When you think of a bottle of red wine you often think of Christmas or wintertime.  Great with cooked meats and comfort food it is often not seen as a wine for the summer.

However when you think about the places that produce red wines they are mainly places which have a lot of sunshine over the summer months.  The people who live in these regions drink red wine all year round – so perhaps it is time to look at red wine through different eyes and think about how it can work as a summer drink.

The most obvious place for red wine is the barbecue.  A proliferation of grilled meats make red wine the obvious choice when choosing you barbecue drinks.  Just one thing to remember – if you are choosing highly flavoured and marinated meats than you need to ensure that the wine you are putting with you food is also strong flavoured.  Look for wines produced by nations who know how to barbecue and eat a lot of highly flavoured meat.  Australian Shiraz, Chilean cabernet Sauvignon or Argentinean wines will all work well.

But also red wine can be chilled.  Yes you can break the tradition of having red wine at room temperature and chill it before it is drunk.  This works best with lighter red wines – a merlot will never be good chilled because its rich flavour needs to be a bit warmed up to taste it at its best.  However there are wines that taste great chilled and this article will try and give you a few ideas as to which ones taste better for it.

One thing to note is that as you chill red wine, especially those that have aged in wood, it loses its fruity taste and the tannins get stronger, so it is best to look for wines with little or no wood aging.

In addition, they should be as young as possible and low in alcohol.  The best ones to chill need to be less than twelve percent.  Which means that you will have to search around a bit to find them.  In general the wines that come from slightly cooler climates tend to be better chilled.  Look for grape varieties such as Pinot Noir, Grenache and Beaujolais.  Beaujolais is an ideal variety for chilling – it is usually served a little cool so why not go that bit further and leave it a good while in the fridge.

So why not surprise you friends this summer and serve a barbecue with a glass of cold red wine – you never know you could start a trend.

Unless you’re a wine aficionado, you may only have a vague idea of the differences between white, red, and rosé wine.  While it’s true that all three do share some characteristics, it’s also true that there are some very large differences between the three, and it doesn’t all have to do with taste, though that is one of the biggest differences.  Some people may wonder why it matters to know the difference between the three.  Choosing the wrong wine to go with a meal, especially in a social setting, can be a major faux pas in some social circles.

All wines are made from grapes, and this is where the differences between the different types of wines begin.  There are actually six different types of wines: white, red, rosé, sparkling, dessert, and fortified wines.  However, white, red, and rosé wines are the most popular.  One of the sparkling wine, especially champagne, is also fairly popular, especially at events like weddings.

White wines have very little pigmentation, and almost all white wines are made from white grapes.  However, black grapes can also be used because their juices are actually clear.  The grape skin is removed before the wine is fermented.  White wines vary in taste—some are quite dry, while others are fairly sweet.  There are a number of popular white wines, including Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, and Gewurztraminer.  White wines work well with pork, fish, and chicken, among other things.

Wine makers use black grapes to make red wine, as well, but unlike White Wine, red wine has a red or sometimes even a blue colour to it.  This colour comes from the grape skins, which are kept with the juice during the fermentation process.  These skins include tannins, a polyphenol that causes a dry feeling in the throat and mouth.  These tannins also make red wine last longer, so it can be aged longer than white wine.  Red wines include Zinfandel, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon.  Red wine is perfect for red meat, pasta, and grilled food of all types.

Some people have never heard of rosé wines.  This is because they are sometimes called pink wines or blush wines.  They are also made from black grapes, but unlike red wines, the skins are removed after a few hours.  This gives the wine a slight pink colour and a bit of that dry taste caused by tannins, but not as much as red wine.  Rosé wines are usually pretty sweet, although traditional rosé wine from Europe is some of the driest wine available.  Rosé wines include White Merlot and White Zinfandel.

Finally, champagne is a type of sparkling wine that is usually drunk on New Year’s Eve and at major events.  Technically, a sparkling wine can only be called champagne if it is made from grapes from the Champagne region of France.  The major difference between champagne and other wines is that champagne contains carbon dioxide.  This is what gives champagne and other sparkling wines their bubbles.

