'Good' wine and hangovers

[Dave Potts]

I'm often told that 'good wine' doesn't give you a hangover. In spite of years of trying I don't suffer from hangovers myself and as far as I'm concerned ALL wine is good (urf, urf) but have always wondered whether this has any basis in fact or is just another urban myth given voice by purveyors of expensive bottles of plonk with fancy labels and long names - any Abers got any insights on this one? Cheers!

[Kerplunk]

I had 2 bottles of expensive white wine on Friday evening and had a very bad headache most of Saturday morning. (Maybe quantity over quality that caused it)

[superloopie]

I've got friends who insist the only way to avoid a hangover is to drink organic wine. I've never noticed any difference myself, except I know that big quantities equal big hangover no matter the price etc.

[treaclefight]

i dont want it to be true but it is. and i know all about having hangovers. once a year (maybe twice) we will go to a particular restaurant where the wine is their speciality. we donr eat much buut we do spend �50-�60 on each bottle of wine and there is quantity as well as quality - never had a hangover yet. i should point out that we're talking red wines here (my favourites are sicilian reds), white wines give me a headache after one sip, doesnt matter how much they cost.

[darth vader]

sorry treacle gotta disagree. Try slugging two bottles of moet and chandon down and you'll not be able to lift your head off the pillow in the morning. I would say it's down to a) personal tastes and b) the type of wine (not just red or white, but what region) eg. I can quite happily drink german whites till they come out of my ears and not be hungover in the morning, though french reds tend to make my head hurt. Champagne is notoriously bad at giving you a hangover. ps Kendermanns Pinot Grigio 2002 (about 4quid a bottle at Morrisons) is manna from nirvana but serve ice cold

[woofgang]

Now I can drink champagne all day and night and not feel the worse for it, ( no I don't drive until SURE I am sober!! and no I don't do this on a regular basis... I wish!!) but red wine does me in and the better the wine, the worse the penalty. I think that this has more point(or maybe had) when you get to the really cheap end of the market where wine can be more of a chemical soup than a natural product.

[thekraut]

hangovers in general are caused by some intermediate digestion products formed from the alcohol in the wine (ketones and stuff). might be that there already is a certain amount of that stuff in cheap wines. champagne and other sparkling wines are well known to cause the worst hangovers, but don't ask me why. might have something to do with the fact that due to the small bubbles some of the alcohl immediately enters your body (just like drinking beer through a straw).

[darth vader]

see what i mean? it's simply down to personal tastes. Try one brand/label only and drink it all night. If you feel like a gorilla's @r$e in the morning, cross it off the list. Either you will find one which doesn't give you a hangover, or you will become an alcoholic. Either way you've solved the problem :-)

[sft42]

Or simply don't drink?

[Gef]

Whether you like it or not the main cause of a hangover is dehyration. In the process of metabolising alcohol your body excretes more water than you have consumed. It 'borrows' this water from the body cells which results in the brain becoming dehydrated - hence the headache. Also, drinks contain congeners (which give particular drinks their characteristic flavours) and these too have to be metabolised resulting in the loss of more water. Generally speaking red wines and whiskys contain more congeners than white wines, vodka etc. General tip: drink lots of water before and after but avoid caffeineated drinks. By the way, you must be drunk to pay �50 -�60 for a bottle of any wine, never mind Scicilian rubbish! :-)

[Dave Potts]

Simply don't drink? Have you been at the sherry sft? :o)

Thanks for your thoughts folks! Thought I'd kick off the research with a wee Montepulciano I picked up at Makro darth - the list starts tonight!

[Pinotage]

The simple answer is that alcohol causes hangovers. Wine contains alcohol: the more you drink the more you effect it will have. But not all wine contains the same amount of alcohol.

Darth Vader says he can drink lots of German wine without effect - well German wines have the lowest alcohol levels, up to 10% alcohol whereas French Reds are 12% and upwards. And alcohol levels are rising, table wines with 14-15% are common.

So check the alchol level on the label.

Also, other factors can affect the intensity of the hangover, the extra bits in the wine that gives it its flavour, so red wine has more of those. Plus some people might be affected by sulphur dioxide; this is in all wines to some extent.

But as my old Gran used to say, if you can lie on the floor without holding on, you're not really drunk :)

[darth vader]

I can drink half a bottle of scotch and get up for a morning run next day - and that's 40% abv. meanwhile Guiness makes my head ache like i want to die. (about 5%?)

[darth vader]

though i agree with your other point Pinotage, that it is likely to be external factors to alcohol, which are making people hung over (additives, sulphur dioxide etec)

[thekraut]

I don't get this dehydration stuff, Gef. Coffee and black tea are dehydrating too (and as far as I know not less than alcohl), but I've never had a headace from drinking too much coffee so far.

[thekraut]

and I drink a lot of it!

[Gef]

For thekraut (or to be more polite, German friend :-) ) I beleive that alcohol is more dehydrating than caffeine. I was just trying to make the point that drinking coffee or tea is not the best way to get rid of your hangover.

[darth vader]

dehydration has a lot to do with it but apparently a glucose defiency is a factor. This is why Irn Bru whilst perhaps a comical/urban myth can actually be a good hangover cure (or indeed any sugary drink)

[headlesspets]

D.P. could the reason you never suffer from hangovers be that you are never infact, sober? i suffer terribly - well just generally but also if i drink alcohol of any description and don't glug several pints of water before going to bed.... champagne definatley the worst, invariably giving me 'a right b*astad behind the eyes'

[Dave Potts]

I would take umbrage at that last post but it's 03:50am and I'm as drunk as a lord - hooray!

[gnasher]

i drank 3 bottles of buckfast yesterday and at the moment i wish i was dead .