1. Home
  2. Winemaking Craft Forum
  3. Wine and Health Concerns (long)

Wine and Health Concerns (long)

I always look for articles indicating positive health benefits of drinking wine and indeed there are many. I recently came across an article in "Practical Winery & Vineyard" by Robert Tracy with the heading of "Human health concerns associated with wine microorganisms" (pp 96-98).

The partial information I summarize below is NOT an attempt to start religious wars over technique or scare anyone but to raise some concerns that we as wine makers/growers should know.

Personally, I believe there are "probably" more health related issues in a can of soda than some of the material discussed below but perhaps we can make better wine if we are aware of some of these facts.

Summary and quotes:

"From a winemaking perspective, there are two types of compounds produced by wine microbes that have health implications for the consumer: biogenic amines and ethyl carbamate. Biogenic amines have been shown to cause negative physiological effects in allergic humans (such as headaches, nausea, hot flashes), while ethyl carbamate is considered to be a probably carcinogen to humans. The probable carcinogenic properties of ethyl carbamate are based on studies with experimental animals, there is not direct evidence of it causing cancer in humans."

"The concentration and type of biogenic amines vary greatly in wines; however, generally red wines contain significantly more than white wines. In addition, there appears to be a direct correlation between elevated biogenic amines in wine, wine spoilage constituents (such as acetic acid, ethyl acetate, butyric acid, acetoin, and higher alcohol compounds), and malolactic fermentation."

Because ethyl carbamate is a probable carcinogen, it is becoming the focus of international regulation, and so its formation must be managed properly both in the vineyard and during the winemaking process."

"Even though both yeast and bacteria can generate precursors for ethyl carbamate formation, urea produced from wine yeast is thought to be the major precursor."

Factors that affect formation

"Throughout the winemaking process, a whole host of factors can influence the formation of biogenic amines including:

1) initial microbial populations present on grapes;

2) presence of precursor amino acids in grape juice;

3) ageing of wine on wither yeast lees (sur lie ageing) or lees following malolactic fermentation;

4) extended grape maceration;

5) spontaneous malolactic fermentation by indigenous lactic acid bacteria;

6) number of lactic acid bacteria that are decarboxylase-positive:

7) wine pH;

8) concentration of sulfur dioxide (SO2) following malolactic fermentation and during ageing;

9) winery sanitation practices;

10) yeast strain; and

11) fining practices (fining white wines with bentonite may remove biogenic amines).

Among these factors, it has been demonstrated that malolactic fermentation is the primary stage for biogenic amine formation during the winemaking process.

Ethyl carbamate formation is affected by the following factors:

1) argine content of grapes;

2) concentration of ethanol;

3) nutrient additions to must, during both alcoholic and malolactic fermentaitons;

4) yeast straiin;

5) spontaneous malolactid fermentaion by indigenous lactic acid bacteria;

6) ageing wine on yeast (lees (sur lie ageing);

7) temperature of iwne during ageing and shipment;

8) duration of wine ageing;

9) wine pH; and

10) wineery sanitation practices."

"Recommendations to prevent formation of biogenic amines and ethyl carbamate

Biogenic Amines

if possible periodically monitor microbial populations on grapes to determine risk for biogenic amine producers.

if possible, assess concentration of primary precursor amino acids in grapes and must.

avoid spontaneous alcoholic fermentations and use commercial strains of Saccharomyces cervisiae that lack or have minimal decarboxylase activity.

Avoid extended ageing of wine on yeast or malolactic lees.

Try to minimize extended grape maceration.

Avoid spontaneous malolactic fermentations and use commercial strains of Oenoccus oeni that lack or have minimal amino acid decarboxylase activitry.

Try to avoid higher pH wines (above 3.7) since they allow proliferation of Lactobacillus and Pediococcus.

When pH of wine is high, lysozyme can be added to remove the natural lactic acid bacteria.

Immediately following malolactic fermentaion and during wine ageing, maintain molecular SO2 levels of at least 0.4 to 0.5 ppm to prevent or minimize growth of lactic acid bacteria.

Maintan good sanitation practices during wine production.

Ethyl Carbamate

Avoid argine content of > 1000 mg/L in juice.

Avoid excessive nitrogen fertilization of vineyards.

Periodically monitor nitrogen status of vines and soil.

Test nitrogen status of juice.

Avoid adding excessive nitrogen supplements; do not add urea.

Use commercial strains of Saccharomyces cervisiae that are known to produce low levels of urea (Premier Cuvee (PdM) or Lallemand 71B) when juice has a high arginine content.

