James Pennington, of Rivendell Wines in western Australia, has reportedly patented the system classified as PEWA (Preservative Elimination in Wine At consumption). The system consists of a levered plastic stopper which is placed on the top of the wine bottle immediately after opening it. When the lever is raised and dropped, a small amount of hydrogen peroxide is released, which neutralises the sulphites. The stopper can then be removed.
According to Pennington, once the proceedure has been performed the wine is almost completely sulphur free.
Sulphur dioxide is regularly used in winemaking, and many winemakers add up to 250ppm to wine bottles prior to prevent oxidation and development of 'off flavours'.
In some cases, however, the sulpur dioxide can give off a very unpleasant smell and, in large quantities, can provoke severe asthma attacks. Many Indian wine drinkers are almost allergic to wines, especialy red wines, as they are allergic to sulphur. It gives them instant headache on drinking a glass or two of wine. An organically made wine is the only possible solution usually recommended for such people. Unfortunately, there is no certified organically produced wine in India yet and hardly any is imported in this category.
In November 2003, European supermarket chain Lidl had to recall a line of Australian Cabernet Shiraz, found to have massive amounts of sulphur dioxide – in some cases 17 times the permitted level, reports the magazine.
Source: http://www.decanter.com/ |
