Our Domaines Barons de Rothschild case's Appendix A note on Russia as an emerging area of consumption caught my interest. The case states: "One commonality in areas of growing consumption was the association of wine with status."
As of 2017, wine is a nearly $700M market in Russia. I'm curious as to how wine evolved alongside culture and status in Russia's storied history. As a literary enthusiast, I thought a prime lens through which to analyze this topic was literature, and where better start than Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, published in 1877, a crown jewel of Russian -- and world -- literature. (Also definitely not coincidentally one of my most beloved classics).
Anna Karenina depicts the downfall of Karenina, a countess in Imperial Russia, as she delves into an extramarital affair that challenges the boundaries of high Russian society and ultimately leads to her suicide. One of the most famous passages in Anna Karenina evokes wine's intersection with both high class in Russia and romantic enchantment.
Upon meeting the man with whom she will eventually have an affair, "Anna was drunk with the wine of the rapture she inspired... the tremulous, flashing light in her eyes, the smile of happiness and excitement that involuntarily curved her lips, and the precise gracefulness, assurance, and lightness of her movements... 'No, it's not the admiration of the crowd she's drunk with, but the rapture of one man'" (Tolstoy 176).
Tolstoy wields wine as an immensely powerful metaphor in this timeless excerpt. At the high society event where Anna meets her lover, she is drink with wine and the rapture of her extramarital suitor. Here, Tolstoy strikes an unflinching parallel between wine and raw romanticism.
There is something fearlessly tangible about this connection between wine and desire, suggestive of a greater historical high Russian societal association of wine with pleasure, status, and privilege.
Monday, January 21, 2019
Can We Stop Worrying About Sulfites?
As someone who spends way too much time scrolling through the feeds of Instagram wellness bloggers, has more than one friend who rotates between the trendiest elimination diets, and who adopts a fringe diet herself, I've come across a fair share of people avoiding sulfites. This left me to wonder, what are sulfites and should I actually be worried about them?
Sulfites (sulphur dioxide, SO2, a compound made up of sulfur and oxygen) are a naturally-occurring compound found in wine. In addition to being naturally occurring, sulfites are produced in labs and added as a preservative in many foods. Winemakers use sulfites in this way; sulfites preserve the flavor of a wine, allowing it to age without turning to vinegar.
Sulfites are naturally created during fermentation, so even wines labeled as "sulfite-free" have sulfites. Any bottle of wine containing more than 10 parts per million (ppm) of SO2 must be affixed with a "contains sulfites" label, so you can effectively consider the "sulfite-free" label to mean "no added sulfites." In the United States the legal limit for sulfites is 350 ppm, with most wines ranging between 30-120 ppm. The maximum for US organic certified wines is 100 ppm.
Sulfites are anecdotally accused of causing headaches, but there haven't been scientific studies that back this up. One 2014 study did not find a decreased prevalence of headaches in those who drank organic low-sulfite wines when compared to those who drank traditional wines. If you get a headache from wine, it most likely has to do with dehydration or the quantity of wine consumed, not the sulfite content.
Lastly, the level of sulfites in other common foods far exceeds those in wine. Dried fruits sometimes reach sulfite levels of over 1,000 ppm. Other foods with higher sulfite content include chips, french fries, and pickles.
If you're really worried about sulfites, instead of buying an $80 sulfite remover, just choose a chocolate chip cookie over an oatmeal raisin one.
Sources:
https://www.bonappetit.com/drinks/wine/article/sulfite-free-wine
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/myths-about-sulfites-and-wine/
https://www.wired.com/2015/06/wine-sulfites-fine-heres-remove-anyway/
https://www.decanter.com/learn/wine-terminology/sulfites-in-wine-friend-or-foe-295931/
https://www.thekitchn.com/the-truth-about-sulfites-in-wine-myths-of-red-wine-headaches-100878
https://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/healthy-drinks/are-sulfites-wine-bad-your-health
Sulfites (sulphur dioxide, SO2, a compound made up of sulfur and oxygen) are a naturally-occurring compound found in wine. In addition to being naturally occurring, sulfites are produced in labs and added as a preservative in many foods. Winemakers use sulfites in this way; sulfites preserve the flavor of a wine, allowing it to age without turning to vinegar.
Sulfites are naturally created during fermentation, so even wines labeled as "sulfite-free" have sulfites. Any bottle of wine containing more than 10 parts per million (ppm) of SO2 must be affixed with a "contains sulfites" label, so you can effectively consider the "sulfite-free" label to mean "no added sulfites." In the United States the legal limit for sulfites is 350 ppm, with most wines ranging between 30-120 ppm. The maximum for US organic certified wines is 100 ppm.
Sulfites are anecdotally accused of causing headaches, but there haven't been scientific studies that back this up. One 2014 study did not find a decreased prevalence of headaches in those who drank organic low-sulfite wines when compared to those who drank traditional wines. If you get a headache from wine, it most likely has to do with dehydration or the quantity of wine consumed, not the sulfite content.
Lastly, the level of sulfites in other common foods far exceeds those in wine. Dried fruits sometimes reach sulfite levels of over 1,000 ppm. Other foods with higher sulfite content include chips, french fries, and pickles.
If you're really worried about sulfites, instead of buying an $80 sulfite remover, just choose a chocolate chip cookie over an oatmeal raisin one.
Sources:
https://www.bonappetit.com/drinks/wine/article/sulfite-free-wine
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/myths-about-sulfites-and-wine/
https://www.wired.com/2015/06/wine-sulfites-fine-heres-remove-anyway/
https://www.decanter.com/learn/wine-terminology/sulfites-in-wine-friend-or-foe-295931/
https://www.thekitchn.com/the-truth-about-sulfites-in-wine-myths-of-red-wine-headaches-100878
https://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/healthy-drinks/are-sulfites-wine-bad-your-health
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