Ever wondered what low and no sulphur wines are and their benefits? Ahead of our Low and No sulphur party on Thursday 9th February, we talk to James Eaton of Ellis Wines the co-host of the event to take us through the basics.

What is the difference between low & no sulphur and regular wine?

So, to kick off - Sulfites are a natural occurring product and present in wine, as a result of fermentation and are harmless. They are both a preservative and an anti-oxidant, this gives them an important role in wine making. Normally when we talk about sulphur we mean ‘added sulfites that are chemically produced’ and not the naturally occurring type that happens as part of fermentation – fyi our bodies produce around 1 gram of sulphur per day.

Sulphur can be a brilliant and important thing when used in the right way, for stability and consistency. However, when used excessively it can strip flavour leading to a generic style that doesn’t show any grape typicity or sense of place. Sulfites can also be used to cover off flavours such as rot, unripe grapes and spoilage.

The main difference is that ‘low intervention’ wines use far less S02 (organic a max of 150ppm for white and 100ppm for red, with biodynamic the maximum limits are 90ppm for white and 70ppm in red) however in reality far less is used along with or few to no additions. where as a ‘conventional’ wine will have up to 350ppm of S02 added. Now, these figures even for conventional wine sound like a lot but they are still tiny amounts – dried fruit for example can have in the region of 3500ppm added S02, which is why fresh fruit portions in supermarket aren’t brown.

Low intervention producers (organic, biodynamic etc) will not only use less sulphur but their wines will also by nature have a lot less ‘other’ chemical additions that go into creating some ‘conventional’ wines.

What makes low & no sulphur wines stand out from the crowd?

For me a well made ‘low intervention’ wine is a wonderful thing showing fantastic fruit purity, sense of place, and perhaps a hint of savoury funk. And by funk, I mean a clean funk, think Rapper’s delight or Bruno Mars kind of funk. Not the kind of funk when you have unknowingly stood in dog poo and then walked it around the house before realising, that’s an awful funk and no-one wants that. Sadly though there are too many low intervention wines that taste like this and these off flavours and smells are a result of poor practices and bacterial spoilage.

Earlier I mentioned sulphur stripping flavour and disguising off flavours – this is why far too many wines taste bland and exactly the same showing no typicity or terroir. I’d like a merlot to taste like a merlot for example and not just a generic red wine that tastes the same as a cabernet, shiraz or malbec, and in certain wines this is exactly what happens.

From a sustainability point of view, is it better to drink low and sulphur wine?

This is an interesting question – the meaning of sustainability means different things. One definition is the ability to continue / keep going and so, if you are making a mass-produced high volume wine to be able to sell at a certain price point then you will probably be using the upper limits of S02 to achieve the style and price points for your market in order to be able to survive and in this case not really.

However, most winemakers who use lower levels of sulphur will be more conscious of their impact on the environment and will be making a more unique product that shows a sense of place and style. So they will use fewer to zero additions, and the less chemically produced additions you use will have a lesser impact on the environment so from this point of view, yes!

What wines are you particularly looking forward to sharing with us at the event?

The rubbish answer here is all of them! We have 8 fantastic, low intervention wines and 12 different grapes amongst them. However, I think this will be by drinking list for the 9th

Aperitif – a glass Pet Nat
White – a bottle of Gruner Veltliner, this is a small producer with bio farming, unfiltered and has 2 years lees ageing and no added sulphur. An amazingly purely and delicious glass of wine
Palate cleanser – a glass of orange sauvignon, Little Ra Ra, an amazingly fresh and crazy wine displaying some epic flavours and also really friendly
Red – a bottle of Montsant, which is very close to the famous Priorat wine region approx. 90 mins inland from Barcelona. This is a cracking red dominated by Garnatxa with a few other grapes. Think red fruit, savoury slateyness and bramble.

Why Low and No Sulphur?