[muawiyah]

We tried it once but everybody turned red and they were walking around the dining room bent over throwing up and wretching.

It was just horrible.

I suspect we are not Italian but I don't know for sure. Anyone have an idea?

[rahbert]

perhaps the wine was past its ‘enjoy responsibly by’ date?

[decimon]

We tried it once but everybody turned red and they were walking around the dining room bent over throwing up and wretching.

Everybody? You mean the children? Barring some allergic reaction, this makes no sense.

[allmendream]

Asian?

[Polynikes]

“We tried it once but everybody turned red and they were walking around the dining room bent over throwing up and wretching.

It was just horrible.

I suspect we are not Italian but I don't know for sure. Anyone have an idea?”

Sounds like little or no enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase being produced. It converts acetaldehyde to acetate.

It results from genetic condition among some ethnic groups such as Asian or Native Americans.
http://www.indiana.edu/~rcapub/v17n3/p18.html

[neverdem]

We tried it once but everybody turned red and they were walking around the dining room bent over throwing up and wretching.

It was just horrible.

I suspect we are not Italian but I don't know for sure. Anyone have an idea?

Turning red is called flushing. That with vomiting and nausea sounds like an "antabuse reaction," when some folks drink ethanol even though they have not taken any antabuse.

The first metabolite of ethanol is acetaldehyde which is toxic above a certain concentration. The enzyme needed to metabolize acetaldehyde is called aldehyde dehydrogenase. Some folks inherit slow versions of aldehyde dehydrogenase. It's more common in folks whose ancestors come from the Far East. These slow versions of aldehyde dehydrogenase allow acetaldehyde build up to toxic levels more quickly.

There are more links here about it, if you're interested.

Familial drinking in Italy: Harmful or protective factors?