Sulphite free wines and low sulphur wines have seen a sharp increase in demand globally over the last 12 months. As more and more people are educating themselves through the internet, they’re discovering that they are not alone in experiencing unpleasant symptoms when consuming various alcoholic drinks which are pumped full of chemicals - sulphur in particular. And as awareness of the problem is growing, they’re finding the solution is becoming more readily available with websites like www.goodwineonline.co.uk specialising in low sulphur and sulphite free wines.

Sulphur has been used for thousands of years as a preservative in wine. However in recent years with the advent of globalisation and factory production on a massive scale, it was perceived by the powers that be in these big companies that there was a need for a very effective preservative, an anti oxidant, to prevent products from spoiling before they could get to market. So sulphites were produced to be added to a vast array of foods from freshly caught prawns, to sausages, dried fruits, crisps, processed ready meals right through the spectrum to include mass produced alcoholic drinks, including wines.

In theory this seemed like a good idea. However as the supermarkets have consistently applied pressure on producers to reduce prices and forced them to use cheaper and cheaper ingredients, the addition of chemical preservatives has got higher and higher. Now cheap wine is more chemical solution than grape juice.

Unfortunately it is only in the last ten years that people have started to realise these sulphites can be potentially hazardous to their health. I’m not talking just about those of us who suffer from an allergy to sulphites which is potentially fatal, but the damage they’ve been causing to us all, over the years as they’re in most of the products we eat and drink on a regular basis.

Asthma rates in “developed” countries where these sulphites are used have soared to over 30% in children since the 1970s when they were at 2%. In “undeveloped” countries where they don’t use these artificial preservatives the asthma rate in children is still 2%. Throat and stomach cancers are hugely on the increase in developed countries too. These chemicals in our foods have been slowly poisoning us for years. I’ve heard from a lot people in their 30s who have sudenly started reacting to certain things like wine, which they have always been able to drink before. Give them a sulphite free wine and suddenly they are able to drink it without any adverse reaction! I believe our bodies can only tolerate a certain amount of toxins, and over time we get “full”. Our bodies then start telling us to stop imbibing these chemicals – in a variety of unpleasant ways!

The Centre for Scientific Research in the Public Interest recommended banning sulphites in the 1970s – but were suitably ignored of course. Last year (2010) the World Health Organisation recommended “phasing them out”. Phasing them out??? Why? If they’re not bad for you, why get rid of them? If they are admitting they are bad for you, gradually phasing them out isn’t the answer – stop poisoning people now!

So the lucky people who are aware of the problem can make an informed choice and search out natural products like sulphur free or very low sulphur wines, and foods of course. There’s a big increase in demand for organic foods and fresh produce rather than the processed rubbish we’ve been buying for years.

Certain winemakers are now reconsidering the sulphur they’ve been adding to preserve their wines. It seemed the perfect solution to ensuring their quality wines remained in good condition, but they are now being made aware that this sulphur is actually bad for us in large amounts. Most good winemakers use it in moderation. Unfortunately the cheap mass produced wines are pumped full of it as the base wine is such poor quality in the first place, so there isn’t likely to be any change here.

The UK has just seen the launch of the first dedicated low sulphur wine brand – SoLo S02 with their first wine “Navitas”. It’s a red blend from the Rhone Valley and is not just low in sulphur but technically sulphite free. It’s also a lovely wine in it’s own right, soft, fresh and smooth with good fruit and a very clean finish. If you want to cut out these artificial preservatives I suggest you treat yourself to a few bottles of this – not only is it delicious, you won’t get that nasty chemical hangover either!

The sulphite free wine movement is gaining more and more momentum globally these days as the consumer is beginning to realise the health benefits of drinking well made healthy wines. There are up to 80 different chemicals permitted to be added to your wine, many of which can have negative effects on your health. Sulphites in particular have been linked to stomach and throat cancer, and are ‘hugely influential’ in the rapid increase in asthma. In “3rd world” countries where they don’t use sulphites asthma rates in children are around 2%. In “developed” countries where these sulphites are added to a vast array of foods and drinks, asthma rates in children have increased from 2% in the 1970s to nearly 40% these days. Well made good red wines contain natural anti oxidants (as opposed to massive doses of sulphites in cheap wines) which combat free radicals in the body actively reducing the risks of cancer. In fact according to renowned physician Dr Phillip Norrie, good red wine drunk in moderation is extremely beneficial to a person’s health, and people who regularly drink good red wine are less likely than those who don’t, to die of any cause. Crack a bottle now!

