Paula’s Wines of the Week starting 12th January 2015

Regular alcohol intake, of the moderate sort, improves the quality of life in middle-aged adults declares the latest research findings investigating the link between alcohol consumption and health.

Canadians aged over-50 were the subjects of this particular wine-is-good-for-you-study with many showing both ‘stable patterns of alcohol consumption’ and high scores on the Health Utilities Index: it seems if you want good memory, dexterity and mobility then drink a couple of glasses of wine every day.

But you’ll be doing that already won’t you? Because you’ll just be following the advice of all those other wine research boffins who found if you want to lower your risk of a heart attack then drink red wine (and the more mouth-dryingly tannic the better were the findings).

And if you want something to eat then make sure it’s dark chocolate – this helps improve memory just like all that red wine, oh and tea too by the way.

The news gets even better if you’re a woman because those glasses of red will keep you slim as you get older (in that particular study 40% of the alcohol abstainers became over-weight or obese).

It seems the women in the study who scoffed wine had little room left for scoffing food, so their overall calorie intake did not go up very much.

Unfortunately the scientists believe the findings may not apply to men. When men drink they tend not to substitute wine for food but consume both.

PG Wine Reviews

Cuvée Pêcheur 2013, Vin de France

£4.99 Waitrose

A dry and lemony white. Quaffable as long as you like your wine dry.

Cuvée Chaseur 2013, Vin de France

£4.99 Waitrose

Meaty red. Good value.

Tesco Finest Sicilian Frappato 2013