How to avoid a hangover

This is from The London Times, a good read.

The older - and wiser - you get, the more you worry about what you drink.
Or that's the theory, and one which a new bar, Terroirs, is banking on as the
first natural wine bar in Central London. Opening this week, it promises the
biggest selection of natural wine in the country - and no hangovers.

OK, so that last bit is not based on any scientific fact - just lots of
research undertaken by myself (hic) and an increasing number of others. Run by
Vincent Wallard, Ed Wilson and Richard Martinez, just off The Strand, Terroirs
offers up to 200 wines, half of which will be natural, the rest a mix of
organic, biodynamic and conventional - but all made with minimal intervention.
Natural wine is made in small quantities, on low-yielding vineyards, with
handpicked organic grapes by a band of dedicated winemakers. The wine is then
made without added sugars or foreign yeasts, and often without any sulphur
dioxide added either. Even organic wines made by organic winemakers use a
variety of sulphur dioxides. Yup, natural winemaking flies in the face of modern
day viticulture.

Sulphur dioxide, also known as sulphites, are used by more than 99 per
cent of winemakers mainly as a preservative and a disinfectant. It's often added
to freshly picked grapes and during the winemaking process to kill off any
bacteria or wild yeasts. The disadvantage is that it can sometimes whiff a bit;
and it's blamed for causing many a hangover headache, possibly because the
sulphites destroy thiamine (vitamin B1) and are thought to destroy folic acid.
It can, claim some, even trigger an asthma attack.

Now I don't have asthma, but like many people I do get a thumping head
after drinking wine sometimes. And I do (usually) stay within my weekly limit.
There's no rhyme or reason to it - the post-wine headache can appear after just
a glass or two, be it red, white or bubbly.
Wine hangovers are hotly
debated

It would be great to be able to blame sulphites for my self-inflicted
woes - your natural winemaker certainly does. Philippe Pinoteau, one of the
foremost natural wines experts, spreads the word about natural wines from the
Parisian restaurant Le Baratin (3 Rue Jouye Rouve) he opened 20 years ago. “Why
do I sell these wines? Because I drink a lot and want to be clean in the
morning,” he laughs.

To prepare for the opening of Terroirs, the boys (and me) have come to
Paris for a final bit of research, to check out the vibe, and see how much we
can drink without getting a hangover. But the scientific evidence to support the
argument that sulphites are responsible for hangovers is flimsy, to say the
least.

Dr Jamie Goode, the author of Wine Science, agrees: “The standard
message is that some asthmatics are sensitive to sulphites, but the evidence
indicates that adverse reactions to sulphites are rare and at the levels used in
wine it's unlikely that people will be affected. The strongest argument for not
using sulphites during winemaking, and just a little at bottling, seems to be
that the natural wines thus produced seem to show greater aromatic purity,
better texture and are just a bit different. I've liked many that I've tried,
even though as a scientist I know that it's risky from a microbiological point
of view, as there's nothing to keep the bugs out or maintain the wine's
stability.”

Paris is natural wine central. At the last count there were more than
30 natural wine bars, and many more restaurants listing some natural wines. The
smelly, fizzy Cabernet Franc I'm drinking is certainly different. So is where
I'm drinking it, in Racines, a natural wine bar (8 Passage des Panoramas). The
pong coming off the redwine is overpowering. “You don't like it?” asks Pierre
Jancou, Racines's owner, seeing my nose wrinkle. Racines also attracts many
Japanese visitors; natural wines work well with their food, where modern,
over-concentrated blockbusters wouldn't. “It's huge in Japan; they buy 70 per
cent of these wines,” Jancou says.
This news sits oddly with the reality of
your regular natural winemaker. There's no money in it for starters; these are
independent growers producing tiny quantities and charging modest prices. Wines
generally start at about £7 a bottle and go up to £40 for the top stuff.

I'm still not really getting it, though. I've just tried an odd rosé
bubbly - at least the fizz is supposed to be there this time. But the next one
does excite, a 2007 L'Anglore Comeyre, made by Eric Pfifferling in the Rhône -
spicy, fruity, earthy, and it sets the bar for the rest of the wines we taste. A
fizz - or prickle - is often present in these wines, and often mistaken for
being a fault. Some recommend chilling the bottle first, then decanting it to
rid the wine of its more volatile, reductive aromas.

And in case you are thinking that natural wine is a French thing, it's
not. The Stellar winery in South Africa launched a Cabernet Sauvignon in
Sainsbury's this spring. Italy is also producing a fair number, many of which
will be on the list at Terroirs alongside the French wines, supplied by
Guildford-based Les Caves de Pyrene.

You can expect much of the magic of the Parisian bars at Terroirs, too,
from the zinc bar top, to the gravelly crooning of the Alsace singer Alain
Baschung. And to eat? Dishes include hearty plates of charcuterie and the best
fish soup, devised with a similar respect to produce.
And I know what you're
wondering; did she get drunk in Paris and, more importantly, did she have a
hangover? Yes I did, and, incredibly, no hangover. But I found some natural
wines a challenge and I did question whether they are really more natural
because all wines contain some sulphites as a by-product of fermentation. So my
advice is to approach natural wines with an open mind - a whole new
hangover-free world may open up for you. It has for me.