NO SULFITES in WINE “OVER THERE”?

Q. “I just got back from a vacation in Tuscany. I loved the red wine over there and drank it—well, sometimes a lot of it—but never got a headache. That’s because the wines over there don’t contain any sulfites, right?” Jasper R.

A. True, labels on most bottles of wine produced “over there”—wherever that happened to be, Italy being the most frequently cited—don’t state “Contains sulfites,” unlike wines sold in the U.S., the labels of which clearly state: “Contains sulfites.” Even Italian labels of such, as in the photo.

Because wine bottle labels “over there” do not print “Contains sulfites,” most travelers assume that the wine does not as well. But it does; all wine does, as a matter of fermentation. The label merely does not state that it does.

“Contains sulfites” is on all bottles of wine sold in the United States, no matter where the wine was made, because our government requires the label—a regulation that generally does not hold outside the U.S.

Many returning vacationers make the further claim that winemakers in other countries “must make a separate wine for export.” They do not. The Antinori Chianti Classico that you drank in Tuscany is the same Antinori Chianti Classico that you drink in Colorado.

The reason that you didn’t get a headache drinking it in Tuscany is that you were on vacation.

In Tuscany.