Wines That Keep You in Good Health
December 6, 2006 – 12:38 pmAdam sent me a link last week to a story discussing where the world’s healthiest wines are grown. And by “the world’s healthiest wines”, they don’t mean the wines themselves are in good health (as I first thought). They mean the wines that supposedly best keep you in good health. Where are such wines produced? Good question:
The artery-clogging effects of a fatty Christmas dinner can best be counteracted by washing it down with a red from south west France or Sardinia, new research has suggested.
Specifically, the article mentions “[w]ines from Nuoro province in Sardinia, and the Gers departement in the foothills of the Pyrenees”. According to this Wikipedia article, Sardinia “is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (Sicily is the largest), between Italy, Spain and Tunisia, south of Corsica. It is an Italian region with a special autonomous statute”. I found a map of Sardinia, and you can see Nuoro just northeast of the geographical center of the island.
Nuoro the city is the capital of the province of the same name. From what I’ve read, it is the culture and historical center of Sardinia, and the province is blanketed in forests and hills, which combined with the climate makes for a nice terroir for wine-making. Based on some online searching, it looks like Nuoro is the most highly recommended travel destination for those wishing to visit Sardinia.
The second region the article isolates is the Gers departement in France. As you can see from the map in the Wikipedia article, Gers is near the southwest corner of France, which makes sense given that it’s “in the foothills of the Pyrenees”. According to this site, approximately 20,000 hectares of land (nearly 50,000 acres) is dedicated to wine-making in Gers.
I’m pretty sure I’ve never had a wine from either of these regions. Maybe I’ll remedy that in the near future.
One Response to “Wines That Keep You in Good Health”
The most popular producer from Sardinia is Argiolas. They make lighter unoaked white wines from the native Vermentino grape, as well as nicely structured food-friendly red wines based on Cannonau (Greanche). Argiolas is widely distributed so you shouldn’t have too many problems finding it.
The Gers department is noted for their production of Armagnac (a Cognac-like distilled spirit) and luxurious goose liver foie gois. I don’t ever recall coming across a Vin de Pays from Gers/Armagnac, but Colombard–one of their native white wine grapes–used to be the most planted variety in California and the main component for Gallo jug plonk years ago.
By Josh on Dec 21, 2006