Originally Posted by
PWMTrav
OK, I'll start. Why don't I ever get hung over drinking Italian house wine? Lower sulfite content? Something else? I'm not taking about crazy excess, but 500-750ml does not seem to have the same next day effects that something bottled and put on the shelf does.
My understanding is that sulfites get a bad rap. Very rarely, people are allergic to sulphur, which is added to wine as an anti-oxidant. Since this rare allergy started to be reported, back in the 1980's the US FDA required wine to label that it contains sulfites. Actually, the amount of sulfites in wine is in just few parts per million. It is only a small fraction of the amount in dried fruit, cheese, chocolate, beer, cereal, etc.
I think that it may be that wine is drunk with an abundance of food. Since they serve it so slowly, you make that 500-750 ml go down slowly to pace it with the meal. My understanding is that the hangover comes from dehydration, which is why water is protective, and because even a little bit of alcohol interferes with sleep, so too much causes exhaustion.
There are a lot of other things in wine and other alcohol containing beverages that are associated with hangovers, but the sulfites get a bad rap.
http://guides.wsj.com/wine/wine-tips...hes-from-wine/