Histamine Content in Red and Sparkling Wine and Relationship with Wine Quality

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2007.12.722Get rights and content

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Rationale

High histamine levels in wine may indicate poorly-controlled winemaking and are often made responsible for intolerance reactions occurring in certain subjects after drinking wine. We investigated the histamine content in sparkling and red wines and its correlation with corresponding scoring results from wine tasting.

Methods

One-hundred Austrian red wines from different grape varieties were judged by a professional wine taster according to Parker's 100-point scale and subsequently analyzed for histamine by immunoassay (Immunotech, Marseille, France). Additionally, histamine was measured in 26 white sparkling wines.

Results

Histamine levels varied considerably within red wines (range 0.45-27.6 mg/l, mean 8.4 ± 7.5, median 5.9) as well as sparkling wines (range 0.001-1.9 mg/l, mean 0.30 ± 0.55, median 0.02) without significant differences between different grape varieties. In red wines, no correlation was found between histamine content and rating scores with every score class containing wines with very high as well as very low histamine levels. Different wines from the same winemaker had similar histamine content

Conclusions

Red wines and sparkling wines show considerable variation in histamine levels independent of grape variety. As sensory wine quality is unrelated to histamine levels, histamine-sensitive subjects are unlikely to develop less symptoms from high-rated wines.

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