The History of Sulfite Use in Wine: Guest Post by Emily Kate

Hello, readers!  As you may or may not know, I am recently got married to my best friend and am away on

Photo by E. Goff. Copyright 2014.

Photo by E. Goff. Copyright 2014.

my honeymoon for a bit!  As a reminder, if you comment and don’t see it immediately, it may have been accidentally caught in my spam filter.  I will only be checking on the site periodically while I’m gone, so if you don’t see your comment, please have patience while I get around to approving it 😉

The following is a guest post by Emily Kate from the History of Wine Channel on YouTube.  You may also visit her website, The Wine Historian. Please see the end of this post for her full bio.

Consumers are constantly complaining about the sulfites in wine.  This can be largely attributed to the fact that the media has done a great job of convincing the public that sulfites are the cause of headaches and hangovers leading consumers to request sulfite-free wines.  But in actuality, even if a vintner doesn’t use additional sulfites in the making of a wine, there are still naturally occurring sulfites on the grapes themselves.  Sulfur acts as an antimicrobial, antiseptic preservative and is integral to the winemaking process.  So, how is it that we came to use sulfur as an additive in wine?  For the answer, we must look back to classical Antiquity.

The Homeric Greeks knew of sulfur’s antiseptic qualities and as a volcanic country they had an abundance of it, which they used in their everyday lives.  From the venting of volcanic sulfur dioxide through mines, the ancients observed that it exterminated the population of vermin.  As far back as the 8th Century BC, ancients utilized sulfur’s power by using it to fumigate dwellings and ships.  It is even written that when

Photo by John [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo by John [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Ulysses returned from Troy, he commanded that his home be fumigated with disinfecting sulfur and a fire.  It is believed that the preservative powers of sulfur were discovered when food such as fresh fruits and decorations including flowers remained in a room that was being fumigated for vermin.

At this time, pitch created by heated resin was being used as a preservative in wine to stop it from spoiling into vinegar.  It was originally used for the purpose of filling cracks in amphorae, but when used on the inside of the clay jars, it was found to be alcohol soluble and the ancients quickly noted its preservative qualities. The pitch, not immune to its own headache backlash, was added in solid, powdered or liquid form.  Thus, it follows that when sulfur was seen as a viable option for experimentation on preserving wine, it was added into the wine in those forms.  Unfortunately, Sulfur in powdered form actually produces hydrogen sulfide if left in the vat during fermentation.  This creates an incredibly off-putting smell that could have stopped the use of sulfur in food forever, had it not been for the enterprising idea of harnessing the antiseptic qualities through fumigation.

Even throughout the use of pitch in the shipping amphorae, at Columella’s recommendation, storage amphorae were often fumigated with rosemary or laurel, both of which were heralded for their antibacterial and antifungal characteristics.  So it was a natural, if not readily apparent, leap from the fumigation of one’s house to the fumigation of an amphora.  In an effort to get the sulfuric properties to benefit the wine itself and not just the container, the must or already fermented wine was quickly added to the amphora as soon as it was filled with newly burned smoke and this dissolved a high content of the sulfur dioxide into

Photo By Ad Meskens (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo By Ad Meskens (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

the liquid.

Nowadays we can dissolve and liquefy sulfur dioxide and use it to preserve our wines.  It seems, however, that whether it is pitch or sulfur dioxide, people will always be skeptical that the additives used to preserve wine are impacting their experience and causing them discomfort.  The path that we took towards using sulfur dioxide in wine was a logical one but just as pitch fell out of use in favor of sulfur dioxide, perhaps a new preservative will gain popularity and sulfur will fall out of fashion.  One thing is certain, people will assuredly blame whatever is used as a preservative for their headaches.

Emily Kate is a History student at Columbia University with a specialization in the history of wine.  In addition to her studies at Columbia, she has attended the Wine and Spirit Education Trust: International Wine Center where she has earned her Intermediate and Advanced certification with honors.  Emily has interned at wineries in the United States and Australia, and will learn about the retail aspect of the wine industry this summer in New York City.  She has combined her passion for wine,education and technology to create her YouTube channel, History of Wine and the Vine

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