Can wine be good for your health?

With the release of a new Wine Diet book and the UK government planning health warnings on labels, Winedrive's 'man in Calais', Guy Boursot, reviews the health enhancing properties of wine...

At the risk of sounding both controversial and politically incorrect, I’d like to ask whether you realised just how much a couple of glasses of wine a day can actually benefit your health? Red or white, it doesn’t matter, the benefits have been proven for all to see.....

Centuries of anecdotal claims are now backed up by an enormous amount of scientific research. It was in the 1990s that researchers examined why the French, who consumed 30% more fat than the Americans, had 40% fewer heart attacks. The results were startling, and have been retested time after time: a moderate intake of wine each day benefits health. Some researchers even suggested that it was safer to drink wine than not.

Red wine was singled out as the most efficient provider of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Powerful antioxidants in the grape skins can lessen blood clotting as well as reduce coronary heart disease and reduce tension, while the proteins are claimed to combat certain cancers such as ovarian cancer. White wine has anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties and can improve blood circulation. It is suggested that heart attacks and osteoporosis in women can be reduced by 25% by one glass of red a day. Wine is also known to stimulate appetite, reduce stress and aid digestion, while some suggest it can combat both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.

But we do need to consider how we are drinking alcohol. In France and Italy, wine is very much a part of daily life and is normally consumed with food, probably calling up Saint Paul’s reputed words of wisdom; ‘A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine’. But it is advisable to drink no more than two glasses per day on a regular basis or problems such as psychological and liver damage could result.

As with so many things in life, the simpler ingredients can provide the maximum pleasure and benefit. I always advocate choosing ‘hand-crafted’ wines in preference to brands produced in industrial quantities. They need not be much more expensive, but they do require you to follow the advice of someone who knows about wine. The supermarket phenomenon over the last 25 years has been useful in introducing wine to a broad customer base, but in terms of the quest for real pleasure, I believe it is necessary to go ‘off-piste’, follow advice and experiment a little.

Our Man in Calais - Guy Boursot is an accomplished wine writer and speaker who has worked in the industry for more than 30 years. An Englishman with French ancestry, his family has been making wine in the Côte de Nuits of Burgundy since the 16th century. He is a past chairman of the Champagne Academy, the organisation that represents the generic interests of the Grande Marque Champagne Houses in the UK, is a livery member of both the Worshipful Company of Distillers and the Worshipful Company of Vintners.

When you order wine form our vineyards and have it shipped to Calais, it is Guy who will look after it for you, so you can be sure it is in the most capable hands.