It’s cold and flu season, and I’ve been hit by the germ wave something fierce. As illness seriously impedes my ability to drink wine, let’s just say I’m not a happy camper about it. But it got me thinking about the old adage of ‘a glass of wine a day’ as being good for one’s health.
So what did I do? After I returned home from the doctor’s office, I let my fingers do the walking – and Googled it. Not surprisingly, there’s a ton of information floating about on the interwebs about booze and germ fighting.  Some wine folks have chimed in on the subject, too. Someone asked our friends at Wine Spectator about the merits of drinking wine while affected by a cold; internet news in the UK is talking wine and cold prevention; a fun site called the New Scientist dishes the dirt on wine’s cold-fighting possibilities as well as busts the myths about colds (some of the reading is rather, um, yucky – proceed with caution).
However, many seem to be using data from research in Spain – a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology;Â that drinking red wine may indeed be beneficial in fighting the germ fight. Good news for us wine lovers. Yet despite my rather regular intake of the good stuff, I still managed to get sick. I blame wine-resistant germs.
Now that I’m learning about the glass-of-wine-a-day theory (or more, depending on how you dice the stats), I’m inclined to get a little more specific – say, which wine. Remember, the study said red wine appeared to have more effect. This means it’s time for a new list: the Top Five Glass-A-Day Red Wines list. There’s no criteria for the list, other than these are some of my favourite reds to be found in the Okanagan. And since it’s my list, makes sense it would be my faves.
The Top Five Glass-A-Day Red Wines List
- Road 13 Vineyards Rockpile
- Meyer Family Vineyards 2008 McLean Pinot Noir
- Inniskillin Okanagan Dark Horse Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon
- Poplar Grove Winery Cabernet Franc
- Twisted Tree Six Vines
Disclaimer: there is no proof that drinking any of these wines will help you reduce your chance of catching a cold. But that’s not the point, is it? Give it a go and see if you manage to keep those germs at bay, because although staying home from work to sleep on the sofa sounds like fun – it’s really not how I like to un*wine*d.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some germ fighting to get back to.
Cheers!
Jeannette
PS: That guy on the intro page for Poplar Grove? It’s John Clerides from Marquis Wine Cellars, sticking his nose in a glass of great BC wine. After 25 years in the wine biz, he knows his stuff. I’ll drink with him again any day.
