Wine allergy problems kind of ruin the fun now, don’t they!
See below for more information about wine allergies.
This section also has extensive comments. You can learn a lot by reading about other people’s experiences. Feel free to add your own comments.
This section is about wine and allergies.
People who are allergic to wine may be sensitive to one or more of the following substances:
You will probably find the following comments to be very interesting. Go ahead and read them, and feel free to add your own.
When you are done, you can answer the Allergy Details Wine Survey. I want to find out what wines cause people the most trouble. This will be very helpful to you as more people leave comments.
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{ 55 comments… read them below or add one }
Wine and swollen eyes?
Hi, I think that I may have a wine allergy. Last night I had five or six sips of my husbands wine and this morning I woke up and my eye lids and all around my eyes were, and still are quit swollen. Could this be the wine?
Wine Beer and mushrooms
Throat tightens and filled with mucous and pains with difficulty swallowing, breathing when I drink wine, beers, and sauteed mushrooms. What do these have in common?
Sautéed mushrooms?
Sautéed mushrooms? Not sautéed onions or raw, boiled or baked mushrooms?
only have noticed a problem
only have noticed a problem when the mushrooms are sauteed in butter and garlic
Wine, beer, mushrooms
Sounds like intolerance to fungus/yeast. I’ve had this problem for a while, combined with other digestive and breathing problems. Cutting out all alcohol, wheat, yeast, sugar, fruit, unpeeled nuts and certain types of vegetables helped. Anything that could cause fermentation and yeast build-up, Candida Albicans. I think there definitely is a connection between mushrooms and wine/beer.
Two allergies?
Maybe you have two allergies. I can’t think what wine, beer and sautéed mushrooms have in common. On the other hand, it is odd that sautéed mushrooms, rather than, say sautéed onions would be a problem.
If i think of something, I’ll let you know. Maybe another visitor will have some ideas for you.
hi, i have recently developed rashes on my face every time i drink Jacques mixed berry cider, Brother’s strawberry cider and just recently Pimms, which are coincidentally all red. However i can drink the white Jacques cider. Any ideas?
Hi Abi,
I experienced the same symptoms in my first year at uni, always whilst drinking Strongbow in a warm room. Consequently, I stopped drinking cider in general.
Tonight, I was drinking Sangria and Pimms and came across the same symptoms I had in first year (four years ago). I hadn’t been drinking cider, but have put it down to high in sugar alcohol and a warm temperature.
Tingling in back of jaw
I rarely drink wine. Red wine gives me head aches. White wine I dont mind, but its hard to find one I enjoy.
My most favorite is Ernest & Julio Gallo White Zinfandel. I order this when out for dinner and buy sometimes to have when hosting dinner parties.
After a few glasses I get this weird tingling sensation. I dont know if I’d actually call it tingly… its sort of when you eat something sweet for the first time in the day and the glands in the back of your mouth start to water and give you the “wow” factor??? Does this make sense? Perhaps a type of itch that is hard to scratch?
Only I dont salvitate and it gets tingly and warmish, lasts anywhere from 20 to and hour. I tend to drink lots of water and cleans my mouth with other flavors to keep my mind off it.
I’ve never felt flushed or feverish. No red blotches or tightness in breathing. My tongue is fine. Its just that spot on both sides of my mouth. In the back, of my mouth. If you reach with your tongue to the furthest tooth back there, thats the spot! Right there inside the cheek area.
I can dink all other types of alcohol, I prefer most of them straight so it cant be alcohol, perhaps the sulfates or fermentation process? What do you think?
P.S. I also get this from overly ripe Pineapple…
Sulfites in other things besides wine
Sulfites are also found in beer (or any other fermented beverage), and is often used as a preservative.
See foods that contain sulfites for a list.
Fresh pineapple is not one of them.
If you don’t have a reaction to those other foods then you can probably rule out sulfites.
I get exactly the same thing when I go from some redwine to something sweet afterwards. Not all red wines, just some. Did you get any idea what it might be? I don’t drink much but it only seems to be red rather than white wine?? Would love to know what it is!
red wine headache
The last few times I have had a glass or two of red wine I have woken up early morning with a severe headache between my eyes. The throbbing usually goes away after I get up. I’m thinking that it is with cabs and zinfandels as I used to drink merlots and pino noir’s and only had problems if I over indulged. Anyone else have this type of reaction?
red wine headache
I had to stop drinking any wine because of this problem. Maybe you have a problem with the sulfites in the wine? That is what I attribute my problems to. I am also sensitive to preservatives added to food (nitrites, nitrates, etc.)
