What are total, bound and free sulphites?
Sulphites are added at varying stages of the winemaking process to protect the wine. They are usually added whenever the wine is transferred from one storage container to another, and thereby exposed to air or possible contaminants. These are called total sulphites. The total sulphites can be sub-divided into two groups, which are bound and free sulphites. The bound sulphites are those sulphites that have combined with other compounds in the wine via a chemical reaction and these become inactive (inert). Bound sulphites are very stable, and rarely a problem for people suffering allergies. Free sulphites on the other hand are highly volatile molecules and very reactive, and this attribute enables them to act as a preservative and disinfectant to protect the wine. These same ‘reactive’ properties make them highly problematic to sensitive people who suffer allergies. However, we need free sulphites, otherwise the life of the wine would be short, possibly just a few months. The easiest way
