Is wine really good for you, or is all this hoopla just some overblown fable based on a handful of flimsy facts, an excuse to get homeopaths slurping shiraz? Let's examine the facts. Wine does contain vitamins and minerals. It certainly stimulates the appetite and soothes nerves. Doctors claim it aids the digestion process. And it is a natural product, made mostly of grapes. So far, so good.
While medical journals have advised that those who imbibe a few glasses of red a day suffer fewer heart attacks than non-drinkers, it does not necessarily follow that the more you drink, the less likely you are to have a heart attack.
Moderation is the key. Wine drinking is meant to be a pleasurable experience, an enjoyment of aroma, taste and flavour; wine is not meant to be binged on or taken as a drug. If it has medicinal properties, so much the better.
I am mad about Thomas Jefferson, a forward-thinking, outspoken fellow who loved life and appreciated his fermented grape juice, especially when produced by the French.
So it does not surprise me that he came to its rescue when he said: 'I think it is a great error to consider a heavy tax on wine as a tax on luxury. On the contrary, it is a tax on the health of all our citizens.' I did a little delving on my own, and he was not kidding. A 1995 study conducted by the World Health Organisation and Harvard University produced a recommended healthy diet that included two to three glasses of wine a day.
Other 'ingredients' of this healthy lifestyle were a sound basis of carbohydrates, plenty of fruit and vegetables, and of extra-virgin olive oil - with eggs, meat and sweets advised just a few times a month. Daily physical activity was a must.
While the French are plagued with high cholesterol, excess body fat, hypertension and liver ailments, they also have one of the lowest of all death rates arising from heart conditions. Why? Possibly it is because they have the highest rate of wine consumption. Further research reveals that wine (in moderation, remember) actually increases the amount of good cholesterol, reduces inflammation from arthritis and lowers stress.
It seems this special property in wine is found in very small amounts in only one other source - peanuts.
Now, I ask you, which would you rather partake of on a daily basis - a kilogram of peanuts, or two to three glasses of wine?