Swollen eyes & allergy to specific wines
I have had occurences of an allergy which makes my eye swell up (left eye more than the right) over the past couple of months.
At worst it swells so much that it barely opens, at best just gets a bit red & itchy. A friend was recently horrified after seeing me the morning after a night out, as he thought I had been in a fight & had a black eye.
It recently struck me that there are potentially two factors when ever I suffer from the swelling. One is an Aloe Vera moisturiser, the other is drinking Sancerre white wine.
For some reason it does not happen when I drink other types of wine, but when I enquired what wine we had drunk with dinner it all seemed to fall into place. On this occasion I had not used the moisturiser.
The swelling usually goes after about 12 hours, but has lasted up to 3 days (a pharmacist recommended antihystamines). I now have a floater in the corner of my eye & wonder if this could be related!?!?!
Swollen Eyes
Check to see if you have a food allergy and a dust mite allergy … I just went through a month of similar symptoms and have figured out that it’s the combination of the two that caused Eczema to develop on my eyes. It didn’t happen overnight but over a few months of doing it over and over that it developed into Eczema from the swollen eyes. If this is true for you, then manage your food allergies and also the Dust Mites and you should be able to avoid the Eczema (which is insane to have on your eyes).
Good Luck.
Wine allergy
A nutrition specialist (a doctor) advised me this afternoon that my bloating and increasing midriff bulge are due to the yeast in red wine (as well as an allergy to wheat, mushrooms, soya etc.).
He advised that in terms of alcohol I would be better to stick with gin, vodka or white wine. He says that the yeast is removed from white wine because the grapes are skinned to keep the liquid clear and yeast in fruit resides in the skin (so it’s better to peel all fruit before eating if you are allergic to yeast/wheat). It would be better not to drink wine at all because of fermentation but if I insist (I am a red wine fan, and this has been my drink of choice for at years), I should choose white.
Anyone else aware of this?
Thanks.
Mary
Yeast in white wine
I’m not so sure about the doctor’s theory about red vs. white wine. They both have yeast in them. True, with red wine it comes from the grape skin, and with white wine usually not.
If you have a problem with yeast, you’d probably be best to avoid wine full stop.
Or have less. I find I can have about half a glass of wine without a problem. For others it may be more or less.
The key is to keep notes of what wine you drink, and how you feel soon after, and every day for the following five days or so.
That way you can work out your tolerance for different types of wines.
Wine allergy
Hi there,
I recently had some white wine [naked grape] i have never tried this type before and have never experienced any issues with any sort of wine. After drinking it, my eyes began to swell and turn extremely red on the top of my eye lips and underneath my eye. Last year these sypmotoms appeared after putting on a certain sort of mascara and only with that mascara. I have been to the doctor and have an allergist appointment in about a month, just wondering if you had any suggestions or comments
thanks!
Jen
allergy caused by cross-chemical sensitisation?
I’ve noticed with myself that being exposed to one substance seems to cause a reaction to another.
This is an collaborated and completely unscientific theory, but what you are describing in terms of wine+mascara=problem could be an example of this.
Perhaps a more likely scenario is that the mascara is a bit of an irritant, but not enough to notice until you get a bigger reaction from the wine.
I suggest you avoid the types of mascara that make the wine reaction worse – it can’t be good for you!
As for the wine itself, there is a wide range of comments on this site about specific reactions to specific types of wine.
Take note of the wines you are OK with and stick to them as much as possible!
wine eye swelling & mascara
I wonder if you are allergice to carrots & apples too? I have the same reactions that you have described above & upon doing some ‘google-ing’ i fould that often times people’s allergies are alike. I read an article that mentioned wine & beer reactions for people who were decendants of the United Kindom & allergic to ragweed- odd I know.
i had a reaction to Naked Grape unoaked chardonnay. i wonder if you recall what type you reacted to… all these years after?
Kidney Pain
On 2 different occasions I’ve gotten sever pain in my lower back, and both times it happened after I had 1-2 glasses of red wine (on an empty stomach). The 1st time it was so sever that after about 3 hours of increasing pain, I finally went to the emergency. All they could come up with was that it was an allergic reaction to something I ate or drank. The 2nd time I realized what was coming and immediately took 2 ibuprofen and that helped reduce the duration of the pain. Both times though, I first broke out in a sweat and the pain was so bad I was doubled over on the floor.
