We drink 95% Reds but have an occasional white wine. Yet even though most of the whites are much lower in alc. content, they seem to go to my head much more quickly and they often make me flushed. I noticed also that I can drink much more red wine than white. With reds, I usually feel fine the next day. Sometimes just a glass of white wine makes me feel hung-over the next morning and I also get dizzy on occasion from a white wine.
Is this all in my head?
It is frustrating for me because I enjoy the taste of many white wines and I would like to try them more often.

I know this probably doesn't help but I have similar problem with Pinot Noir. I can drink anything I want and not be affected (more or less) but if I have one glass of Pinot Noir I wake up with a headache. I finally overcame it by forcing myself to drink more Pinot Noir on a regular basis. No more headaches.

Like I said, probably doesn't help.

I have 2 female friends who are the exact opposite of you, PE.
They can drink white all night, but they say red gives them terrible headaches.

Go figure.

PE???

There have been some studies out that say this is in the persons head...

Are you drinking the whites faster than the reds?

Headaches are all in the head....
LOL

BTW... my head responds equally well (or poorly) to both whites and reds.

ttepper speaks the truth. The only 2 variables in the equation are:
1) amount of alcohol consumed, and
2) speed of consumption (which affects the body's ability to process it).

So if one consumes the same amount of two different wines, each with the same alcohol %, then the speed of consumption would be the only explanation for the different result.

jazin: Try not consuming your whites through a funnel and 3 feet of surgical tubing and see if that solves the problem!

Reds seem to hit Mrs. TJ harder, too, but I believe not so much from a more or less alcohol issue, but that and the combination that she sometimes gets borderline allergic reactions from reds that she does not get from whites. We have not pinned down varietals or regions, but we're working on an hypothesis...

Jimmyv, this is not strictly true. The CO2 in Champagne increases the absorbtion rate of alcohol into the blood stream. So a Champagne at the same Alcohol percentage will actually get you drunker faster. There are probably other interactions like this too with different chemicals in wine, we just don't understand them at this point in time and they probably also vary from person to person.

You are correct re: Champagne. The variables in still wines are so minimal as to make alcohol absorption rates indistinguishable. (It's incredible what crap you can learn from dealing with expert witnesses in dram shop cases.)

TJ,
Could aversion to reds be due to the higher amount of tannic acid in red wine?

I dunno, budman. I think there was an extensive thread here at some point about hystemines (how the heck do you spell it?) that can be triggered by red wine consumption. She gets these attacks sometimes with red wines where she stuffs up sometime after having the wine, but not necessariy while drinking it.

Here is a link to a good article re: Red Wine Headache. The bottom line, according to this article, is: We still don't know the true cause.

Red Wine Headache

Champagne gets it done faster than any other wine, imo.

To definitivly answer winetex's question... I don't know.

If I was jazin I'd be getting a complex right about now. Called PE and WineTex all in the same thread.

All of our ladies are wonderful! I know first hand Winetex and PE. Someday I'll get to share some wine with you too Jazin. Better sooner than later

Winetex is coming to Santa Barbara. And PE, you are a maybe? Wouldn't it be great if we could get Purple, Lilac, Lafon, MMM, (who have I left out?) to come to Santa Barbara too. You all should try and get a ladies offline happening.

Practice. Practice. Practice!

See WiML's response regarding how he conquered the Pinot headache problem. I think he took care of that on one rainy night in Dallas. Right Joe?