We’re delighted to have discovered a family owned winery in Chile just outside Santiago called Teillery who were Chile’s first certified organic winery. They’ve gone one step further this year with the first release of Chile’s only ‘no added sulphur’ wine. Chile is well known for giving us affordable mass produced wines which have traditionally been high in sulphites, although they do also produce a few world class wines too, particularly Cabernet Sauvignons and red blends. So we applaud Teillery for their bold move away from the norm toward producing pure wines.

Mr Teillery has been studying and researching production methods to make no added sulphur wines for the last 30 years plus. He owns several successful businesses including orchards and has now finally realised his dream buying the winery a few years ago and producing his own no added sulphur wine. There are several producers in Australia and South Africa who make no added sulphur wines, and while some of them are ok, many of them are terrible such as the Stellar Organics range from South Africa – I’m all for natural wines but the whole point of a wine is that it should  taste nice, something Stellar have clearly forgotten! I’ve tried all their reds and haven’t actually been able to drink any of them.

So what is the Teillery wine like? Originating from Chile, from organic vineyards, what will it taste like? Well, great news, I’ve tasted their no added sulphur Cabernet Sauvignon and it is fantastic, a great Cab Sauv in it’s own right, full flavoured, very smooth, supremely balanced with a really long finish too. It’s simply very good wine – then the bonus is there are no added chemicals, only natural beneficial anti oxidants.

Where can we buy it? Well as it has only just been released it isn’t in the UK yet but apparently Teillery have approached the UK’s market leader for sulphite free wine www.goodwineonline.co.uk who have confirmed they are looking at stocking it in the new year – it takes upto 7 weeks by boat from Chile so look out for it from February onward, it really is worth waiting for!

Our congratulations go out to Harold and Denise, and all the team at Zevenwacht as their limited production (6000 bottles), single vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 360 has just achieved John Platter’s highest award of 5 Stars in the latest edition of his world famous South African wine guide. This is a first for Zevenwacht although they’ve come tantalisingly close on many occassions with their fabulous limited production Z blends and their Z Gewurztraminer – all limited to only 1200 bottles per year.

Chief winemaker Jacques Viljoen did say the 09 Sauvignon was exceptional, and clearly he was correct.

If you’d like to buy Zevenwacht Sauvignon Blanc 360 2009 it is available in the UK from only one source www.goodwineonline.co.uk at a highly competitive £11.75 per bottle, a real bargain for a 5 Star wine. They’re also the only UK retailer to sell Zevenwacht’s other top wines too, so why not treat yourself to a Z blend as well? They’re great wines!

With the Chancellor’s spending review, we’re now left waiting to see how it will affect us in real terms. It’s difficult to digest and understand the longer term implications of billions of pounds in cuts, but there will be countless knock on effects for us all, some of which are already happening.  For example, although these cuts show the financial markets that the UK is serious about reducing the deficit (and therefore a good thing!) there will be hard times before things get better, and the mention by the press of industrial unrest and union action has actually weakened the pound in the short term.

It’s now back at 1.10 Euro which is the same rate as 12 months ago when wine importers were throwing themselves off Tower Bridge! I’ve been to France three times in the last three months and was horrified by the prices. A light lunch for two was 50 Euros, a McDonalds for two was 20 Euros. At these prices an exchange rate of 1.70 Euros to the pound (where the pound was originally when the Euro was launched) is about right. The current rate makes everything purchased in Europe approximately 50 % more than it should be.

It’s going to take a long long time for the pound to recover, several years of very slow increase. Which means that European wines will remain expensive, and so will those from other countries as the pound is weak everywhere at present. It’s now below AUS$1.59 where it should be AUS$2.50! And US$1.57 where it was over US$2 not so long ago. The only hope of any recovery for the pound is for our European cousins, the Germans, to pull out of the Euro and let it fall to a realistic exchange rate, as the rest of the Eurozone is basically skint. This is also the only hope for getting countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal out of recession too, as the strong Euro means they can’t export anything and get their economies moving again.

