The Wine Diet
Worth £3,000 ($5,791/€4,454), the Geoffrey Roberts Award is a travel bursary given each year to someone who can show that their travels are likely to make a positive difference to the worlds of food, drink and/or travel. Apply by 30 March, if you think you've got what it takes to win this year's Award.
Back in 2002, cardiovascular expert Roger Corder was given the bursary to study the wine-drinking centenarians of Sardinia. The result is The Wine Diet. His recommendation of up to three 125ml glasses per day for men (half a bottle) and two glasses for women is generous, to say the least. And what about water, which many health fanatics want us to drink all day because otherwise we're going to be dehydrated? Corder says that "…drinking too much water makes you pee away all your water-soluble vitamins. You have to get the balance right."
Red wine, very tannic, is what Corder recommends. For most of us that means Cabernet Sauvignon. It delivers those all-important procyanidins. Because wine grown at higher levels often contains more procyanidins, it pays to pay attention to the location of the winery. Best of all, though, is Sardinian Madiran, made from the Tannat grape. This has the highest procyanidin content of any wine in the world. "Madiran is great, and so is the Tannat grape," says jamie goode's wine blog. Goode is rather critical, however, of the Les Producteurs Plaimont and what they're doing to market Madiran. A good selection of Madiran is offered by vivinum.co.uk. Try a glass today. It's, well, an epiphany.
