Somebody Please Plant Some Tannat Grapevines!

Scientists discover where the world's healthiest wines are grown

If you are a fan of red wine you might be interested in the fact that certain peculiar facts about the stuff are beginning to emerge:

1. Folks who drink a small to moderate amount of red wine daily live longer, or have reduced rates of heart disease.
2. Folks who live in the Mediterranean countries or in France live longer, or have reduced rates of heart disease.
3. Folks who live in the Mediterranean countries or France drink more red wine than in other parts of the world.

Whoa! Now wait just a cotton-pickin' minute! I may not have been the valedictorian of my class but I think there's a connection here. Now we have a report from a team of intrepid British scientists who were not afraid to ask the question most of us have shied away from, namely, what are they drinking over there?

A new study shows dry red wines high in tannins, such as those made in southwest France and in Italy, have a greater protective effect than less tannic wines produced in other parts of the world. Tannins are compounds extracted from the seeds, skins, and stems of grapes that give red wines their characteristic dry, full taste. As a high-quality red wine ages, its sharpness softens and the flavor becomes more complex.

Before we all jump into the station wagon to hightail it down to the local liquor store a few sobering facts must be put in the record. First of all, here is what the experiment consisted of:

The investigators cultured human blood vessel cells and exposed them to 165 different wines to identify the polyphenols with most potent effects on blood vessels. They found that procyanidins suppress production of a protein called endothelin-1 that constricts blood vessels. High-performance liquid chromatography identified oligomeric procyanidins as the specific phenolic constituent responsible for this effect.

Translation: wines with the highest amount of a certain type of polyphenol called oligomeric procyanidin had the greatest beneficial effect on blood vessels, and these wines, made from the Tannat grape by old-world traditional methods, are produced in Sardinia and southwest France. This leads us to obstacle number one in our quest for eternal life, viz. wines from these areas tend to be expensive. Obstacle number two is that in order to receive the appropriate benefit from procyanidin-rich red wine one must drink a glass or two daily - not just eight glasses on Saturday night.

For more information I highly recommend this interview with Professor Corder, one of the lead authors of the study. Also, for those seekers of immortality that do not enjoy red wine, the Professor states that procyanidins are also found in dark chocolate, apples, and cranberries. I can just see what is going to be on the grocery shelf next year! Thank heavens for scientists who have the courage to lead this type of research!