In the UK, with the VAT increasing to 20% in January, and people being generally a lot worse off due to higher taxes and higher prices on virtually everything they buy, we will see a change in the way we buy things. It won’t be a sudden stop to purchasing, but it will mean people will choose carefully what to spend their money on. For example many will cut down the night out to the restaurant and opt for a night in with a decent bottle of wine instead. Others will cut out going to the pub – a decent night out costs £50 these days. Add in babysitters, taxis and a kebab, and it becomes a major expense. For the same money you could entertain four friends on fine food and wine, then have them entertain you the following week for free!

People will look for the best deal before they purchase. There are many competitive businesses out there who offer keen prices who will benefit from this metaphorical belt tightening, but there are many dinosaurs who will bury their heads in the sand and continue to operate as they have always done who will lose out. Then there are the unscrupulous businesses like supermarkets who will recognise the extra pull a 50% off sticker will have, who will be advertising dozens of wines at artificially high prices for the mandatory two weeks on a top shelf in the Aberdeen branch,  so that the following week they can blitz it in every branch across the UK as a legitimate half price deal! Remember you get what you pay for, even in this economic climate. I advise stay in one extra night a week and use the money you’ve saved to buy some good wine online, then you’ve saved on the petrol to the supermarket too.

With the myriad of price increases we’ve all experienced since the beginning of the recession, one increase which  has been hard to get to grips with, is the price of wine. This is because the industry has been hit from all sides at once.

Obviously there is the string of excise duty increases put into place by the former labour government which has increased a bottle of wine by 36 pence, plus vat of course, making it 42 pence per bottle. Thanks to their legacy, it’s set to increase again in 2011 by 2% over inflation which is currently 5%, so 7% in total, with the vat adding another 1.2%. On it’s own this would be no problem, we accept we have to pay a bit more. The biggest increase has come from the extremely weak pound. As (virtually) all wine is imported, we’ve seen increases in the basic cost of the wine by as much as 40%. Add back on the excise duty increases and you can see why the price on our shelves has increased so much. In January we have VAT increasing to 20%!

So how have the supermarkets coped?

We all remember ’3 for £10′ and although this wine was frankly all crap, it was still affordable. 85% of all retail wine in the UK is sold through the supermarkets and they’ve dominated the market for years, forcing producers to repeatedly cut costs till many went out of business, so they could maintain their price points. Many brands have to pay the supermarkets to have a presence on the shelf! Have the supermarkets cut their margins while the rest of us struggle? No! They still make around 30 to 35%! You may have noticed prices creeping up on the shelves as there is simply no room left for the producers to manouvre. Asda has moved to 3 bottles for £12 presumably to acclimatise consumers before the vat increase. According to inside sources supermarket buyers are instructed to source wines at no more than 34 cents a bottle – about 22 pence. This makes sense on a bottle of wine at £4, as it leaves £1.75 for duty and customs tax, 60 pence vat, 22 pence for the producer (including the bottle, cork and labelling, leaving only 5 pence for the wine!), 20 pence shipping, and a nice 30% (£1.00) for the supermarket.

So next time you see a wine on the shelf in a supermarket at an affordable £4, stop and think what is actually in the bottle – a product that is actually worth about 5 pence! Would you buy orange juice at that price, or milk, or even a piece of fish? No way, at that price you would expect it to be crap! So why are we still surprised when we get the wine home, open it and attempt to drink it? Yes, it is crap! But on the shelf it said ‘Half price, reduced from £8 to £4 so I thought it might be good……’ People are being routinely disappointed time after time in the supermarket, while the supermarkets make literally billions of pounds per year from us. Thankfully many people are beginning to wisen up and look elsewhere for their wines, accepting that due to the weak pound and punitive duty rates, good wine now costs at least £8 per bottle. But those of us on a tight budget, and let’s face it that’s most of us at the moment, will continue our regular bout of weekly disappointment, but at least by the following morning we can’t really remember how bad the wine tasted, because we’re struggling with a horrendous hangover from the 80 different chemicals that were added to it to keep the price down!

Sulphite free wine, which is also organic and biodynamic, is now available in the UK through the UK’s leading specialist low sulphite wine merchant, www.goodwineonline.co.uk.

