Histamine-tested wine: What you should know!
Wine lovers with histamine intolerance know the problem: histamine in wine can cause unpleasant symptoms such as headaches, reddening of the skin or digestive problems. As histamine is naturally produced during the fermentation process, the substance is found in every wine - whether red, white or rosé. But the good news is that even with histamine intolerance, you don't have to give up wine completely. Find out why!
Histamine in wine - ageing decides?
In short, there is no such thing as a completely free wine. There are wines with a significantly reduced histamine content, which are often tolerable for people with histamine intolerance. How is this achieved? Through special measures in the winemaking process:
- Use of healthy, handpicked grapes
- Vinification of biodynamic grapes with high reduction potential
- Organic and biodynamic grapes are better
- rapid and uncooled fermentation without additives
- No irrigated or fertilized vineyards (natural balance)
Does histamine tested wine taste good?
Don't worry, histamine has no influence on the taste of a wine. The taste therefore remains unchanged.
Which wine has how much histamine? The EU prohibits health claims such as “histamine-free” or “low histamine” on wine labels. Nevertheless, winegrowers are allowed to state the histamine value in the wine if it is below 0.1 mg per liter. Wines with such low values are considered to be well tolerated by people with histamine intolerance. Outside the EU, you may come across wines that are marketed as “histamine-free”, although the legal regulations differ from country to country.
How to recognize histamine tested wines:
Because you will not find any histamine information on the label, the following tips may be helpful:
Ask about the histamine analysis or the histamine level in the wine.
Wines that have matured in stainless steel tanks tend to have less histamine.
White wines and rosé wines contain less histamine than red wines, as the fermentation process is different.
Red wines from small oak barrels (225 l) usually have higher histamine levels - an ageing process that can promote histamine formation.
Conclusion: Be careful when choosing wine!
Look for the label “histamine-tested”, which indicates that the wine has been specially tested for histamine. It is also problematic that some winemakers keep the histamine level low for a short time with sulphur and these wines (usually particularly fruity wines) multiply the histamine shortly after the analysis!
