Red wine and hearth health? The very title sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? To the untrained eye, it certainly does, but to those that have been paying attention, it comes as no surprise at all. Years ago, scientists studying the French Paradox- the phenomenon by which people in France, despite eating a lot of cheesy, fatty foods, have a very low rate of heart disease-discovered an antioxidant present in red wine called resveratrol. So basically, French people are self-medicating when they drink a little red wine with their meals every day. Who knew?

A red wine charm can mean any number of things, but to most it is either a small charm like you would put on a charm bracelet (shaped like a glass of red wine, naturally), a small ring with a plastic bauble on it that you put around the stem of your red wine glass, or a fancy tassel that you can put around a bottle of red wine to liven up its appearance a bit. No matter what sort of red wine charm you’re talking about, there’s a reason to have one!

The type of red wine bottles vineyards use for their reds is heavily steeped in tradition. It is based on the type of red wine they are making and their winery’s history. No matter what kind of red you are dealing with, there’s something classical about fine glass red wine bottles. Red wine bottles take a lot more time and skill to create than any other beverage you can think of, and every bottle has a history all its own. Wines are never bottled away from the vineyard in which they were created, so every time you imbibe it you are touching the vineyard from which it was created.

Sometime in the 90s, the “French Paradox” was discovered. This term essentially centered around the phenomenon of French folks, who despite eating a lot of cheese and similarly fatty foods, had a very low instance of heart disease. How was this possible? The secret was in the red wine just about every French person drinks every day. It may seem hard to fathom, but there actually are red wine benefits when you have just a littel every day.

The Red Red Wine song was a tune originally written and recorded by Neil Diamond back in the 60s. Like so many other songs penned or recorded by Neil Diamond, “Red Red Wine” was soon covered by other artists. The Red Red Wine song was several other artists, but years later in the 80s it was most famously covered by the British reggae group UB40.

Red Mountain wine is wine from the American Viticultural Area surrounding Red Mountain in Benton County, Washington. It is a small area at only 4,040 acres, of which only 600 acres are cultivated. The area has a great terroir due to the fact that it receives more sunlight than most of the area around during the day, yet enjoys cool nighttime temperatures. It is a truly great place to grow wine and a wonderful find in the northern state of Washington!

By now, many people out there have come to accept that a little bit of wine doesn’t hurt – in fact; it really is good for you! There are a few holdouts, but recent research has backed up the idea that wine contains valuable antioxidants that prevent heart disease and help extend life. Even newer research has come to light that shows a connection between red wine and weight loss.
The connection between red wine and weight loss stems from the antioxidant resveratrol. Resveratrol is the ingredient in red win thought to help ward off heart disease and cancer. It is thought to be so effective, in fact, that it has been made into supplements that people all around the world are taking every day to boost their health and extend their life.
So here’s how the connection between red wine and weight loss works: exposure to resveratrol in the laboratory prevented pre-adipocytes (pre-fat cells) from increasing and converting into mature fat cells. These tests were initially conducted on mice fed a high-calorie diet to induce obesity. At the same time, they were fed resveratrol – and it actually helped stave off the obesity! Later, the test was run on human pre-fat cells in a Petri dish. One group was exposed to resveratrol and a control group was not. Normally, human pre-fat cells double in about forty hours. At around forty-eight hours, this occurred in the control dish. The cells in the resveratrol-exposed dish, however, had decreased by a whopping 40-45%.
This all sounds good, but the real red wine and weight loss connection lies in our genes. Resveratrol reacts with SIRT1, a gene associated with aging and metabolism. Studies have found that when you “silence” this gene in the lab, exposure to resveratrol has no effect – so the connection is pretty clear.
Even if you aren’t a big wine drinker, the connection between red wine and weight loss doesn’t have to have no effect on your ability to lose weight. There are supplements out there that are pure resveratrol and let you get the benefits of this antioxidant without having to drink red wine. Take a quick look around online or at your local fitness store and you should be able to find it. As with all things, however, make sure you do a bit of research first and find the supplement that others have found to work the best. Word of mouth is usually the best advocate for a product you will ever find.
All in all, the red wine and weight loss connection is one that more and more doctors and scientists are coming to believe in, but there are still more studies to be held. A lot of the holdout on this idea stems from the idea that alcohol is just bad for you all around, but each generation of doctors and scientists brings with it more fresh ideas such as this one that allows us to use the natural things around us to better our lives.

In the 1990s, a phenomenon called the “French Paradox” was discovered by researchers and the health care community was turned on its collective ear. The paradox is this: the French, who are infamous throughout the world for their consumption of fatty foods (such as cheese), are blessed with a very low incidence of heart issues. How is this so? It’s in the red wine they drink on a daily basis. Since the study that revealed that fact went public, many, if not most, in the health care community have embraced the benefits of the daily drinking of red wine.

Most wine connoisseurs will tell you that red wine is the cream of the crop. Red wines are velvety and rich, often dry, appeal to a more cultured palate, and pair wonderfully with food. Not that white wines don’t have their place, but red wines tend to take longer to get into and appeal to someone with a more mature taste in wine. Let’s have a look and see what the different types of red wine are all about and how they pair up with various foods!

No one knows how the first batch of wine was made, but most historians agree that it originally had something to do with the preservation process, not the fact that it contains alcohol and alcohol has a particular affect on human anatomy. Down through the centuries, people have studied wine and come to have a greater understanding of the fermentation process and how it works. Red Star is one of the companies out there that has perfected the process, making a great wine yeast that winemakers the world over use every day.