Firstly, just to explain the technical definitions, ‘sulphite free wine’ is a layman’s term, which should be more accurately called ‘no added sulphur wine’ or ‘no added preservative wine’, purely because tiny amounts of bound sulphur are a natural biproduct of the fermentation process, so there is no such thing as a sulphite free wine. These tiny amounts of bound sulphur are harmless, it’s the added free sulphur which can cause allergic reactions in sulphite intolerant people, so these wines can safely be regarded as ‘sulphite free’.

www.goodwineonline.co.uk have specialised in low sulphite wines for a couple of years, but are very excited by these latest additions to their portfolio, as good quality sulphite free wine is as rare as hen’s teeth. There are a handful of wineries around the world who produce wines with no added sulphur, but most of these wines are pretty poor quality. Goodwineonline have always specialised in top quality, award winning boutique wines, which by their nature are hand made with pride, and a minimal amount of additives.  Now they’ve partnered up with a unique winery called Domaine Viret in the northern Rhone Valley.

Domaine Viret, owned by father and son - Alain and Philippe Viret, is a unique concept in wine making. They have developed their own system called ‘cosmoculture’ which is a combination of advanced biodynamic principles with traditonal respect for the land, nature and natural energy. They use the earth’s natural magnetic field and the cell structure of water to transfer this energy to their vines – it’s a highly complex approach which some traditional winemakers may consider a little eccentric, but it has amazing results. Oz Clarke described their wines as ‘cosmic nectar’.

On the biodynamic side of cosmoculture, they produce their own ‘plant food’ for the vines from 14 different plants on the estate. Each plant lends a different property to the mix, so with 14 different plants it takes some expertise to get it right. Lavendar for example, has been used for milennia as an antiseptic, and so forth with all the other ingredients. They’ve studied plant microbiology and adopted trusted philosophies from tradional oriental herbal medicine, the Aborigines and even the Red Indians.

Their wines are quite simply amazing. Philippe’s approach isn’t just about making a wine with no added sulphur, nor is it about just making a wine with great flavour. It’s about making a wine which is complete - it tastes great, has good balance and is actively good for you. They all have a real purity, an absence of chemicals, that you really notice and which may make it difficult for you to revert to drinking normal wines again! The acidity is beautifully balanced as Philippe explains it’s not just about the flavour, but the whole experience of drinking the wine – it should be agreeable to your whole body not just your taste buds.

This labour intensive method of hand production restricts Domaine Viret to only making a limited amount of wine, around 10 000 cases per year. As these are distributed globally there isn’t much to go round, so Goodwineonline consider themselves very fortunate to have secured regular supply.

Checkout Domaine Viret’s website for more details on Cosmoculture.

Organic wine, sulphite free wine, preservative free wine, biodynamic wine, low sulphur wine, no added preservative wine – is it any wonder that people are confused!? Perhaps the biggest misunderstanding is that people (wrongly) assume that organic wine is low in sulphites – it is not. Sulphites are a natural compound of sulphur and oxygen, and are permitted in organic wines. Some organic wines will contain less TOTAL sulphur than mass produced wines, but they will likely have just as much active FREE sulphur as any other wine. This is because winemakers like to leave a certain amount of free sulphur to hunt out rogue oxygen molecules (and sugars and other compounds) dissolved in the wine, to prevent it oxidising in the bottle. Whether the wine is organic or not, they still need to leave the same amount of FREE sulphur in there.

It’s likely that organic wines will contain less BOUND sulphur and therefore also less TOTAL sulphur, as the regulations for organic wines tend to be more strict than for normal wines, although these regulations will differ between organic bodies and countries/regions. This BOUND sulphur is partly responsible for the hangover/headache, whereas it’s the FREE sulphur which is responsible for causing the allergic reaction in sulphite intolerant people. If you are intolerant to sulphites it’s possible you may be able to safely drink one or two organic wines, but simply being certified organic doesn’t mean a wine will be safe for you. You need to find wines that are low in FREE sulphur. There are only a handful of ‘No Added Preservative’ wines or ‘No Added Suphur’ wines produced globally and frankly most of these are awful quality. However www.goodwineonline.co.uk  specialise in wines very low in FREE sulphur (although there is no official classification for this and producers don’t put this information on the label). If you have a reaction to sulphites in wine try some of their recommended low sulphite wines, they should be absolutely fine for you, and of course they’re all selected for their great taste too.