If you’re into anti-aging skin care, then perhaps you need to ask: Can drinking red wine really make you look younger? There are some ingredients in red wine which are derived from the red grape pip and skin that would suggest so. Let’s take a closer look at the properties of red wine and whether its consumption will benefit skin care and your anti-aging regimen.

Many people only concentrate on the outside to look younger e.g.  Face creams, ointments, non-surgical facelift techniques etc, but the battle to look younger often is fought from within as well as without. In this case we look at the intake of red wine as a natural anti-aging remedy.

In the red wine fermentation process, resveratrol is produced, which has a high concentration of anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants fight free radicals like pollution, sun damage to the skin, and damage to the skin and body caused from smoking etc.

Maybe that’s why in scientific studies conducted between the Americans and the French have concluded that the French are generally far healthier than their American counterparts. While both consume high fat diets, scientists found that French people live longer , have less cancer-related illnesses, heart problems, have longer longevity, and look younger for their age. What is the common denominator that’s consistently present in the French diet, but mostly absent in the American diet? You guessed it: Red wine!

Scientists have discovered that indeed the ingredient resveratrol has anti-aging properties, and can result in humans looking younger than their age with prolonged intake of red wine. Most of the oldest people on earth come from France!

Other than its anti-aging skin care properties, what are some other benefits of consuming red wine on a regular basis?

It controls cholesterol levels as well as blood pressure
It prevents  heart disease
It prevents cancer
It aids overall health and blood circulation
It even fights obesity
It promotes softer skin
It prevents, inter alia, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s.

So does white wine act as a similar anti-aging weapon? Studies prove not. Unfortunately the white grape does not consist of the same anti-aging properties as the red grape, so you will not gain any benefits from drinking white wine from an anti-aging point of view.

Remember, the deeper the RED of the wine, the better.  A chilled sweet or semi-sweet red wine is my preference; a dry red at room temperature could be yours. As long as it’s a deep red, your anti-aging skin care program will be on track!

But beware: drink a maximum of ONE OR TWO WINE glasses of red wine per day. More than that will have the opposite effect on your anti-aging skin care efforts because excessive alcohol damages the skin and has malevolent effects on the liver over time. 

So bottoms up for drinking red wine as an anti-aging medicine! It’s deliciously good and will keep you living longer and looking younger as well as handing you a long line of health benefits, provided it’s consumed in moderate quantities.

There are several different kinds of red wine. Most wines are made from grapes, including syrah, cabernet and zinfandel varieties. If only one variety (merlot, for example) is listed on the label, the wine is varietal and is named after the grape with a capital letter.

Further complicating things, some varieties are known by two different names. This is the case with shiraz or syrah grapes. European wine makers only use the name syrah, but some Australian and American vintners use the name shiraz. Typically, this kind of wine is made in France, California and Australia.

If you aren’t too familiar with red wine, you may want to start off by drinking Merlot. It has a soft flavor that is easy to introduce to people who haven’t had much experience with wine. It pairs with just about any food, and is made along the western coast of America, Chile, Italy and Australia, among others.

Barbera isn’t as popular as Merlot is, but it has many similar attributes. It pairs well with tomato sauces and can match just about any dish. While it has an Italian origin, it’s also widespread in California.

Cabernet sauvignon is generally accepted as one of the best varieties of wine, period. A wine that usually undergoes an oak treatment, it’s best when paired with simply prepared red meat. Sometimes, Cabernet sauvignon has a slight vanilla flavor to it, though it comes from the oat treatment and not the fruit itself.

Pinot noir grapes are extremely difficult to grow, but the wine tastes so good it’s well worth the effort. Fantastic with chicken, salmon and lamb, the wine is made in France, California, New Zealand and Austria.

Of all of the reds, Zinfandel wine is the most versatile. Zinfandel wine can be a rich and heavy red wine or it can be a light and fruity blush wine. Found only in California, it has a zesty flavor with pepper and berry.

Is wine just an alcoholic beverage made by the fermentation of grapes? No, wine is that essential quotient for the perfect evening with loved ones, memorable candlelight dinners, romantic getaways, of poetry and dreams. An engagement ring in a glass of sparkling red wine had sealed many a marriage, with most of the work being done with wine making the drinker pleasantly content with a warm feeling. Knowledge of the aroma and taste of the wine, its background and characteristics and its special traits will go a long way in making a favourable impression last a long, long time.

