Allergic to Merlot but not Cab Sav.

I have a friend that that was commenting that she seems to get an allergic reaction when eve she drinks Merlot but when she drinks the same amount of Cab Sav of the same quality on another day does not get the same reaction. She says that she is buying $6.00 wine. I have never heard of someone being allergic to a specific type of grape. Any comments?

It's possible that its more related to the day than the wine unless she has a lot of data points. I have found that red wine can be enough to kick my allergies into high gear if its a high pollen day but on other days I don't suffer. Last week, I drank a few craft beers and had the same problem. This was a first time I remember beer causing a problem but it could have also been because I was my first day in Ohio and I may have had the allergy problem regardless.

[Jenise]

Gary, doesn't make any sense. She's probably allergic to the preservative that one used and the other didn't.

Time to experiment using several different labels of both CS and Merlots noting price, producer, abv, etc.. Note, too, weather specifics for each day. Could be tons of fun.
(I am not a scientist but I did spend two nights in a Holiday Inn Express a week ago.)

I have a friend (I haven't shared wine with him in a number of years) who also claimed to develop an allergic reaction to Merlot. He seemed fine with all other grapes. It never made sense to me, unless it has something to do with the preservative, but he seemed okay with Bordeaux, and he didn't know the difference about right bank/left bank grapes.

I have a friend (I haven't shared wine with him in a number of years) who also claimed to develop an allergic reaction to Merlot. He seemed fine with all other grapes. It never made sense to me, unless it has something to do with the preservative, but he seemed okay with Bordeaux, and he didn't know the difference about right bank/left bank grapes.

In my opinion, people who make an allergy claim ought to see an allergist and find out what it is they really are allergic to. That has got to be a better way than to make the assumption that it is one particular grape variety, which I seriously doubt, but like the person making the claim, don't know for sure.

When I operated my tasting room, I heard all kinds of allergy claims that rarely made sense but were also rarely taken to a professional.

Take a look at Daniel Pambianchi's Wine Myths, Facts & Snobberies: 81 Questions and Answers on the Science and Enjoyment of Wine for an accessible discussion of the biochemistry of headaches and allergies from wine.

Sounds like a bad case of sidewaysitis to me.

[Jenise]

Here's one for you: was at a meeting the other day where red and white wine were served. One guest, a smart and no nonsense kind of woman, said she'd love white, but asked which kind of white it was first. Chardonnay. "Oh, then I'll take red." Asked if she just wasn't a chardonnay fan, she said no, quite the contrary. "But I've developed a lung disease and for some oddball reason nobody can figure out I react to chardonnay, but only that. Took me awhile to isolate the cause, because no other wine causes a reaction. I can drink everything else." Further conversation established that she's tested it fairly thoroughly. (Her disease isn't asthma, she's seen experts and they've given it a name that essentially means We Don't Know What the Hell It Is, but though her inhalation is 100% only 40% of the oxygen makes it into her lungs. It's like having a leak in the air hose when you're trying to fill your tires.)