But the world is so much more interesting, and tasty, when you start trying many different things.

“unless you branch out into the Abruzzos, Burgenlands, Cahors, and Duoros of the world” — four excellent places to experiment. A couple of nights ago, we had an excellent — and not expensive — xinomavro from Greece.

So many wines — so little time!

Searching the web will turn up results from the FDA and others of statistics showing that from less than 1% to less than 3% of the population has sulfite allergy or sensitivity. Additionally, up to 5% of asthmatics can be aggravated by sulfites. All in all I think those stats would classify as “rare.”

I’m not claiming that those who suffer from a sulfite allergy don’t suffer, and in some cases the reaction can be severe. But the number of people claiming to have sulfite allergy or sensitivity may be much greater than the number who actually have an allergy. In many cases their assumed “sulfite allergy” is their own arm-chair diagnosis. There are several other allergy triggers in red wine in particular that are a likely cause for many people’s issues.

Here’s a link to info about sulfites that gives a lot of good info:
http://allergies.about.com/od/foodallergies/a/sulfites.htm

Here’s a link to an article about some of the studies that are being done on the other triggers in red wine:
http://www.beekmanwine.com/prevtopbd.htm

Having said all that, it sounds like you probably shouldn’t drink red wine. No matter what the cause, if it makes you feel crappy, that’s as good a reason as any to abstain.

Hope this helps.