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Paul E. Lehmann Paul E. Lehmann is offline
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Default Wine and Health Concerns (long)

Shane Badham wrote:

> Paul E. Lehmann > wrote:
>
>> I wish he or some other research person would
>> perform tests on wines with heavy oak and those
>> not so heavily oaked. I suspect but have not
>> verified that perhaps the heavy oak is what
>> gives
>> some people headaches and such. I know some of
>> my friends say they can not drink red wines but
>> when they drink mine that have not seen any oak
>> or very light oak or aging in oak spent barrels
>> they seem to have no problems.

>
> Hi Paul,
>
> As far as I know the cause of headaches and, for
> some people, loss of balance is hystamines.
> Hystamines are produced by the process of
> malolactic fermentation.
>
> I have been told, on this group, that many of
> the indigenous grape varieties in North America
> are low in acid and filtration is done in place
> of malolactic fermentation, because malolactic
> fermentation would reduce the acid levels to the
> point that the wine would taste "flabby".
>
> I suffer from Menieres syndrome (loss of
> balance) and the New World red wines of
> Australia, Chile and South Africa are very high
> in hystamines. I have twice suffered from a
> threat of loss of balance with such wines, so I
> try to avoid them.
>
> Most people who get headaches avoid red wines,
> but it is possible with some light red wines to
> get away with it.
>


Thank you for the information, Shane.

Yes, the author did mention that malolactic
fermentation was a main culprit but he inferred
later that the "cultured" ML was not as bad as
the wild strains found on the grapes as brought
in from the field. I do not know if they can
actually be differentiated as to effect.

Yes, there are indeed "New World" wines in the
market place that are, in my opinion, low in
acids and flabby. I much prefer to make my wines
in the "Old World" style, which is good because
that is what the grapes I have available make. I
do not have locally available high brix, low acid
grapes.

I am tempted to not even add ML culture on some
batches this fall and maybe even add lysozome and
or filter. I typically adjust my pH prior to
fermentation and monitor throughout. I am not
totally convinced right now that ML is indeed
necessary since there are ways to prevent it from
occurring with pH control, lysozome or other ML
inhibiting products and or sterile filtering. I
think it is worth a trial. It may even turn out
"Fruity" which in my opinion is not bad - even
for a red wine.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and
information.