Hangover busters: Five ways to avoid wine hangovers

No matter how superb that last glass of wine is, no one enjoys a wine hangover the next morning. Here are five tips to avoid the horrid hangover blues.  

Top hangover tip: Eat before you drink

Drinking on an empty stomach is a classic hangover cause. Consider eating a balanced meal full of carbs, proteins and fats before you imbibe to avoid a banging hangover tomorrow. A stomach full of food will give your body the energy to speed up the absorption of alcohol.   

Drink a glass of water with every glass of wine

Drinking any form of alcohol causes dehydration and wine is no different. Try to drink at least eight glasses of water during the day. This will hydrate your body and chase every glass of wine with a glass of water. This will keep you hydrated, help dilute and diffuse the alcohol in your system and prevent a hangover the next morning.

Hangover no-go: Cheap wine

Drinking cheap wine may save you a few bucks, but leave you with a pounding headache the following morning. According to Winetubemap, cheaper, mass-produced wines are more likely to use different techniques and products to create the flavour and texture that they want in a wine. This can involve adjusting sugar, acidity, alcohol and tannin levels. Some believe that these processes can also trigger headaches, as well as horrible hangovers.

Drink wine with a lower alcohol content

Some grapes have a naturally higher sugar content than others, which creates wines with higher alcohol content. European versions of popular grapes are often lower in alcohol than their American, Australian or New Zealand counterparts.

Avoid the higher alcohol content wines to avoid the hangover. In this case it pays to check the label on the bottle!

5. Purify your wine

Sulphites and histamines in the wine could be the cause of headaches and hangovers. If you are sensitive to the sulphites in wine, you can remove them with a solution available at most chemists. Such solutions contain proteins that bind to the tannins in wine to precipitate the sulphites out.

Wines that have been aged (in or out of barrels) can contain higher levels of histamines which have been said to be a trigger for migraines, headaches and other effects like hives. Steer clear of older wines and wines that have been stored in barrels. These are traditionally more likely to be red, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Malbec, as well as some whites like Chenin and Chardonnay.

While these tips may help you prevent a headache or hangover from drinking wine, the best way to enjoy wine without the after-effects is still to be sensible and drink in moderation.  

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