Guest Column - a la carte by Diva Wine-Know

Top 10 Reasons to NOT Give up Wine for the New Year
by Jennifer Scarborough, owner, The Wine Cellar, Vestavia Hills

Every January we see a trend in the Wine Biz. May it be everyone is receiving their credit card balances in the mail or people are trying to dry out after the holidays we cannot say. But one thing is for sure…people for the most part stop buying wine! So let me see if I can help you decide what to kick & what to keep for your New Year’s Resolution or Resolutions.

1. Drinking Red Wine with fried foods may counter act the effect of the fat attack. Studies find that people who drink wine daily have lower body mass than those who indulge occasionally; moderate wine drinkers have narrower waists and less abdominal fat than people who drink liquor. That right there is a 2-for-1 on your resolutions!
2. Cancer runs in your family? Resveratrol (antioxidant) helps prevent cancer by limiting tumor growth. Red wine is high in flavonoids (a type of polyphenol), which are antioxidants. One of the most studied antioxidants is resveratrol, which comes from grape skins and seeds. Antioxidants help prevent certain molecules, known as free radicals, from damaging cells.
3. Wine drinkers less likely to get common cold. An investigation revealed that men and women who drank more than 14 glasses of wine each week had a 40% reduction in colds compared with people who drank no alcohol. The association was stronger for red wine and the same findings were not true for people consuming other alcoholic beverages, the report indicates. On average, the men had 1.1 colds per person per year in that time, while women averaged 1.7 colds per person per year. Bottoms up!
4. Wine is expensive & you are cutting down on your spending this year. So not true, at The Wine Cellar we have wines to fit everyone’s budget & a monthly Newsletter with discounts. Also if you buy in bulk you save an additional 5 to 10% on the already marked down items.
5. Too many calories in alcoholic beverages. It is all about portion control & moderation…Red wine 3.5oz - 74 calories… White wine 3.5oz - 70 calories.
6. Forgetful? Wine could preserve your memory. When researchers gave memory quizzes to women in their 70s, those who drank one glass of wine or more every day scored much better than those who drank less or not at all.
7. Just breathe… 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. Men won’t need another reason…
8. Have a Uterus? Australian researchers recently compared women with ovarian cancer and cancer-free women; they found that roughly one glass of wine a day seemed to reduce the risk of the disease by as much as 50 percent. Think Prince will sing a song about that?
9. Would you rather eat spinach once daily or drink a glass of wine? On average, women who drink moderately seem to have higher bone mass than abstainers. Alcohol appears to boost estrogen levels; the hormone seems to slow the body’s destruction of old bone more than it slows the production of new bone.
10. Well I believe we covered everything but the most important part…Wine is Delicious! How could you live without it?

Pair it with a meal, loved one, or a night alone nothing makes you feel as Fine as Wine!

Cheers!

Jennifer Scarborough - Wine Know