Why Most Wine Gives You Hangovers — And Why This One Doesn’t
Most wine in America hides up to 75 legal additives — none of which ever show up on the label. But one winemaker is proving hangovers are optional.
Hey Rebels,
What if the hangover you blame on “too much wine” has nothing to do with the alcohol — and everything to do with what winemakers aren’t required to tell you?
During our most recent farm tour, we sat down with a small, regenerative-minded winemaker who dropped a truth bomb that stopped us cold:
“Hangovers are optional. If you drink my wine — no matter how much — you’ll wake up tired, maybe. But not wrecked.”
What followed was one of the clearest explanations we’ve ever heard of why modern wine feels so much worse than it should… and why old-world, natural, low-intervention wine is an entirely different experience.
This is the story the alcohol industry doesn’t want you to know.
The Hangover Lie: What’s Really In Your Wine
Most people assume they feel like trash after wine because of alcohol or sulfites.
Nope.
Here’s the real problem:
The U.S. legally allows 75 different additives in wine — none of which have to be disclosed.
Not on the label. Not anywhere.
All you’ll ever see is the tiny sentence:
“Contains sulfites.”
That same wording appears whether a winemaker uses a tiny, natural amount or loads the wine with preservatives
There is no transparency, no ingredient list, no accountability. It’s a black box.
And inside that black box?
– Coloring agents
– Chemical stabilizers
– Industrial preservatives
– Flavor “correctors”
– Laboratory yeast strains
– Mega Purple (yes, that’s real)
You have no clue which combination you’re reacting to.
And neither does the winemaker unless you ask them directly.
The Alternative: Wine Made the Way It Was for Thousands of Years
“French and Italian producers are still making wine like their ancestors. That’s why I drink almost exclusively European wine unless I know who made it.”
When wine is made the way humans made it for millennia (just grapes, natural fermentation, a touch of sulfur, oak, and time) everything changes.
Our winemaker breaks it down simply:
What he adds to his wine:
Grapes
A small amount of sulfur (naturally occurring anyway)
Oak
What he doesn’t add:
Everything else. No stabilizers, no coloring agents, no chemistry experiments, no industrial shortcuts.
The result? A wine that elevates a meal or a moment — without destroying the day after.
“Hangovers Are Optional.”
This line honestly floored us.
Because it challenges an assumption almost everyone holds:
Alcohol = next-day misery.
But according to him, that’s not true at all.
He explained that when he drinks his own wine:
He wakes up tired from staying up late
But not sick
Not headachy
Not debilitated
Not losing an entire day to recovery
Meanwhile, if he drinks industrial wine, tequila, or beer?
“I lose the entire next day.”
That difference is not subtle. It’s not imagined.
It’s the clearest proof that the problem isn’t you, it’s what the alcohol industry is slipping into the bottle.
Why Natural Wine Rebuilds Community
This part hit the heart of our mission.
We talked about how food and community are inseparable — how our disconnection from real food has fractured our social bonds. And wine, when done right, becomes a tool for reconnection.
“I’m a proponent of drinking to enhance life’s beautiful moments — a meal, a conversation, a night with friends — without sacrificing the next day.”
That’s regeneration. That’s culture. That’s what alcohol used to be.
And the feedback he gets? Skepticism at first. Shock next. Then…
“I felt amazing the next day. I need more.”
Because when you drink something made with actual intention (not additives) you feel the difference immediately.
Wine becomes an agricultural product again. An art form. A sense of place. Not a chemical formula in a bottle.
What We Took-away…
Most wine hurts not because of the alcohol — but because the industry hides dozens of additives behind a one-sentence label.
Natural, low-intervention wine — especially from small producers or traditional regions — is the closest thing to what humans have enjoyed for thousands of years.
And the experience is night and day.
This isn’t about drinking more.
It’s about drinking better.
Drinking honestly.
Drinking like a human being, not a product test subject.
Thank you for reading, Viva La Regenaissance!
-Ryan Griggs, Owner/Founder
Watch the Full Farm Tour
Why Most Wine Gives You Hangovers — And This One Doesn’t with Peony Lane Wine