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Headaches from only certain vintages of wine - TheEngineer - 08-13-2013

Looking to you more experienced folks for some insight into this. BTW, i've read old postings on this topic. What a nice collection of knowledge.

A friend of mine loves his Cakebread cab. He loves is 2009 that he can drink without any issues. yet when he drinks the 2010 version, he had bad headaches.

So looking over old notes, I got that

(1) it could be the Histamine, in which case it should occur regardless of the vintage
(2) Perhaps the malolactic fermentation was spontaneous in this batch, causing a higher build up of biogenic amines (histamines again as the fault)
(3) ????

In the case of (1) and (2), it is not an allergy but the result of toxicity.


RE: Headaches from only certain vintages of wine - Kcwhippet - 08-14-2013

My guess it's indeed mainly the histamines. The amount depends on the particular vintage's growing conditions. Some years there is more histamine than in others. Also, consider the tyramines, found along with the histamines in red grape skins. The tyramines are known to trigger migraines in some people. Both may be what are doing in your friend depending on the vintage.