Red Wine is made almost exclusively from black or dark grapes, the colour coming from the skins, which is crushed together with the grapes to give the distinctive red colour, and stored in wooden casks for the flavour. Classified as a light wine, the red wine is certainly the most popular, with an alcohol content of 10-14%, giving a relaxing, mellow taste without knocking the drinker out. The tannin content in the skin gives the distinctive taste of the wine. Basic knowledge of wines and their flavours is considered a must in social circles nowadays.

The individual wine’s particular red hue depends on the kind of grapes used in the process and the length of time the pigment in the grape skin is in contact with juice. Some vintage wines cost thousands of dollars for a bottle and are a collector’s item, with the term ‘vintage ‘meaning grapes that were grown and bottled in a particular year, and labeled likewise.

Beware of wine and women, runs the old saying and similarly wines are classified by body-type, wines can be light bodied, medium bodied or full bodied… on basis on increasing tannin and alcohol content. Around 50 key red wine varieties that manifest themselves in today’s worldwide wine market consistently, they include the expensive and famous wines like Chianti and Bordeaux, which are names of region, as in the case of European wines which are classified by where the grapes are grown, while the non-European wines are classified by grape type, like Pinot Noir and Merlot.

Serving and drinking red wine is also an art, as is wine tasting and classification. Red wine glasses are bigger in diameter and narrower towards the top. The glass is usually filled one-thirds, leaving room for the wine to be swirled gently in the glass to bring out its fragrance. Red wine tastes best when it is allowed to breathe, too hot a climate can bring out the alcohol flavour, too cold can make them taste bitter. The right temperature for serving the red wine is 60-65 deg Fahrenheit. Some wines like the Chinon are served chilled as they are already highly aromatic.

Chemicals that occur in the wine during the natural fermentation process have many health benefits, including reduced heart disease and cancer protection. The grape seeds and skins also produce antioxidants and studies are still on to research the various benefits of red wine. The French, who are traditional wine drinkers have very low heart disease rate which is attributed to the chemical called procyanidins which do not allow the blood vessels to constrict.

Red wine benefits are numerous and plentiful. Red wine benefits are generally good for you, but it is important to know the specifics of these benefits because you can then employ them to serve your body better. Further research and studies have also shown that the red wine benefits are abundant, however it should also be importantly noted that in order to make use of the benefits red wine provides, a healthy lifestyle must also be maintained in conjunction with drinking red wine.

Although red wine is not considered a cure all and certainly not a replacement for visiting your doctor, you can find some widely agreed upon benefits to drinking red wine. There are a great many benefits that red wine brings, such as its ability to help lower LDL or bad cholesterol with the body ; this is a proven fact. It is commonly said that wine can be good for our health, but it is important to understand what the specifics are of these benefits in order for us to ensure that we make best of them.

One example of this is that not many people are actually aware that this applies only to red wine and that only red wine offers these benefits, because of the certain flavnoids in the red wine that is not available in white wine. This however does not necessarily mean that white wine is completely unhealthy, rather it is the red wine benefits that we particularly look for when looking for benefits from wine. However, it is important to remember that these benefits are based upon moderation rather than heavy or binge drinking.

The red wine you buy does not have to be the expensive ones if your budget doesn’t allow for it as there are a great many bottles of red wine for sale that are nominally priced which will give you options and not necessarily make your move to enjoying the red wine benefits an expensive undertaking, what is critical is that you maintain a good healthy diet along with drinking red wine. When it comes to drinking red wine for its health benefits, Cabernet sauvignon is the clear leader of the flavoid pack. If you want to reap the benefits of something such as wine, then you should also be eating a healthy, well-balanced diet, drinking plenty of water and getting lots of regular exercise.

What are the benefits of drinking red wine:

The anti-aging property function which keeps your arteries healthy and aids in boosting the immune system.

