Wine Preservatives

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 777
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:02 am
Location: Mumbai, India
Thanked: 117 times
Followed by:47 members

Wine Preservatives

by komal » Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:43 pm
Many people suffer an allergic reaction to certain sulfites, including those that are commonly added to wine as Preservatives. However, since there are several winemakers who add sulfites to none of the wines they produce, people who would like to drink wine but are allergic to sulfites can drink wines produced by these winemakers without risking an allergic reaction to sulfites.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

(A) These winemakers have been able to duplicate the preservative effect produced by adding sulfites by means that do not involve adding any potentially allergenic substances to their wine.

(8) Not all forms of sulfite are equally likely to produce the allergic reaction.

(e) Wine is the only beverage to which sulfites are commonly added.

(D) Apart from sulfites, there are no substances commonly present in wine that give rise to an allergic reaction.

(E) Sulfites are not naturally present in the wines produced by these winemakers in amounts large enough to produce an allergic reaction in someone who drinks these wines.

OA E
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1578
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 8:02 am
Thanked: 128 times
Followed by:34 members
GMAT Score:760

by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Tue Feb 09, 2010 8:01 pm
A- This is incorrect because this deals with a premise that is not vital to the argument. An assumption is something that must be true in order for the argument to be be valid. If this answer choice turned out to be false, the conclusion about people who are allergic to sulfites still being able to drink wine produced by winemakers who don't put sulfites in their wines would still be valid

B- This is irrelevant. The degree to which a sulfite would illicit an allergic reaction has no bearing on the affects that the wine without added sulfite would have on those that are allergic.

C- This is irrelevant, the stimulus never discusses other beverages

D- It does not matter if there are other substances that would illicit an allergic reaction, the argument is only concerned with allergies that result from sulfites

E- Correct
https://www.beatthegmat.com/the-retake-o ... 51414.html

Brandon Dorsey
GMAT Instructor
Veritas Prep

Buy any Veritas Prep book(s) and receive access to 5 Practice Cats for free! Learn More.