The Chemistry

Purewine has been invented and developed by Australian (Margaret River) winemaker James Pennington BSc BApp Sc to allow wine consumers to enjoy wine with reduced preservatives.

Purewine is the first product of its type in the world and received an Innovation Patent in 2010.

James used his knowledge in winemaking to re-apply that chemistry to create Purewine. The use of preservatives is an important part of producing wine of high quality. The preservatives most commonly used are generally referred to as sulphites and may come in various forms usually listed as pres. 220 or 224. They are largely found in the form of Sulphur Dioxide gas.

The addition of Purewine converts these sulphites (sulfites) into harmless byproducts called sulphates. The level of sulphites remaining after treating with Purewine is usually below 10ppm and this is considered preservative free by the FDA and Food Standards Code.

The chemistry that is involved in this process has been used in wineries for decades allowing winemakers to reduce the level of preservatives as required. It is achieved by the addition of hydrogen peroxide. The main ingredient in Purewine is a specially produced dilute (<3%) food grade hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen Peroxide is a permitted additive for wine as approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council – Food Standards Code 4.5.1.

James believed there was a need to help consumers as he became aware of more and more people who are adversely affected by the preservatives in wine. Their reaction to untreated wine ranges from severe such as anaphylactic attack to fairly mild headache and fatigue.

Over the last 5 years we have received an enormous amount of feedback from our customers detailing how Purewine has real positive health benefits particularly in regards to reducing hangover type symptoms.