Organic and biodynamic wines are experiencing a comeback as more and more people are looking to cut out additives in food, and in life in general. When organic wines first hit the headlines in the late 1990′s they had an image of being made in a shed by a man with a beard, woolly socks and open toed sandals – and quite frankly many of the wines tasted like those woolly socks. That was organic wine’s problem – it simply didn’t taste nice.

However, that has now all changed, as more and more quality producers are turning to organic or biodynamic methods of production in order to produce purer wines. I was always sceptical as the early organic wines I drank were frankly awful – and we mustn’t let our guard down now, plenty of the organic wines available in the UK today are still awful – but if you get a good one, it can be not only delicious but also a real pleasure to drink as it somehow gives you a sense of well being. I don’t think this is psychological, as I’m not into feeling good about myself for eating ‘only fruit that has fallen fom the tree’ but I do firmly believe that the vast amount of chemicals and additives in our food (and wine) today has effects on us that we’re just so used to that we don’t even notice them – but I am noticing their absence! For example I had a bad car crash in New Zealand many years ago and my back was quite badly damaged. I struggled on and went back to work as normal. Three years later back in the UK, I went to an osteopath for a shoulder problem and she relieved pain in my back I didn’t even realise I had, as I’d just got used to it. I believe it’s the same when we eat or drink these additives.

I always feel sluggish after white bread, although not sluggish enough to make me have a bacon butty on brown! There’s an awful lot of additives in white bread, and since cutting down on such foods I’ve felt a lot healthier.

Organic wine is wine made from organically grown grapes – that is from vines which have not been treated with synthetic man made fertilisers or herbicides. Organic vineyards tend to grow other beneficial plants between the rows of vines which add nutrients to the soil and can help combat pests and disease in natural ways.

Biodynamic wines are a legacy of Rudolf Steiner who introduced his system long before ‘organic’ was even recognised. Biodynamic looks at the vineyard as a larger part of nature, almost an organism in itself. Sustainability is the focus with recycling and composts and fertilisers made from other plants in the vineyard used to nourish the vines. They also take account of the earth’s natural cycles and rythyms, and lunar cycles, and time specific tasks to coincide with them to harmonise the environment and produce premium fruit.

It’s actually not easy to gain official certification as ‘organic’ or ‘biodynamic’ as it takes time and a lot of dedication. There are relevant certifying bodies for organic in most countries with the Demeter Association certifying worldwide for biodynamic.

Now that we’ve covered the introduction, we’re left with the same old problem as before.

Where do we find GOOD and DELICIOUS organic or biodynamic wines?

Wine is like any other food product – there’s good, mediocre and bad examples available. So how do we find the good ones? There are various places offering a plethora of different organic wines, maybe hundreds if not even thousands, but this doesn’t differentiate between the good and the bad. That’s left for you to discover by trial and error. However there is one website who specialise in only GOOD wine, and they are launching a dedicated section on LOW SULPHITE, PRESERVATIVE FREE, ORGANIC and BIODYNAMIC wines with a difference – they’re all picked for their outstanding quality. They’re produced by boutique vineyards with the focus clearly on quality, that they’re also organic is an important but secondary consideration. The site is also full of useful information for people looking to avoid sulphites in wine. Visit www.goodwineonline.co.uk and see for yourself.

NAP or No Added Preservative wines, and low sulphite wines are a hot topic at the moment. Unfortunately the more they’re discussed the more confusion seems to be created. Off License News has just published an article on the subject of sulphites in wine and it’s clear that whoever wrote it doesn’t understand the first thing about the problem.

It’s written as if the people who want to find low sulphite or sulphite free wines to drink are doing it just to be awkward, like somebody at your dinner party announcing at the last minute that they’re a vegan! The truth is these sulphites trigger reactions in a minority of people which can be fatal, and having experienced it first hand I don’t think it’s something which should be trivialised by ill informed wine journalists. My partner Jane has been sulphite intolerant since 1999 and that is how we’ve come to do so much research on the subject. This intolerance (not our research!) has nearly cost her life on several occassions. These same sulphites killed 30 people in the USA in the 1970s who ate from a salad bar infused with sulphites to prevent the lettuce from discolouring, which led to the American government bringing in legislation that any food product containing more than 10 parts per million must state ‘contains sulphites’ on the label. Australia is now at the forefront in the world imposing legisation on the sulphite issue.