Was this caused by an allergic reaction to the wine? (I’ve had this same wine on other occasions with no problem. Also, I’m a 47 yr old male, I’m not a big drinker, and I don’t smoke.)
Wine
I’m curious what Karen meant by being “violentley sick”. This has happened to me on 2 occasions, both times happened to be after I had a glass of red wine (on an empty stomach). After maybe an hour I broke out in a sweat and had severe pain in, what I’m guessing, my liver. I mean it hurt so bad I was curled up in pain. The 1st time it happened I was in such pain for about 3 hours that I finally went into the emergency. All they could tell me was that it must have been an allergic reaction. The 2nd time I realized what was happening and immediately took 2 ibuprofen and the pain, though severe, only lasted a short while. Kind of scary. (By the way…I’ve had this same red wine before and never had a problem.)
think am allergic to wine : (
Hi. Im a HUGE fan of red wine – i love it. i dont really drink anything else ever and never really drank it for the sake of alchohol – it was the taste. before discovering wine i never really drank. in the past couple of months however – after a glass of wine (started with red but it happening now with white) i get an unbearable sneezing fit and runny eyes and nose. happens about 10mins after the drink and last up to 2 or 3 hours -where i sneeze, have trouble breathing through my nose and have sore runny eyes.
what could be causing this in the wine?is it possible to have an allergy to it after all this time? could it go away. I am so miserable about it – i feel like im going to become really antisocial cos of it as im already allergic to beer (my stomach reacts to it). I wont be able to have wine with meals etc and im going on my hen weekend soon and will feel out of the party if im drinking soft drinks. but the alternative is a weekend of sneezing : (
Sounds like an allergy
From what you describe, it does sound like you have an allergy to wine. Certainly you react to it, from your own description.
Allergies can start at any time in life. No one really knows why. You may have had less obvious reactions that you didn’t recognize, or it could have just started one day. Either is possible.
Your best chance of growing out of the allergy is to avoid all yeast-based products for months, it may even take years. Not encouraging, but that’s the truth.
You can also try cutting out wine for a month, then trying a very small amount and see what happens.
I have had the same problems
I have had the same problems when drinking wine over the past year, starting with red and now with rose and white. However, I’ve recently tried some organic red wine and I’ve had no problems! I recommend you try some!
I have drank wine for years
I have drank wine for years and always been fine but the past 6 times i have drank it i have ended up being violentley sick even if i have just had one glass of wine. I was wondering why this happens, very sad about it as i have always loved having a glass of wine.
Thanks
Karen
Could it depend on the wine?
Hi Karen,
Your short story is very sad.
Given some of the experiences other people have written about on this page, I am wondering if getting sick after drinking wine happens every time and for all types of wine, or could it be that you have a problem with just some types of wine?
This is an easy question to ask, but I know that it is not so easy to answer, since I’m sure you don’t want to get sick trying all different types of wine!
You can start by thinking back to when you were sick after drinking wine and when you were not (over the last six months). Can you see a pattern?
Could I be Allergic?
I just started drinking wine and learning about it. But every time I have a glass of wine at dinner about an hour after drinking it I get sick and throw up.
Is this happening because I’m not use to drinking wine or could I have an allergy to it?
Probably allergic
Hi Lydia,
It is not normal to throw up after *one* glass of wine.
Honestly, it sounds like an allergy, assuming that this has happened on several occasions, and that you have not been drinking a lot of other types of liqueur before or after.
Do you have a similar reaction to mixed drinks? If not, the wine specifically, rather than alcohol in general is a very likely suspect.
It sounds like you are just starting to learn how to enjoy wine. It would really be too bad if it makes you sick.
On the other hand, if it makes you sick, you’re better off without it!
Wine tightens my throat and stomach
Hi, for many years now even a small drink of wine (4-5 oz., or less) causes my throat to tighten up and feel very uncomfortable between 5 & fifteen minutes after the drink. The feeling lasts for 5-10 minutes. In the last year or so, the sensation seems to have moved down focusing mainly on my stomach & lower esophagus. It also is more severe, and I feel quite sick during those few minutes.
Grape juice doesn’t cause me any problems, neither does whiskey. I also think that this is only caused by red wine.
Classic allergy symptoms
That sounds more like “classic” allergy symptoms.
$Yeast$ or sulfites are the most likely culprits.
