The bold truth about Wine: Why Sulfites are added to most Wines

Conventional commercial winemaking is the dominant, high-intervention method producing over 95% of global wine, focusing on consistency, high yield, and predictable, consumer-friendly flavor profiles. It uses synthetic vineyard chemicals, machine harvesting, cultured yeasts, and up to 60+ approved additives—such as color stabilizers, fining agents, and high levels of sulfites—to manipulate, stabilize, and standardize the final product.

Winemaking has always balanced art and science, but in modern vineyards and cellars, that balance leans heavily on controlled, repeatable processes that produce consistent results, despite health risks to the end consumer. One of the most widespread practices is the addition of sulfites to grapes and wine. 

Why are Sulfites added to almost all wines (including Sulfite-free)?

At its core, fermentation is a biological gamble. Grapes arrive at the winery carrying a mix of wild yeasts, bacteria, and natural compounds that can either produce beautiful, complex wines—or spoil them entirely. Left alone, fermentation may proceed unpredictably, resulting in inconsistent flavors, stalled fermentation, or microbial faults. This is why most commercial wineries intervene early in the process.

Sulfur dioxide (SO₂), commonly referred to as sulfites in wine, plays a central role in that intervention. It acts as an antimicrobial, anti-bacterial. In practical terms, this means it suppresses unwanted bacteria and wild yeast strains that could compete with the primary fermentation yeast. By reducing these “undesirable” organisms, winemakers create a cleaner, more stable environment in which fermentation can proceed reliably.

Most grapes, largely due to pesticides, fertilizers, hybridization and other modifications, lose their natural enzymes that help stabilize the wine during the fermentation process. This then requires wineries to add sulfites not only as a fermenting aid but also as a preservative. 

Additionally, wine producers are shipping their wines in boiling hot shipping containers which necessitates that the wine be stable. Real Wine (without preservatives) will spoil under such extreme heat. 

This practice of adding sulfites to wine, ruins the health benefits of the fermentation and causes that common acidic "shoe polish" aftertaste and feel. 

Although grapes have naturally occurring sulfites, adding processed isolated sulfites is not a healthy practice.

The Truth about most "Sulfite-Free" Wines

Many organic wine producers label their wine as sulfite free, even if they add sulfites, because as long as its under 10ppm, wine with added sulfites can still be labeled organic and sulfite free. Wines labeled "sulfite-free" or "no added sulfites" must contain less than 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur dioxide. 

The Negative Effects of Sulfites on Health

Consuming added sulfites in wines can lead to a host of negative health effects,  which is why we at Joseph's Ancient Wines, avoid adding Sulfites or other preservatives.

Studies indicate that they can have a substantial impact on gut bacteria.

Logically, if sulfites are added to foods to fight bacterial overgrowth, then when we consume these drinks or foods (drinks are worse because it goes straight into the bloodstream) are processed in the small and large intestines, they continue their antibacterial effects. This impacts the good bacteria in your gut, too, and alters your gut microbiome. Meaning consuming wines with added sulfites, sets up the stage for leaky gut, and chronic digestive issue as well as allergies and inflammation. It's a cascade of negative effects that will impact the whole body.

Some manufacturers add tremendous amounts of sulfites and other preservatives to their wines. This could be behind many of the negative side effects people are beginning to associate with wine consumption.

And it's a shame because real wine is a treasure trove of antioxidants and polyphenols like resveratrol. In fact, real wine is a Superfood.

Besides chemicals, other additives can find their way into a bottle of wine for the manufacturer to keep a standard mouthfeel, color and flavor profile. Food coloring, commercial yeast, sugar and acidifiers are some of those extra ingredients that help give consumers exactly what they are expecting from a specific brand. As if that's not enough, gum arabic, activated carbon, ammonium phosphate, alumino-silicates, ascorbic acid, citric acid, copper sulfate, polyoxythylene 40, dimethyl dicarbonate, carbohydrase, oak chips, tannin and mega purple could also be in your wine.

Yet none of these ingredients will ever be listed on the label.

There are no rules for labeling wine.  Of course, mass-market wine companies with more resources to prefer not to include all the ingredients on the label, who would want to drink something with that many additives?

JOSEPHS ANCIENT WINES

Our Organic Tempranillo Wine and Organic Syrah are made from original, non-hybridized Spanish grape variety. Unlike conventional wines, which use up to 52 undisclosed chemicals and added sulfites to stabilize color and shelf life, our Ancient Wine is 100% pure, free from all additives.  

Our grapes are grown on protected land, on a five generation family farm, without exposure to pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, ensuring that no chemical residue enters the fruit, soil, or fermentation process.  It is in a rural area, far from any conventional farms as well, thus, pesticides never drift onto the vineyard.

No Preservatives and No Sulfites.

Certified Organic. Grown on a small farm in Spain using ancient farming methods. 

Our fermentation occurs naturally, using only the wild yeasts present on the grapes, without added sulfites, just as wine was made in ancient times. The result is a clean, live wine that won’t have the negative effects on the body that conventional wines have.

No Chemical or Sulfite aftertaste like other red wines.

Pristine Vineyard Going Back Five Generations

For more information about our Organic Wines please click here