Mark Lipton wrote:Tannins have been shown to trigger headaches in some people, so older wines (if decanted off their sediment) ought to be less problematic for those types. If histamines are the trigger, then red wines (and beer) are off the table.
My thought re tannins, and yes I decanted the shiraz.
I served a pink wine, a very pale syrah-based rose from Washington winery Betz first, then put the Riesling and Shiraz on the table with dinner--very different wines but mutually complementary with the Chinese dinner I prepared.
I learned a little while discussing this over dinner. She has not, contrary to what I thought, tested herself on whites alone. (I know, it's time!) And all was fine for the first three hours and suddenly: HEADACHE. But at the same time: FEVER. They left immediately and her temp was 99.9 when she got home. Her norm is lower than 98.6. For the last month she's had a serious medical issue: a kidney infection causing systemic issues with nightly fevers. The kidney issue is not uncommon for people on Humira, which she is. She's been on antibiotics to fix that, and this past week her bloodwork finally came back normal--no sign of infection. But the fevers haven't gone away. And the red wine allergy she believes she has acquired is not accompanied by stuffed up nose, runny red eyes or any of the other symptoms she suffers from other allergies (of which she has quite a few unusual types, including metals.) Because the fevers aren't going away, she's going to have more complicated blood work done this week.
I can't help but wonder if headaches don't have the same causality as the fevers and nothing to do with red wine at all.
