A Nasa scientist has developed a device that can assess levels of headache-causing agents found in some wines.
Some biometric amines - compounds which occur naturally in some red wine - cause headaches by elevating heart rates, amongst other triggers. The modified amino acid tyramine is a particular culprit.
Now University of Berkeley chemistry professor Richard Mathies - who suffers form wine-induced headaches - has created a device to detect these agents.
Mathies is working on research for NASA's Mars Organic Analyzer, to detect organic molecules on the red planet,
Using a 'micro-fabricated glass design,' Mathies and his students produced a sensor-filled chip that resembles 'a wafer a few inches in diameter, and a few millimetres thick.'
A drop of wine on the chip mixed with a special liquid agent results in 'florescent labelling'. The intensity of the labelling measures how many amines exist in the wine.
Mathies said that different amines exist in different kinds of wine. Saki, for example, 'is loaded with [allergy-inducing] histamines,' while the modified amino acid tyramine, which can cause headaches, is most often found in red wines which have undergone malolactic fermentation.
Tyramine releases adrenalin and elevates heart rates and blood pressure – which leads to headaches.
Mathies said, 'This device would allow people to see which wines have elements that could bother them and then choose a wine accordingly.'
The chemist could not explain why malolactic fermentation results in higher tyramine or why such elements occur less often in white wines. 'We have not looked at enough wines to have a systematic view of which wines produce more tyramine, but it is clear that red wines have more,' he said.
Mathies said there is 'growing interest' in the device. He is working with a company that could produce it commercially.
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I enjoyed reading about the wine headache devise. However, I believe it is better to make wine with low levels of histamines than to just measure them or to rely on some external device.
The compounds described in the article are in the histamine family and are many of the same that are produced by our bodies to fight allergen in the environment. We used to assume that histamines were just automatically part of wine, particularly red wine. This is not the case. Histamines should not be in wine. We discovered that the yeast seem to be doing the same thing as our bodies do, produce histamines, to protect themselves from toxins in the juice during the fermentation. The toxins weaken the yeast and make the growing environment difficult. The elevated histamines, produced during the fermentation seem to be more reactive after the malo/lactic conversion, although I do not know the mechanism. I hypothesized that we could reduce histamines and therefore reduce "red wine headaches" by reducing toxins in the must or the precursors that caused the yeast to produce histamines. Happy yeast seem to produce less histamine.
We introduced better culling in the vineyard and much better hand sorting at the winery. The bunches of grapes are metered onto a moveable sorting table where damaged bunches are removed. The selected bunches are then de-stemmed but not crushed, leaving mostly whole berries. The berries pass to a specially designed shaker table where the small unformed "shot" berries, early season unpolinated raisins and other bits and pieces are shaken out. From there the berries go to another moving belt table where the berries are sorted by hand to remove anything that appears decayed, damaged or infected with molds and mildews. Green jacks (stem parts) are removed and any mog (material other than grapes). As we say, we leave only the grapes you would feed to a baby. The process is slow and tedious but worth it in the end. We have neighbors who process thousands of tons per day during the harvest. With our methods we can do about 12 tons per day.
We also carefully feed and monitor the yeast during fermentation to keep them thriving and happy. These steps have reduced the histamines in Deerfield wine and have virtually done away with the red wine headache. So far this study, its practice and results have been empirical and we don't know all the reasons for its success. We are beginning a data base at Deerfield to try to quantify the results. Up until recently histamine testing was expensive but now one of our local wine labs does histamine testing and with the end of the fermentations we with the start to test our wines and catalog the results. Up until recently histamine testing was expensive but now one of our local wine labs does histamine testing and with the end of the fermentations we with the start to test our wines and catalog the results. So far, we know that the process of clean winemaking results in headache free red wine.
An alternative, particularly if you plan to go out wine tasting or to a wine tasting party, is to take an antihistamine tablet before drinking wine. This should greatly reduce the histamine induced headache affect.
Robert Rex, winemaker and managing partner Deerfield Ranch Winery
Parker should use the device to assay the saliva from the headache-inducing tongue of Jonathan Nossiter. I would bet the farm that the result would be positive.
Toby Bensimon, Adelaide, Australia
To take an antihistamine before going to a winetasting may have you snoring long before you got to wine no 4! I personally prefer taking a homeopathic remedy for sinus problems. Strangely enough I find white wine a much bigger headache and especially sauvignon blanc and wines with high levels of acidity. Terroir is also important for me, as whites from certain areas are to be avoided at all cost! In SA I find Elgin particulary problematic.
Maud Letzler, South Africa
Biogenic amines are basic nitrogen-like low molecular weight components with biological activity, which can be formed or destroyed during the normal metabolism of animals, plants and microorganism. Biogenic amines are mainly formed from amino acids through substrate specific decarboxylase enzymes. Amines can be formed by yeast during alcoholic fermentation if the yeast are not well managed (poor rehydration, poor nutrition or indigenous yeasts); by lactic acid bacteria during malolactic fermentation (MLF) and during wine ageing. Biogenic amines can already be present in the must, like putrescine in grapes is associated with potassium deficiencies in soil. The main biogenic amines in wine are histamine, tyramine, putrescine, cadaverine and phenylethylamine. Oenococcus, Lactobacillus and Pediococcus have the ability to produce biogenic amines. Fortunately however, MLF-starter cultures of Oenoccus used by most winemakers were selected from nature because they do not form significant biogenic amines in wine. In a study done by Martin-Alvarez (2006) at the Instituto de Fermentaciones Industriales (CSIC) in Madrid, it was shown that inoculation with malolactic starters selected Oenococcus strains was useful to avoid the production of most biogenic amines, since their mean concentrations were significantly lower in inoculated wines compared with those not inoculated. These findings suggest that when winemakers control the MLF through the use of malolactic starters biogenic amine production can be minimized.
Ann Dumont, Montréal, Canada
Maybe the best solution is simply choosing good wines ?
François Mauss, Grand Jury Européen
If amine formation cannot be avoided or occurs unforeseeably, couldn't some de-aminating enzyme be added to the wine to remove it? I heard that bentonite can remove such amines but that may remove good ingredients too as it is non-specific in its action. What puzzles me is that there is a lot of tyramine in certain foods (aged cheeses etc) and yet people don't seem to react to those unless taking certain medication. Perhaps the combination of alcohol and these amines produce the wine headache?
James Moshides, Sydney, Australia
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I enjoyed reading about the wine headache devise. However, I believe it is better to make wine with low levels of histamines than to just measure them or to rely on some external device.