Big business elsewhere is happy to brush this problem under the carpet as sulphites (E-numbers E220 to E229) are present in a huge variety of foods, and the financial implications of a major health scare would be extremely damaging.

Let’s sort out the confusion

It’s really not that complicated to understand the basics and then avoid wines high in sulphites. Please bear with me if things get a little technical, it will all be made clear in the end. The problem and confusion lies with the myriad of differing ill informed opinions and poorly written incomplete articles. Plus of course the similar names of sulphites, sulphides and sulphates, and the difference between ‘free sulphur’ and ‘bound sulphur’. I will now explain the basics to make it clear for everyone who uses this site.

Wines are produced all over the world and although most regions try to set common standards, legislation does vary from country to country. Basically ALL WINES (with an absolutely tiny minority in some countries with wines under 10ppm) must have, by law, ‘contains sulphites’ on their label. This is because Sulphites, in tiny quantities, are a natural bi-product of the fermentation process.  The potentially dangerous sulphites are the ones which are added to the wine as ‘free sulphur’  at various stages of it’s production, sometimes in powder form (potassium bisulphate), sometimes as a gas (sulphur dioxide) and occassionally dissolved in the wine itself in liquid form. The purpose of this free sulphur is to react with any oxygen before the oxygen can react with (and spoil) the wine. It also inhibits the growth of bacteria which could also potentially spoil the wine. It’s also useful in controlling the process of malolactic fermentation where malic acid is transformed into lactic acid. In some wines a certain amount of malolactic fermentation can be desirable, it all depends on the grapes’ natural acidity, fruit quality and sugar content, and of course the style of wine being produced. This can be very confusing for those of us without a master’s degree in chemistry. This sulphure dioxide (SO2) can exist in different molecular forms, known as sulpite, bisulphite or molecular SO2, depending on the acidity of the wine and the temperature during fermentation. Thus a temperature controlled (28 degree) grape must with high acidity will have a completely different split of the three SO2s than a wine fermented in warmer temperatures with lower acidity. Confused yet?

So to make a wine without adding sulphur is actually quite difficult because you have to tackle these problems in other ways, and this can be time consuming and expensive. The biggest problem is oxidation – the wine reacting with oxygen present and discolouring and developing a stale taste. In red wines this can be overcome as red wines contain natural anti oxidants in the form of tannins derived from the the grape skin. (Alcohol is also very useful as an anti oxidant). Whites and roses don’t have this ability so they need far more sulphur than quality reds to prevent this reaction. Good quality fruit, ripe, with good acidity is a also a natural defense as is temperature controlled fermentation. Unfortunately the cheap brands start off with cheap, poor quality fruit and subsequently are fighting an uphill battle – at least they would be if they bothered fighting it. Instead they’re quite happy to splash in the sulphur and let us all suffer with horrendous hangovers every time we have a bottle of their wine!

These poor quality brands have dominated the UK wine market in the off trade (supermarkets and national chains) for years and many people accept this is what wine actually tastes like. They also assume their hangover is due to the alcohol – no, it’s due to these chemicals. I can comfortably drink 2 bottles of good wine without even an inkling of feeling rough the next day. Give me one glass of a mass produced brand – or a couple of pints of UK brewed lager – and I wake up with a banging headache because of the chemicals.

Most producers and wine journalists think that the handful of wineries making ‘no added sulphur’ wines are all ‘mad professor types’  just being awkward for the sake of it. Jane, on the other hand, will tell you they’re not!

Which wines are safe for sulphite intolerant people to drink?

No added sulphur wines of course, but a good low sulphur wine should also be safe for a sulphite intolerant person. By law a wine can contain up to 350 parts per million of sulphites, and the vast majority of cheap branded wines are right up there around the limit. (One Shiraz tested recently in Australia had a massive 10 times the legal limit!) This is because the initial fruit is poor quality, the methods are mechanised for mass production and they’re driven by keeping costs down. A low sulphur wine needs care and attention, good quality grapes, hand picking, hand sorting, more expensive bottling procedures, constant monitoring, and all this costs money.