It is well known that red wines are a rich source of flavonoids, especially of flavonols. Plenty of research and studies have shown us that the red wine benefits are plentiful, but it is also important to realize that you have to maintain an otherwise healthy lifestyle at the same time. As a matter of fact, most authorities consider that the red wine benefits are lost if wine is consumed to excess. With all of the recent news on the health benefits of red wine, there is more reason than ever to indulge in a glass each day.

While you sip your favorite red wine imagine all the benefits and then thank your lucky stars. More so if you are member of a wine club. Wine Clubs are a subscriptions in which members receive 2 bottles of wine each month, delivered to your door. Wine clubs are a great way to get to sample different types of wines picked by people who know about quality, vintages and what the labels mean.

Researchers have found that men who drink an average of four to seven glasses of red wine per week are only 52% as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as those who do not drink red wine, reports the June 2007 issue of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. In addition, red wine appears particularly protective against advanced or aggressive cancers.

Researchers in Seattle collected information about many factors that might influence the risk of prostate cancer in men between ages 40 and 64, including alcohol consumption. At first the results for alcohol consumption seemed similar to the findings of many earlier studies: There was no relationship between overall consumption and risk.

But the scientists went one step further by evaluating each type of alcoholic beverage independently. Here the news was surprising-wine drinking was linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer. And when white wine was compared with red, red had the most benefit. Even low amounts seemed to help, and for every additional glass of red wine per week, the relative risk declined by 6%.

Why red wine? Doctors don’t know. But much of the speculation focuses on chemicals-including various flavonoids and resveratrol-missing from other alcoholic beverages. These components have antioxidant properties, and some appear to counterbalance androgens, the male hormones that stimulate the prostate.

Many doctors are reluctant to recommend drinking alcohol for health, fearing that their patients might assume that if a little alcohol is good, a lot might be better. The Harvard Men’s Health Watch notes that men who enjoy alcohol and can drink in moderation and responsibly may benefit from a lower risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and cardiac death.

Q:  Is it true that red wine is good for one’s health?

A: As long as it’s not abused, red wine can, indeed, have a beneficial effect on your health. For a long time researchers were aware of the cardiovascular benefits of the flavonoids contained in red wine. More recently, they’ve discovered two other classes of antioxidants that further contribute to the well being of the drinker. The first, called saponins, act to prevent the absorption of cholesterol in the body while the second, resversatrol, is thought to inhibit tumor development in some cancers.

Flavonoids are antioxidants found in the skin and seeds of red grapes. They are known to reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering the levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the so-called “bad” cholesterol, while boosting levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or “good” cholesterol. There’s also evidence that flavonoids help keep blood vessels dilated and stop red blood cells from clumping together, thus diminishing the risk of heart attack or stroke.

The skin of the red grape is also the source for saponins. This cholesterol inhibitor is also found in soybeans and peas. Its concentration in red wine is 10 times higher than in white wine. Resversatrol also comes from the grape skin. As well as it’s potential benefits for cancer patients, this antioxidant appears to help in the formation of nerve cells, which makes it important in the treatment of such neurological diseases as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. There has also been some publicity to the effect that resversatrol may have an anti-aging effect. This is based on a Harvard study in which the life span of yeast cells was extended by 80 % when resversatrol was added to them. It remains to be seen whether the same benefits will result with human cells.

Another compound found in the skins of red grapes, polyphenol, acts to inhibit the chemicals in the body that make blood vessels constrict. This reduces the fatty streaks in the vessels, making them healthier which, in turn, makes their owner less likely to suffer a heart attack.

However, there is a negative side to counter all of this good news. It appears that just one glass of wine (red or white) per day is enough to increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer by 6%. As a result many health professionals are wary of recommending regular red wine consumption, despite the proven cardiovascular and other benefits. If you do decide to regularly partake for your health’s sake, keep it to around a glass per night.

American scientists and other health experts from around the world are puzzled as they try to discover the “secret” behind the French Paradox. The problem is that the French consume three times as much saturated fat as Americans and one-third less French people die from heart attacks. The French also have much less obesity than America and other Western countries.

