The issue of sulfites in France at the beginning of the 20th century. Economic, political, and scientific origins of a unique situation between tradition and innovation

Abstract

At the end of the 19th century, with the development of the chemical industry and the arrival of sulfite products that were easy to add throughout the winemaking process, SO2 volumes tended to increase in wines. However, sulfites were quickly singled out in the context of defining wine quality standards with a view to cleaning up the markets and protecting consumer health. In a debate that was taking place on the national stage and, even more so, on the international stage, French producers, particularly those of sweet wines from Bordeaux, attempted to counter the attempts of the protagonists, led by the Americans, to introduce drastic legislation on the issue. For producers of sweet wines, beverages with a long and distinguished reputation, the fight is almost existential, as the specific characteristics of these wines depend on certain doses of SO2, which are capable, among other things, of blocking fermentation. Using unpublished private collections, publications, old scientific reports, and political archives, we will show how an alliance of convenience between producers, oenologists, and the medical world is taking shape. At a time when the rapidly expanding science of wine is entering the economic arena, the industry needs to draw on expertise capable of countering the arguments of sulfite opponents with irrefutable evidence. With the additional support of local and national elected officials and politicians, and at a time when intense discussions are underway on future appellation of origin regulations, this study examines how Bordeaux producers managed to preserve the “analytical” uniqueness of their wines and impose their views on the world. This episode thus set French standards, policies, and discourse on the use of sulfites in wine for almost sixty years. This issue, which spanned the entire 20th century, clearly raised the dialectic between tradition and innovation during a period of intense upheaval for viticulture

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