Avoid ageing wine on yeast lees (sur lie ageing), which can liberate amino acids and proteins.

Avoid spontaneous malolactic fermentatons and use commercial strains of Oenoccus oeni that do not have ability to produce high levels of citrulline.

Avoid elevated temperatures during ageing and shipment of wine.

If wines are going to be aged for an extendd period of time, it is advisable to periodically monitor ethyl carbamate levels.

Try to avoid higher pH ines (above 3.7) since they allow proliferation of Lacto bacillus and Pedioccus.

Immediately following malolactic fermentation and during wine ageing, maintain molecular SO2 levels of at least 0.4 to 0.5 ppm to prevent or minimize growth of lactic acid bacteria.

Maintain good sanitation practices during wine production."

I realize that amateur winemakers do not have the resources to monitor all of the above but we can control a good amount of them.

I encourage anyone who is interested in the topic to pick up a copy of the magazine. There are 23 references cited at the end of the article. I did not quote the article in the entirety but tried to summarize the main points.

Paul

Reply to
Paul E. Lehmann
Loading thread data ...

Fantastic post; thanks. I'll pick up a copy at Presque Isle.

Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

Thanks Joe.

I can think of a couple things that we as amateurs might be able to do without too much trouble - such as - if doing extended maceration, get a setup that allows a blanket of Nitrogen or Argon to be on top of the must.

As far as the aging on lees, I agree that aging on heavy or gross lees is probably a problem in more ways than one but I don't know if fine lees is that much of a problem. The author did not specify heavy lees or fine lees.

As for the cultured wine yeast and ML culture, that seems obvious to me but some swear by the old methods even though they may not produce the best taste or results and now we know that there are potential health risks as well. There was one problem in the article. At one point he seemed to indicate cultured ML to be a potential problem but in the other parts he seemed to imply that only or mostly the "natural" ML could be the problem to consider.

The pH issue seems right on and my wines have improved A LOT by maintaining my red wine pH around 3.5

It was good to know about the problems of high nitrogen levels both in the vineyard and in the must creating problems. I think that perhaps here in the Mid Atlantic some growers jack up their fertilizer programs and maybe not to the advantage they think.

I wish he or some other research person would perform tests on wines with heavy oak and those not so heavily oaked. I suspect but have not verified that perhaps the heavy oak is what gives some people headaches and such. I know some of my friends say they can not drink red wines but when they drink mine that have not seen any oak or very light oak or aging in oak spent barrels they seem to have no problems.

A lot of the wines at wine festivals around here taste more like barrels than wine. I have started to experiment with the oak spirals. My barrels are long past the point of imparting much oak. You can hook a stainless wire to them (the spirals) and to a stainless eye screw in the bottom of a silicon bung and easily take them out of a barrel or carboy when it has just the right amount of oak. This is a lot more difficult to do with cubes or chips.

Reply to
Paul E. Lehmann

Hi Paul,

As far as I know the cause of headaches and, for some people, loss of balance is hystamines. Hystamines are produced by the process of malolactic fermentation.

I have been told, on this group, that many of the indigenous grape varieties in North America are low in acid and filtration is done in place of malolactic fermentation, because malolactic fermentation would reduce the acid levels to the point that the wine would taste "flabby".

I suffer from Menieres syndrome (loss of balance) and the New World red wines of Australia, Chile and South Africa are very high in hystamines. I have twice suffered from a threat of loss of balance with such wines, so I try to avoid them.

Most people who get headaches avoid red wines, but it is possible with some light red wines to get away with it.

Reply to
Shane Badham

Thank you for the information, Shane.

Yes, the author did mention that malolactic fermentation was a main culprit but he inferred later that the "cultured" ML was not as bad as the wild strains found on the grapes as brought in from the field. I do not know if they can actually be differentiated as to effect.

Yes, there are indeed "New World" wines in the market place that are, in my opinion, low in acids and flabby. I much prefer to make my wines in the "Old World" style, which is good because that is what the grapes I have available make. I do not have locally available high brix, low acid grapes.

I am tempted to not even add ML culture on some batches this fall and maybe even add lysozome and or filter. I typically adjust my pH prior to fermentation and monitor throughout. I am not totally convinced right now that ML is indeed necessary since there are ways to prevent it from occurring with pH control, lysozome or other ML inhibiting products and or sterile filtering. I think it is worth a trial. It may even turn out "Fruity" which in my opinion is not bad - even for a red wine.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and information.

Reply to
Paul E. Lehmann

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.