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Added Tannin Gives Red Wine a Bad Name?
February 23, 2008

This is just my little theory that I have utterly no basis for. It is in the same category as my belief that Ximanavro is genetically related to Sagrantino, I'm just skating on instinct.

Two years ago I was having dinner with a publicist I know in Los Angeles. She passed the wine list to me and said, "It seems I have a problem with red wine."

I was mulling over our choices in red Burgundy. I was not happy to hear this.

"What kind of allergy?" I asked.

She looked around because she was known in this place. She lowered her voice. she didn't establish eye contact and said, "It makes me smell. It makes my skin smell."

I wondered for a second if she had that psychological syndrome where you believe yourself to stink but no one else can smell it? But then she followed it up with, "My husband complains about it. He refuses to sleep with me, so I've been only drinking white lately."

I thought about this and gave my diagnosis which, I had no medical basis for.
I proposed that she might be allergic to added tannins--those nasty ones so common in modern wines. The tannins are added because some winemakers are obsessed with pumping up their color and believe this can do this or cure sunburnt grapes and also adjust mouthfeel. The tannins available are grape, oak and chestnut. This woman had some of those clients and drank mostly Californian and Australia wines. I ordered a bottle of Genetet Pansiot Gevrey and asked her to call me in the morning if her husband complained. I was the writer and she could blame me, so we ordered the wine.

There was no problem. She was really happy about the outcome. Red wine was hers again, (as long as she didn't have to drink her client's)

Then, I was talking to my friend Dr. Parzen who told me that his uncle's wife complained that red wine made her 'poop.' It seems to have given her the runs. The runs?

This was news to me.
They're both news to me.

Then I heard someone say that new oak gives them the runs as well. If we're to believe this all fingers do point to additive tannins as an allergy source.

Any scientists out there?


Comments

I think I may also have an allergy to tannins. When I drink too much red wine, I lose my balance, my inhibitions, and my sense of dignity. And, the next morning I am often violently ill. Because of this allergy, I generally have to limit my consumption to no more than 3/4 of a bottle at a time. Darn that tannin allergy.

 Richard Smith on February 24, 2008 02:36 AM

Probably the sulfites. They are known to cause wheezing in asthmatics. Plus sulfur stinks so if you're exuding it through your pores......

 Jim Jistel on February 24, 2008 02:11 PM

I believe that I have something similar to Mr. Smith. Luckily, I do not wake up violently ill. In addition, I do tend to prepare and eat a lot of food. I also become silly and philosophical. There are also nights when I exceed the 3/4 bottle limit, but only when absolutely necessary. This is usually due to the deliciousnes of the red wine(s).

Marco on February 24, 2008 03:41 PM

Actually, red or white wine contain polyphenols, an antibacterial agent -- that many people help kill off the pathogens that are one potential cause diarrhea.

 Tom on February 25, 2008 02:58 PM

In many formulations of Indian Ayurvedic medicine for IBS, tannins are a large part of the formula. I have IBS, and find that when I drink certain red wines, I don't need medicine. The tannins present in the wine help me, and so for me, they are a friend. I can see why a person who doesn't need them would have a negative reaction, though.

 Drink,Memory on February 25, 2008 04:03 PM

I'm just a has-been scientist, but I'm having a tough time figuring out the smelly skin problem, but I think it's really cool. I doubt that it's an allergic syndrome, I would more WAG that it's a change in metabolism in response to alcohol.

As for the runs, alcohol can be irritating to the GI tract, and people with sensitive or delicate digestion could easily have some trouble. But with either of these things, there are enormous amounts of potentially relevant data that are not available to us, so we should be slow on the trigger with a diagnosis.

 SFJoe on February 25, 2008 05:38 PM

Great theory, I've had friends that have had similar complaints with red but we never suspected the tannins; seems to add up doesn't it? Also, lol @ Richard :)

 Samantha Evans on February 26, 2008 08:16 PM

Plants create tannins to respond to insect pests trying to bite into their flow of sap. When a plant like a tree or a rose or a vine is under attack, it will release tannins, and once ingested by the jerk, tannins act on the digestive system, paralyzing it for the inside out. Grapevines concentrate the bitter tannins in the skins of the grapes to discourage insects from piercing through to the sugar.

It only makes sense that tannins would affect our own digestive systems. That's what they're designed by nature to do.

rob on February 28, 2008 05:02 AM
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