The phrase "contains sulfites" is printed on many if not most bottles of wine, typically somewhere on the back label. The words admittedly read like a warning label, which is inherently off-putting.

As chemists specializing in winemaking, we wanted to try to figure out the source of these headaches. Many components of red wine have been accused of causing this misery – sulfites, biogenic amines ...

Some people are sensitive to sulfites — which are also found in other foods as a preservative — in which case the best thing to do is avoid them. What's a sulfite and what is it doing in my ...