A really nice Coonawarra Cabernet tonight. With some air it drinks beautifully - well balanced and delicious with my cottage pie.
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Here’s why you should not blame sulfites in wine for anything much…
It is possible to be allergic to sulphites, Which is why they need to labelled. But its not a tolerance, its an allergy. You either are or you aren’t allergic to something.
And there are many things that have far, far more, so you’d know by now.
Headaches and hangovers are caused by alcohol, and dehydration. Depressingly guessable. (Partly exacerbated by cogeners which come from long ageing in oak, but really only brandy and whisky rather than wine (maybe Tawny port in part.) and these are also higher in alcohol.
If you have a red wine issue, but not white wine, that can be down to histamines of which black grape skins have far more. Red winemaking involves the skins. White wine uses less, and often no, grape skin hence far less histamine. Far be it from me to suggest using a medical treatment for something else, but if a benadryl sorts the problem then you know it’s the cause and can adjust your intake accordingly. (Some grapes far lower in histamine than others).
Anyway, if someone sees on a wine label ‘contain’s sulphites’ and automatically assumes that means sulphites are bad, then that’s not the whole truth - and may mean nothing to anyone else. The rest of us don’t need to avoid the allergies of others (other than sometimes out of politeness).
And SO2 is a natural antioxidant and a natural preservative which kills microbial spoilage (and yeast), so is very useful, and very difficult to make (good) wine without it.
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Just catching up after being off this blog for a month or so. The Louis Martini tasting and dinner looked very cool. The wines would have been a Napa Valley history lesson – even just looking at the labels was interesting. Thanks for sharing!
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I may be repeating myself but a London restaurant that is very reasonable for its aged old world wine list and a great kitchen is Noize in Fitzrovia. Very friendly and down to earth team. @david1111 Still hunting for one in Toronto that has those characteristics…
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Brings back fond memories of growing up in Niagara and visiting the local wine store (local wineries were allowed to sell outside the LCBO and our local mall had one such shop – not as diligent in checking ID and it certainly wasn’t 45 minutes from time of purchase to consumption!
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@davidhendon We stayed with a friend in Hout Bay when my wife and I went to ride The Argus about a decade ago. Unfortunately, the fires were very bad that year and the race was shortened, but we visited some fantastic wineries and significantly expanded our knowledge of SA wine and appreciation of the people and area around Cape Town. Best mussels ever were at a restaurant very close to where you start the drive along Chapman’s Peak (beautiful).
Someone definitely had a sense of humour choosing that bottle across the broad array of Yarra Yering wines that could have added in addition to no.1 and no.3 
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Strike that one the mussels, it was calamari at the place near Hout Bay…
First, apologies for spamming the blog this morning. Just getting over Covid and catching up on some of the things I enjoy (music and wine, although not drinking any just yet). Will post some of the wines from the last month, including a “few” bottles from a guy’s ski week we do each year in Canada.
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. Bottles arranged by age and consumed over a 8 days. Ranging from a 1939 Spanish Rioja (AGE – more on that to come) to a 2021 Flowers California Chard. Have a video close up which I will see if I can load…
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A 2019 Bourgognes Blanc ‘Vieilles Vignes’ by Fichet. A lovely wine from a great winemaker. Had it with Chicken Kyiv
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The wine of the week was the '39 AGE, basically because of how it did relative to expectations. I had prepared the guys for the likelihood it would be very Sherry like. Well, I was proven wrong. Colour was only slightly cooper tinged (if I look that good at 85, I will be very happy). Bouquet definitely gave a pronounced sense of petroleum, but on the palate, the fruits were still there (I noted some blackberry and maybe strawberry?). There was also some menthol in the background, but it wasn’t as forward or dominant as I expected it might be).
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This is from a library release from AGE a few years ago that Berry Bros marketed along with other rioja’s.
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Thank you for the tip.
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You‘re welcome 
Ahh Niagara Falls … slowly I turn, step by step, inch by inch …
Anyhoo, my mother grew up in Niagara-on-the-lake and her brother was the general manager of Chateau-Gay wines down there. I spent a lot of time roaming around NotL as a kid, when I’d be visiting my grandmother for a week or two.
So, like you, very fond memories of the area. 
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I grew up in Welland. Left in '82 to go to uni and that was it. Chateau Gai were pretty successful entrepreneurs – they did the Canada Coolers sparkling drink and merged with Inniskillin (of ice wine fame) becoming Vincor which was bought by Constellation. They had a very good run.
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1983 Chateau Climens was also part of the guys’ week. Very well balanced, apricots, clementines and honey is what I got from it. Think this was bottle 3 of a dozen I purchased in mid-2019 @£70/750ml. Still has life and will wait another year before I open the next one I think.
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I have been teaching the myriad joys of the wines of Italy to some WSET Diploma people in Holland/Belgium.
It was molto fantastico (for me anyway)!
North East and West
Centre, south and Sicily
‘Fun’ mock exam
Bring-a-bottle group dinner.
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