Rioja wine

[PoDundee]

Does anyone know if there is gluten in Rioja wine?

[SilverDreamMachine]

Hi PoDundee,

As far as I am aware all wine is gluten free. I just hope nobody posts anything different. I've had enough of my favourite foods/drinks denied me during my time as a coeliac!!!!!

What promoted your question?

[DartmoorGuerrilla]

All wine is gluten free in Europe. If you're in the USA and certain other jurisdictions, you have to read the label, as all kinds of manufactured muck can be called "wine".

[Eggardon]

Is this really a sulphite question? Since being diagnosed coeliac and working with my diet I avoid all sulphites which means no wine and no supermarket pre packed hams.

[Jacks]

The answer is simple - YES if it has been 'aged' in oak. How? The barrels are sealed with a gluten paste.

The other consideration is that in Europe, wine is 'clarified' with gluten after all the vegetarians complained about the practise of using fish previous to this.

New World wines claim to be the most gluten free.

[Hidden in reply to Jacks]

OMIGOD! A quick jaunt through Google shows concern about aged wines being sealed with wheat paste!

I note that Coeliac UK says wine is fine - and other references say the maximum gluten level found in aged wines was < 10ppm so maybe not a worry. I'd just like to know the truth - but probably that is too complex: many of us may be OK with that trace level but others may not.

Better news is that there seem to be range of products that can clarify wine - so that may be less of an issue. The tricky part will be finding out which ones are safe and which aren't!

Coeliac disease is never simple.

[freelancer]

I had some Rioja the other day and realised it gave me a far bigger hangover than I would expect from the amount I drank (a couple of glasses, but I felt dehydrated and was very aware of it all the next day). This made me think a bit more about the oaked wine issue, which I'd heard about but not taken any notice of.

It reminded me that 10 years ago or so, before I ever knew I had any problems with gluten, I used to regularly drink cheapish white wine – thinking back, mostly Chardonnay – and always felt very dehydrated after (think I posted this before). Eventually I gave up buying all white wine on the basis of this and switched to red, which seemed not to affect me as much – coincidentally the reds I drank weren't very oaky. A couple of years ago I decided to try white again and it seemed fine – I didn't connect this to the fact that I now drank mainly New Zealand Sauvignon blanc.

So I've just realised it's highly probable that it's nothing to do with white/red – the wines I've had problems with for about a decade are all oak-aged: there's a logic to it, not just random dodgy budget wines as I assumed. I'd already noticed earlier this year that I get the same kind of dehydration superhangover with gin, so it makes sense that trace gluten might be at the bottom of it – one of my first glutening symptoms is extreme thirst.

(Sorry for the essay – it just seemed like a bit of a lightbulb moment and might be useful to someone else!)

[RoseRed]

I've recently been diagnosed as allergic to wheat, and have been very ill following half a bottle of Rioja, thought it was just getting older and not able to cope with more than one glass, but now think it could be this wheat paste. Any suggestions for how to choose wine that is wheat free? Eg organic wines, Wine clubs.

This link very helpful thanks - Rose