Letter of the month
Guessing game
Congratulations on your enlightening article, ‘Sulphur dioxide in wine: the great debate’ . I work in wine retail and am regularly asked for wines that don’t contain sulphites by customers who are unaware that all wines contain some, even if in very small quantities. Many consumers also wrongly believe that organic and biodynamic wines are sulphite free. A quick glance at the green leaf-shaped EU logo on the back label and they are sold. But is it surprising that consumers are so misinformed when labels carry such little information about what is actually in the wine? Producers know the exact quantity of sulphites in their wine, so why aren’t they required to state it on the label? Regular readers of are now better informed, but more transparency on winemaking practices is necessary to really tackle this issue.
