Sulfites
Sulfites are sulfur compounds that protect wine from oxygen and unwanted microorganisms. Almost every wine contains some, as fermentation naturally produces sulfur. How much is added and for what purpose therefore says more about a wine than the mere fact that sulfites are present. When well-dosed, they stabilize a condition without dominating the taste, and we only use them where ripeness, structure, and clean cellar work are not sufficient on their own.
Hardly any term on a label evokes as many reservations as the note "contains sulfites." Yet, it describes something very practical: a protection without which most wines would be unstable, short-lived, or flawed. What sulfites achieve and where their limits lie can be described objectively, without demonizing or glorifying them.
What Sulfur Does in Wine
Sulfur dioxide, or SO₂, primarily fulfills two tasks in wine. It binds oxygen, thereby slowing down oxidation, which can prematurely make a wine tired, brownish, and flat. And it keeps yeasts and bacteria in check, which could otherwise work uncontrollably and produce off-flavors. Part of the sulfur in wine is free and active, while another part binds to components and loses its effect. How much free sulfur actually protects heavily depends on the pH value: in a fresher wine with a lower pH, the same amount acts more powerfully, which is why a well-structured wine needs less. No aromas are created in the process; sulfur changes the conditions in the wine, not its core.
Why No Wine Is Completely "Sulfite-Free"
Even during fermentation, yeast produces sulfur as a natural byproduct, in small quantities, often up to about ten milligrams per liter. A wine completely without sulfites is therefore hardly possible; the declaration "without added sulfites" is honest. In the EU, the label "contains sulfites" is mandatory from ten milligrams of total sulfur per liter. The legal maximums are 150 milligrams per liter for dry red wines and 200 milligrams per liter for white and rosé wines; for certified organic wines, such as those we produce, the limits are set lower, at 100 and 150 milligrams, respectively. Carefully made wines, in practice, remain significantly below these limits anyway.
What Sulfites Are Often Unjustly Blamed For
In perception, sulfites are often blamed for many things, from closedness to a certain harshness in wine. However, such impressions usually arise from the overall winemaking style, from ripeness, aging, and storage, and only rarely from sulfur alone. Changes after opening or due to overly warm storage are also temporal and physical processes that occur with or without additional sulfites. When evaluating a wine, focusing on structure and condition is more helpful than a single number on the label.
How We Handle It
Sulfur does not replace carefulness; it secures it. A wine made from healthy, ripe grapes, cleanly fermented and gently aged, needs little of it to remain stable. For us, the economical use of sulfites therefore begins in the vineyard and with hygiene in the cellar, long before any dosing is done. The knowledge of how sulfur and oxygen behave in wine largely originates from Bordeaux enology, a tradition that our Domaine also follows, having been shaped for decades by Jean Ribéreau-Gayon, a co-founder of modern enology. Those who understand these connections can dose more precisely and thus more sparingly.
How far interventions in the cellar can fundamentally be reduced is described underLow Intervention; closely related to this is the question of what happens to the protection against oxygen after opening, as with anopened bottle. Properly understood, sulfites are primarily a tool: they give a wine the time to calmly bring together its structure and fruit, instead of aging prematurely.