It starts with the selection process down in the wine cellar and continues with the opening of the bottle, inspection of the Orrefors wine glass and the sound of the splashing of the wine as it stains the bowl red with the handicrafts of a distant winemaker. The excitement of the first smell and taste is like the door of the Boeing 747 opening up at Kai Tak Airport in the old days of Hong Kong – not the stench but the anticipation that something special is about to happen.
Swirl the glass and breath in the aromas; enzymes and hormones are flooding my body, eyes dilating, taste buds watering and it takes restraint to not rush in for the first taste. As the wine slides over the lip of the glass, past my teeth and floods my tongue with the first shocking flavours of the wine my mind has already been prepared for the effects the wine is to have on my body. Fruits, flavours, memories of people, meals and winery visits swirl around as fast as the wine still swishing around the glass. A good wine, great wine, matching the food or did I open the bottle too early or late in its development? I am transformed, transferred even to another state of mind, another place perhaps as I remember where I first tasted or purchased the wine. The day at work is behind me, the world’s wars, famines and financial worries a twilight zone away. I close my eyes, let the second gulp caress my senses again as an affirmation or reassessment of the first impression. Gee this is a great wine!
So this is my hobby and it makes me feel bloody good! I feel relaxed, less stressed and there are lots of anti-oxidants now running around in my blood like little Pacmen shooting all the bad things that try and make me feel unwell. Red wine combined with a healthy low fat low sugar diet with regular exercise is a lifestyle one should be proud of and the authorities encouraging.
I drink a glass of red wine a day, pretty much every day and the last time I had a day off work sick was 2004 (pppp). There is always an open bottle in the fridge ready to satisfy my daily dose of healthy invigorating nectar of the gods.
If you read any media that is not Swedish you will find an encyclopeadia full of articles on the health benefits of wine. Not surprisingly the Systembolaget website lists none of them. Goes against their bag of shame marketing philosophy. So I am going to help my Swedish friends to start summarising many of the medical studies that prove the health benefits of drinking a glass or two or wine a day.
Now you will be able to shed the shame, proudly pour the red wine and turn off the TV while you chat to your partner in your new health regime of one (you gotta stop at one or two glasses though, more than that can be harmful) glass a day.
There is even a regular email you can get from Wine Spectator Magazine giving you updates on wine health news:
http://www.winespectator.com/Newsletters/0,4665,,00.html
I will use this and other sources to give you the good news on your healthy hobby!
see the link up to the right titled Healthy Drinking Updates for regular medical research updates!
To your health!
Mark