The French eat rich foods high in saturated fats, such as cream, butter, pastry and rich cheeses. But they also consume red wine and olive oil. Researchers have found olive oil to be a heart-healthy source of fat. However, the olive oil the French consume does not rule out the high amounts of saturated fats they eat, and therefore does not properly explain the French paradox.

Red wine may be the reason. Some scientists believe the French habit of moderate red wine drinking with a meal is the key to French paradox. Studies show that people who drink red wine regularly have lower rates of cancer, Alzheimers, and heart disease.

Red wine and red grapes contain special flavinoid antioxidants called resveratrol, that can offset some of the effects of gluttony, say researchers at Harvard Medical School. Resveratrol is shown to help lower glucose levels, help your liver, and promote health benefits to the heart and blood vessels.

Red grapes are one of the richest sources of resveratrol flavonoids, which is why red wine is more heart-healthy than white wine, beer, or other spirits.

Resveratrol is known for its ability to protect plants from bacteria and fungi, and researchers are now finding out that it helps us by preventing the negative effects of high-calorie diets, and it has anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer potential.

Researchers are finding that antioxidants seem to trigger receptors in your upper intestine that tell your brain you’re full, researcers are finding. Lab animals fed the extracts also decreased their food intake by about 8%. This could explain why Resveratrol- a powerful antioxidant- seems to produce a weight loss effect that many people’s experience when they use it.

One recent study showed that resveratrol reverses the coronary and obesity effects of a diet high in fat and calories in mice. When large doses of resveratrol was given to lab mice, the mice ran twice as far on a treadmill than they had previously and also had a reduced heart rate. The mice also lived longer than mice who had not received the resveratrol.

The findings led to a marked increase in red wine sales in the United States despite the fact that the amount of resveratrol is very small in most red wines in the United States, because of the way that most grapes are grown and processed for wine.

If you are ready to add these beneficial nutrients to your diet, it’s important that you find a source that is powerful, natural and bio-available (easily absorbed and used by your body).

I found a great whole food supplement that includes these ingredients. It is called Genesis™ from Symmetry Direct. Each single ounce of Genesis™ is guaranteed to contain the health benefits of resveratrol equivalent to one whole bottle of red wine, plus the hydroxylated polyphenols found in one fresh pomegranate.

Is red wine beneficial for health or a potent poison? In the old times Plato said that “nothing more excellent or valuable than wine was ever granted by the Gods to man.” Nowadays research suggests that a glass of red wine each day may be providing you with more than just a little relaxation.

The French seem to know something about the health benefits of red wine considering that studies that compared French and German red wines, revealed that the French red wines delivered a greater health benefit due to their higher level of antioxidants. Experts believe that red wine contains certain compounds that help protect the heart. This has opened the door for other researchers to study the components in red wine that may be responsible for its health benefits.

In the last 10 years, thousands of research on red wine showed that moderate intake of this drink improves cardiovascular health. The cardio protective effect has been attributed to antioxidants present in the skin and seeds of red grapes.

Based on the research experts advise that the antioxidants, called flavonoids, reduce the risk of coronary heart disease in three ways: by reducing production of low density lipoprotein (the “bad” cholesterol), by boosting high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the good cholesterol) and by reducing blood clotting.

Furthermore researchers have found that moderate red wine consumption may be beneficial to more than just your heart. One study found that the antioxidant resveratrol, which is prevalent in the skin of red grapes, may inhibit tumour development in some cancers. Another study indicated that resveratrol aided in the formation of nerve cells, which experts believe may be helpful in the treatment of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

The most recent studies on red wine presented at the American Association for Dental Research (AADR) annual meeting, in Orlando, Florida by the Canadians show that Red wine polyphenols may help fight gum disease. V. Houde, M. Boisvert and their colleagues from University Laval in Canada investigated the role of polyphenols, including those from red wine, in scavenging free radicals released by immune cells stimulated with components of bacteria causing periodontal diseases. Free radicals are believed to be at least partly responsible for the development of gum disease and are generated by immune cells during periodontitis. In order to have healthy gums it is important to that free radicals are maintained at low levels. Their results indicated that red wine polyphenols significantly modulate several inflammatory components released by macrophages (a population of host immune cells) in response to bacterial stimuli.

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