What's In Your Wine?
Just in case you missed, it November 11th was International Merlot Day! What better way to celebrate than to pour yourself a glass of wine while you learn about the best wine to pair with your upcoming holiday celebrations?
Not all wines are created equal. As we all know there are many varieties of wine: dry, sweet, red, white, pink, etc. But in addition to choosing the variety, you should consider how the wine was grown and produced – organic, conventional, biodynamic, sulfite-free, etc…
What’s in your wine?
Did you know that most conventional wine contains added antioxidants and antiseptics such as sulfites, yeast, oak chips, copper sulfites, copper citrate, and added sugar? Not to mention the wasteful and harmful use of irrigation by many wine growers – wasting water – a precious resource.
Why should you avoid sulfates or sulfites?
One in three of us may not be able to process sulfur due to the pesticides that are being sprayed on our crops here in the US. That is why Wildatarian lifestyle looks at sulfur as one of their major things to potentially avoid in your food (and wine!) supply. All wine contains some naturally occurring sulfites. But many growers add sulfites as preservatives to ease the production and storage of their wine. The FDA even has a set limit for the amount of sulfite in wine. Here, at Teri Cochrane – Beyond Nutrition, we see many clients with impaired sulfur processing – whether genetic or environmentally related. For them, drinking wine with high sulfite levels will impair the body’s ability to detoxify resulting in visible symptoms such as headaches and hangovers. In addition, the extra sulfite can cause inflammation. Reducing the sulfites in wine virtually eliminates the unpleasant side effects and reduces the body’s detoxification burden.
What else is in commercial wine that's not good for me?
Many winemakers add sugar and fermentation agents – making the wine susceptible to the growth of mycotoxins – mold-byproducts which are harmful to our bodies. The extra sugar also promotes inflammation and contributes to the rise in diabetes and insulin resistance. The ideal kind of wine should be tested for mycotoxins and contain only natural sugars from the actual grapes – avoiding empty calories, weight gain, crashes in energy, and hangovers.
Looking for the best tasting wine without the unwanted additives?
Dry Farm Wines is our recommended vendor. They curate wine from small, traditional growers foregoing the use of irrigation. The wines taste amazing and do not contain added fermentation agents and sugars. Each grower tests for mycotoxins and meets a threshold for sulfites much lower than that set by the FDA. All the wines are gluten-free and low-carb friendly.
If you are above the age of 21 and choose to drink wine (or any alcohol), please drink responsibly. Alcohol in general places an added burden on the body’s detoxification systems and affects blood sugar handling.
For those times when you want to enjoy a glass of wine, always choose Dry Farm Wines. You will be getting the highest quality product grown in the most responsible way!
To The Tru Of You,
Teri Cochrane