There are low sulphite wines around from family owned wineries who take pride in the wines they produce. The grapes are hand picked and the wine made with care, expertise and dedication. Many of these only have very minimal sulphur added and have a total sulphur content – this is the total of both harmless ‘bound sulphur’ AND ‘free sulphur’ – of less than 100 parts per million. Many are below 50 ppm – that’s 85% less sulphur than a branded wine! The problem is the amount of sulphur content is not stated on the label.

So, how do you find low sulphite wines?

The best place to find these wines is www.goodwineonline.co.uk a website devoted to top quality, award winning, low sulphite wines, bringing together the best wines from different countries around the world. Virtually every one of their 400 plus wines is hand made by small family wineries, with real pride in producing the best wine possible from their natural ingredients with a firm focus on quality. Sounds expensive? Well, no it’s not. Good wines cannot be produced at artificially low supermarket prices, but they don’t have to cost the earth either. Sadly with the weak pound and ill thought out duty schedule on alcohol, a decent bottle of wine has shifted from £6 to £10, and a really good bottle from £15 upwards.  To ensure you get good value try www.goodwineonline.co.uk ,they’re also the cheapest prices in the UK for virtually every wine they sell. Every wine on their site has been tasted by them. They write their own genuine tasting notes (not some ‘gooseberry and raspberry’ nonsense off the back label). And it’s ALL good wine. If the wine isn’t good enough for them to drink personally, it doesn’t get listed on the site. Jane is intolerant to sulphites so she tests the wines and rates them on sulphite content herself – a hard job she says, but someone has to do it! All wines are kept in stock ready for next working day delivery. There’s no minimum order and you can mix and match any quantity of any wines you like.

If you want to drink wine low in sulphites this is THE place to buy them www.goodwineonline.co.uk

We all love a glass of good wine but I also enjoy a decent beer from time to time. Not the mass produced, highly preserved artificial stuff, but good traditional beer made in a brewery by a man, not just machines. Hard work, sweat and toil to craft a delicious cooling foamy brew that gets drunk by the pint! And plenty of them.

Well good news on this front. My brother, Dave Lang, started his own brewery - The Forge, 18 months ago in Hartland (Devon) unsurprisingly in an old forge.  His beer has just been awarded Society of Independent Brewers Gold Medal and overall Champion Beer of the Competition for the South West 2010. He also took two Bronze Medals for two of his other beers. A truly remarkable achievement when Dave only started brewing 18 months ago.

He designed and built The Forge Brewery from scratch using a limited amount of  second hand equipment, but a great deal of it he actually engineered himself in the workshop, building his own cooling system and cask washer system. He works harder than anybody I know, as his brewery was at full capacity within months of going live. Somehow Dave manages to put in the equivalent of 9 days a week when I thought I was busy working  only 7!

It’s great for the Forge Brewery to get this recognition but sadly it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to buy his beer in your local pub. There was already a waiting list before the awards, there’s certainly going to be even more demand now. Dave won the Champion Beer Award for his Lighthouse Ale which is fantastic. I arrived there about 6 months ago and pulled up by the storage shed. I’d drunk 10 pints before I even got as far as the house, then we went to the local pub where we polished off another half a dozen. And the hangover? What hangover? I woke up fresh as a daisy because, like our wine, Dave’s beer is made naturally without the use of artificial preservatives. I was ready for another 10!

You may be lucky enough to try a pint in the Sportsman’s at  Newtown though, where Dave has a good working relationship with Pam Honeyman from Monty’s Brewery – another runaway success story in the world of brewing. Pam’s only been brewing a few months longer but has already won Champion Beer of Wales for her stout – Monty’s Midnight, plus other awards, and has been featured in various press articles as her beer is fed locally to ‘Wagyu’ cattle to produce the world’s most expensive beef! She also supplies her beer to the House of Commons where our beloved MPs can enjoy a well earned pint – although it’s you and me who’ve earned it, and are paying for it, but it’s our MPs who are drinking it!

Finally, if you live in North Wales, you may be lucky enough to find a good pub with some Forge beer over the summer months. Dave will be sending some up to be distributed by Quick Keg along the coast.