North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Tom Olenio <tolenio@sentex.net>]

> On Tuesday, March 2, 2004, at 08:42 PM, Rodney Eveland wrote:
>
> > . If anyone has been making great grape juice from varieties other than
> > Concord I  would like to hear about it as unfermented grape juice
> > never gives me a headache.

Hello Rodney,

I will never say that fresh pressed grape juice is not a wonderful thing, but 
wine is nice too.

What I will say is, if you start making your own wine, limit the additives 
commercial producers use, and your
headaches may disappear.  Unless of course the headaches are related to shear 
volume. (smile)

Prior to making my own wine, I would NEVER drink red wine, as I was 
guaranteed a headache, before I could finish
a single glass.  Now I can enjoy quite a bit, without any headache.

As I learned, commercial winemakers need to preserve color, prevent 
oxidation, extend bottle shelf life, enhance
flavors and aroma's, and additives are the easiest way to achieve this.  
Don't get me wrong, not all producers
behave this way, but some do.  Other producers will claim never to use 
additives, but they will.  It ends up
being a crap shoot if you are plagued by commercial red wine headaches.

White wine has less of these additives, and many times it is only red wine 
that bothers people with headaches.

Some of those additives may be your problem.  You can make wine with NO 
additives if you choose, or the bare
minimums to achieve what is necessary, and keeps headaches at bay.

Give it a shot, winemaking can be fun and you could eliminate your headache 
problem..

Later,
Tom
--
Thomas Olenio
Ontario, Canada
Hardiness Zone 5b