But doesn’t grape juice also
But doesn’t grape juice also have sulfites? Why does that not affect me?
Also , I’ve noticed that white wine also causes these symptoms, but dry wine (both red & white) doesn’t.
Sulfites in Sparkling Grape Juice
Sparkling grape juice may have sulfites. One can’t rule out sulfites in regular grape juice – check the ingredients.
Unlike wine, sulfites are not a natural by product of producing the food.
Different wines have different amounts of sulfites. Wines with added sulfites have far higher levels than the natural levels produced by yeast during the fermentation process.
allergic to wine????????
i have always drank wine my whole life, i am in my fifties. tonight we bought a bottle of wine and when i drank it it was very bitter and gave me a metallic taste. i brush my teeth and cant get rid of it. went out and bought a different wine and still got that bitter metallic taste. i let it breathe for 45 minutes. both cabernets both at different stores and still cant drink that without bitter and metallic taste
Give it some time
This is a sad story.
But it does not sound like an allergy, not if your only symptom is a metallic taste.
It sounds like something in your body chemistry has changed – which is hopefully temporary – maybe it is something you ate?
Perhaps you could just wait for a week or two before trying some wine again.
strong reaction to white wine
I have a very strong reaction to even the smallest glass of white wine. Even with half a glass I get sick within the hour with violent vomiting and stomach twisting diarrhea. I would like to know what it is in white wine that makes me so sick. It is scary to me to have such violent reaction and not to understand where it is coming from. Red wines are fine, and quality champagnes are fine too. Poor quality champagne will make me sick but nothing like the violent reaction I get from white wine. Roses are a toss, I am never sure how I will react to them, but again never as bad as with white wine. Beer gives me no problems. Thank you for your help.
I also cannot tolerate white wine!
I have the same reaction to white wines. I have no problem with red or champagne, but white gives me horrible vomiting and diarrhea. Took me a while to make the connection. I figured maybe food poisoning, but no one else ever got sick after eating the same food! Cross white wine off my list.
severe reaction to wine
Unfortunately I can’t give you any help or advice. I am totally perplexed by the same problem as you have. My reaction usually starts about 8 hours later and is so severe that I can vomit violently up to a dozen times over a six-hour period and be bedridden with severe headache and nausea for 24 hours. I have tried antihistamines which used to help, but no longer. I even have the reaction with red now, as it only used to be white.
Like you I would really like to understand what is happening in my body to cause such violent sickness.
I have the same reactions to white wine, got worse over time, since I had always drink white before. Thought at first it was food related, but no. Now 15 minutes before I get a reaction, violent vomitting and diarrhea Not drinking Rosé either and red wine no problem even if it contain sulfites.
I’m not allergic to raisin and all those stuff they say you could react to.
I think I’m allergic to some wines, beer and wheat?
Hello,
When I drink some wines it feels like my throat is closing up and I can’t drink any more of it because it real hurts and also, when i drink beer the sides of my nose swell up and I can feel a lot of pressure around the bridge of my nose.. I have been to doctors they don’t really know what it is wrong and they just give me some kind of spray which doesn’t work.
I think I might have this gluten problem because, when I eat foods such as bread, paster and other foods containing wheat I find it hard to go to the toilet.. Also I sneeze loads at once during Winter,Summer day and night and, also I can have itching attacks not all the time properly 3 times out off the months but I can’t stop itching all day.
I will be very happy if you could help or give me some advise.
Kind regards,
Nicola
You’ve come to the right place!
First of all Nicola, my sympathies!
First of all, are you sure that you are allergic to these wine. beer and wheat, or do you just suspect it?
From what you are saying, chances are you pretty much know already, but just to be sure, check out how to do a food elimination test.
Also, you don’t want just any old doctor. Some understand food allergies and some don’t. I use a loose definition of allergies. Doctors don’t appreciate this definition and insist on a much narrower one.
The fact is that if eating certain foods make you sick, then your body reacts to them, and you have to avoid the food, or manage the allergy as best you can.
Find an allergy doctor or, even better, a doctor that specializes in environmental medicine. A doctor like that will understand what you are going through and may be able to actually help you!
You can get more detailed information about avoiding gluten by visiting the $gluten-product$ website.
I hope this helps. Once you figure out what to avoid eating you will feel much better.
Yes, it is worth giving up certain foods if it makes you feel that much better.
Oh, one more thing. If you have to give up beer and wine, there are always mixed drinks that might be just fine for you.
