cutting out other products before wine. Note for the record I can normally detect sulphite around 100ppm, low for wine, most people cannot detect that level without either a sulphite issue or tasting education. I tend to buy wines I know have lower sulphites, aged reds or in a pinch decant - but that's just me [and for the record I never drink alcohol out of a styrene container ie summer bbq picnic, glass for me always]
J&B

In addition to the natural occurring sulfites (during fermentation) they are also added to prevent spoiling (oxidation) of the wine. Dried fruit has 4-5 times the amount in wine.

But "no sulfites added" obviously does decrease sulfates..it just doesn't eliminate them

Thx that's a very extensive explanation.

I'm a red wine fan, when I do drink white, I get a headache.

In France only a few vineyards refrain from adding sulphites to red, which, as rightly point out, should not always be necessary thx to tanins who also have an anti-oxidant action.

In Europe over la last 30 years, there has been a trend away from quantity and towards better quality. That's why I steer away from too cheap wines in order to reward those who make an effort in improving their product.

In Italy, sulphites are not added to red wine, and in spite of what I read on a site that explained that sulphites really don't cause "red wine headache", everyone on our trip (16 people) found that we didn't get headaches after drinking the red wines there. Most wines we enjoyed were from small family vineyards, so that may have also played a part.

While in Italy we visited six different vinyards. We were told that sulfites were added to the wine for export to US but we could buy some there with only natural occuring sulfites. We found that the wines wthout added sulfide did not taste as great a day after opening. We bought only reds.

Yes, they are required by law to add them if exporting. I can't comment about how wine tastes the day after opening, lol.

What started as a potentially positive post about inexpensive wines has become a discussion of arsenic in ground water, arsenic levels in wine, sulfites and regional requirements for exporting wine. Anyone got suggestions for reasonably priced wines available on St. Martin and perhaps not widely available in the US that might be worth a try????? I prefer reds that aren't overly dry.

You forgot the Washington and Oregon wine diversions <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

True enough...My bad!

As I said a long time ago, go to Super U and check out the sales!!!

I will take you up on that in a week... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />