Why do some wines taste fine, and drink easily, but leave you with an absolute beauty of a headache the following morning?

Last night we decided that we fancied trying some Wolf Blass Rosé, so had a couple of bottles through the course of the evening. I woke at 5am with an incredible headache (I mean real bad), and Mrs C was also awake at the same time with similar symptoms.

Now, I do sometimes expect a 'bit of a head' if I drink red wine, as some of it seems to do that to me - but generally Rosé doesn't bother me. Oddly enough, we have tried two varieties of white wine from Wolf Blass in the past, and both of those also resulted in bad headaches

What beats me is that we can drink the same amount, or even more, of other wines without any reaction at all (Gallo White Zinfandel is a current easy drinking favourite)

Why is this? Could it be something to do with the country/region of origin - or to do with different varieties of grapes?

If you look on the label sometimes the *chemicals* they put into wine is nasty! Personally I always find that Aussie wines give me a bonce ache!!!!!! I also look at the volume!!Anything more than 12% volume aint good for me.... but everybody is different!

Funny you should say that, the wine in question was South Australian!

We tend to go for Californian wines at the moment, which don't usually affect us.

I didn't notice any chemicals noted on the label, but then again I must admit I didn't look to hard.

I think with red wines the hangover factor may be related to the amount of congeners in the wine, basically meaning that the darker the wine, the worse the hangover so light reds like Gamay or Beaujolais should be easier on the head than the more full-bodied ones.

Try some French wine and reduce your carbon footprint, everyone! xx

Australian wines are evil

Safe to assume that the headache is a result of the country of origin then - I wonder why that is though? Is there only certain varieties of grape (crap ones) that grow in Australia?

I have drunk wines both red and white, but mainly dry ones from just about every country that produces them and are available in this country and can honestly say I have never noticed one that produces a headache any more than another.
It does not affect me but I understand that if you drink red wines with blue cheese like Stilton can give some people headaches.
The way to avoid a headache is not to drink too much of any wine.

Well, here is a curve ball - and this one occurs quite regularly - if Mrs C and I have two or even three bottles of our regular wine between us, we are absolutely fine, yet if we have one bottle between us - thumping heads

Last night was a prime example, after doing the Sainsburys shuffle, we had dinner, and opened a bottle of wine - we only had the one bottle before heading off to bed. When I woke up this morning, it felt as though someone had put a nail gun to my head and nailed me to my pillow!

Why would less cause more symptoms?

That's my answer as well. Some wines have more of those nasty congeners than others.

It's a quality thing.... a good quality wine will never give you a headache/hangover.

It's really that simple.

Even better try some British wine

Hangovers and headaches are caused by the preservatives in wine. It has nothing to do with the colour of the grape or the country of origin. Heck why do you think Wine manufacturers have been fighting against compulsory ingredients labels on wine for years!

Local wines made by local people that they make for themselves is so dark red it's untrue but that never gives you a headache because it contains nothing at all other than the grape. All you get from them the following day is a dry mouth from dehydration. No headache at all. However, these types of 'real' wines do not travel nor do they last for much more than a year or two so the wines we see on shelves contain all sorts of things to preserve it.

I was once told that some red wines have the same sort of chemicals in them that are used for dry cleaning and they're the ones that give you a headache. Some people complain that decaf coffee gives them a headache too and I understand that the same kind if chemicals are used to remove the caffeine!

I had 2 bottles of Champers at Christmas and I can definitely tell you I had a hangover!

Ah! but were they a quality champane ?

Actually, my expertise extends largely to red wine cos I don't really drink white and I'm not fond of Fizz either! LOL

They contribute but ethanal produced by metabolising ethanol is the major cause. Short of removing the alcohol there is no alcoholic drink that doesn't have the potential to cause a hangover.

Isn't a hangover basically dehydration of the brain?

I love rose wine, and i drink quite a lot of it - mainly the cheap stuff from tesco.

On saturday i went to a party at my mum and dads, and they had some rose wine there - so i tucked in. Drank about a bottle. And OH MY GOD - my headache was soooo bad. It was quality stuff, and obviously im not used to it

I completely disagree.

South Africa's Pinotage contains the following:

-----------
INGREDIENTS: Grapes (Pinotage), Preservative (Sulphur Dioxide), Tartaric acid. Made using: Yeast, Yeast Nutrient (Diammonium phosphate).
Cleared using: Bentonite, Pectinolytic Enzymes. Closure: Cork
----------

Seeing as no tests have been carried out on the effect of the clearing agents nobody can say otherwise. Plus my family in Italy have been making wine forever and in such small villages local people all say they cannot drink commercial wine.

Good on the South African makers for putting ingredients on their wines.

no, that's just dehydration. The body cannot isolate which areas get dehydrated, if you're brain is dehydrated, then your body is. You should drink water with wine, some restaurants provide a separate glass of water. The will minimise dehydration, but won't prevent the headache.

Though not everybody is sensitive to it. I have had a few bottles that have had no affect on me (hic) but they have been few and far between.

I agree all these things contribute but you really can't argue with biology. Ethanal is a toxin which the liver mops up, excess alcohol means the liver can't keep up and excess ethanal is left in your bloodstream.

Disulfiram the drug used to treat alcoholism leverages this by blocking the metabolism of ethanal even further, giving the unfortunate alcoholic the worst hangover possible.

I've had a session on pure alcohol mixtures from the labs with some other respectable scientists and I can assure you it wasn't pretty the next day.

Is that the Californian Blush Zinfandel by any chance? Its so easy to drink, and tastes really quite agreeable for less than four quid a bottle.

The explanation above that the headache is relative to the preservatives in the wine make a lot of sense to me - Wolf Blass must use the same one in all their wines, as every one I've tried, even the quite expensive ones, leave me with a belter of a headache.

I still don't understand how half a bottle of the cheap Tesco stuff can leave me with a bad head - yet a bottle, or even two each has no effect