Good luck!
You could be allergic to
You could be allergic to MOLD which is found in wine, beer, cheeses, all melons, creamy dressings and breads. That was my problem!
I have had an allergic
I have had an allergic reaction to something and the ‘dessert wine’ I drank last night seems to be the culprit?
I woke in the night with a swollen tongue and back of throat and have red allergy patches on different parts of my body – a wee bit itchy.
There is nothing else I have eaten or drunk that could have caused this reaction.
Could it be an ingredient in dessert wine?
Could be the wine but look for other factors
Hi Hayden,
Based on circumstance alone, it could be the wine. But how about other circumstances? For example, if you were at a friend’s place, it could be that you were reacting to airborne allergens such as mold or pet dander.
It is also possible that you had a reaction to something else you ate, for example if it had an unusually high level of pesticides.
It could also be coincidental. When I first developed eczema, I didn’t know what it was and assumed it was related to something I had recently eaten. It wasn’t.
The desert wine you had could have elevated levels of sulphites which some people are allergic too. Although all wines have sulfites (some much more than others) you may only react to the higher level.
In short, it is hard to know. You might try very much less of the same desert wine next time and see if you get a reaction. I wouldn’t blame you for avoiding it entirely, but it is more likely to be specific to that desert wine rather than desert wines in general.
Irritant Throat?
I was on holiday and i had a glass of white wine with a meal. This was unusual for me as i usually stick to beer and cider.
After going to sleep for a couple of hours i woke up with a pain in my throat, almost as if i had burnt it. this pain went all the way down to my chest. i felt quite sick as well.
Having drank a lot of ice water i went back to bed, and woke up the next morning with the same feeling. It went on for 2 days after and it was painful to eat and sometimes drink.
I wouldn’t have though anything of it. However, last night i was at a party and had a small (half) a glass of Champagne. I woke up this morning with that same feeling (only to a lesser extent, having not drank as much)
Could i be allergic to white wine, or maybe even alcohol in general?
Thanks
Could it be
I had wine for like the first time ever on New Year’s 09. On the 2nd, I woke up with an irritated throat. I feel it swollen. Intense headache and the worst fever I’ve ever had out of two really bad ones in my life.
Irritant Throat?
My wife has exactly the same symptoms that you experienced after drinking any type of wine. The only exception is one brand of vintage champagne, which made for some expensive courting!
Strangely though, we have just discovered that she can drink cider with no burning sensation, which rules out being allergic to alcohol. She can eat grapes, so its not that, and has no problem eating fruit with yeast blooms so its not that either.
I’m sorry I can’t offer any answers, but you have my sympathy! I hope there’s someone out there that can find the culprit…
Cheers!
wine consumption and black eyes next morning
After consuming three glasses of wine, I wake the next day with dark circles under my eyes. I have not been consuming any wheat or dairy products for two weeks now. It seems wine may be the culprit. Any ideas on this one?
Wine: Sounds like you have the answer
Sounds like you are pretty much saying that wine causes you symptoms.
I’d have to say that if you don’t like the symptoms, don’t drink wine (or drink less and see if that’s OK).
Also, watch out for the allergens mentioned in the article that actually cause a wine allergy.
Wine, esp. red, is a great way to dehydrate your body. It instantly sucks the moister from your skin which can cause the dark circles. So just make sure to replenish your body with H2o and electrolytes when drinking wine and any alcohol.
Wine Allergy
I am beginning to wonder if I may have a wine allergy. I love to drink red wine, but lately, when I have a glass ( and I mean one glass) a couple of hours later my skin becomes red, hot, and itchy. Could I be allergic to the red wine I’m drinking?
yeast or alcohol perhaps
Given the cause and effect relationship you seem to have discovered, wine sounds like it is a problem for you.
It could be grapes, yeast, sulphites or alcohol which are at fault.
See if you notice a connection with any of these on their own. For example, fresh grapes, other foods with $yeast$ in them, mixed drinks.
As for the sulphites, see if you can find low-sulphites wine. If the problem is less or absent, that would indicate sulphites.
I am starting to experience
I am starting to experience the same thing after years of drinking wine, thought….is it the cat, but not always an issue. Beginning to think it’s some of the certain kinds of cheaper wines I buy…..
Also can be rosacea, in which cheek flushing is triggered by alcohol. The redness can be pretty painful and feel like burning. Wine is a common culprit.