Wine from the Foutain of Youth
By David Orange
Is there such a thing Can certain wines have far more health benefits than others Scientific evidence says, Yes!
In the late 1990’s, I spent a week filming in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the small island of Elba—where Napoleon had once been exiled. The TV commercial for European television was about three deep-sea divers (me one of them) searching the waters for a huge, relic church bell stolen from its tower during a war a century before.
After locating it on the sea bottom and restoring it to its lofty spot atop the church, we became heroes to the villagers. All of the films gadgetry and equipment drew a crowd of onlookers. I became particularly intrigued by a spirited group of men coming off a boat that had just docked. By the way the men moved, I assumed that they were in their 50’s or 60’s. Was I ever wrong!
A local informed me that they were from the highland region of Nuoro, in Sardinia, a larger island about a hundred miles west at sea where it nearly touched another island, French Corsica.
These vibrant-looking men, who came off the mountain once a year to visit friends in Elba, were much older than they appeared. The youngest of the dozen was 91 years old! Several had reached the centenarian mark, the eldest at 103! As the day’s filming concluded, we were given a wrap party with some locals. With my curiosity over these Methuselah-like people peeked, I begged off from the party to learn more about them. Though these highlanders spoke with a native dialect, with the help of a translator and some bottles of wine, our communication gap narrowed until disappearing altogether.As did our wine!
These people weren’t retired, for working was as natural abreathing. They were shepherds and farmers of vegetables and vines. Though their faces showed normal age lines, the suppleness of their bodies had them moving like people half their age. Hearing them describe their Nuoro region enraptured me. The area is packed with caves and large flocks of sheep that feed on wild herbs. Their high altitude lifestyle isn’t for the faint-hearted. In summers, heat can be blistering, and the winter winds are said to be the most vicious in all the Mediterranean.
Their towns are gracefully perched on the slopes of steep hills. Surrounding them are the highest mountains of Sardinia, their presence having a hold over the people and their towns. The summers are long with little rain. The high, sunny hills have perfect exposure to the sun.
Amazed by their extraordinary appearance, humorously I asked what it was in their regimen that kept them so healthy. Was it due to working out in health clubs. They looked at me as if I was from another planet. None of them ever experienced a lifestyle other than what they knew.The secrets to their longevity varied:
1. An agrarian lifestyle with low stress levels of outdoor habits.
2. The clean air of high altitude living.
3. Movement—“rest turns to rust”
4. They eat bundles of fresh produce and everything they ingest is the very definition of organic—from their produce to their free-range meats. And every meal is doused with copious amounts of olive oil and washed down with lots of red wine.A junior member of their bunch, Michele, at 93, was spry and animated.
He, like these other highlander men exhibited a strong streak of coscienzioita—a deep, devotional sense of duty to those around them—and a sense of humor as dry as their wine. In a strong voice laced with a chuckle, he revealed their longevity secret. “It’s our wines whose grapes are planted so high. They are blessed by Heaven!”
The true love of their wines didn’t seem to hurt them in the least. It gave me further proof that perhaps wine could be added to the formula of healthy eating and exercise. I’d heard about the so-called French Paradox theory in 1991 on the TV news magazine show, 60 Minutes.
The French consume fatty foods considered threatening to the heart but they live as long as anyone else. Americans were three times as likely to die of a heart attack as a Frenchman. Studies have proven that the healthy French heart was due to a connection in wine, mainly red; with chemical antioxidants called polyphenols.
When this most interesting evening came to an end, the men gave me a parting salute in their native dialect, “A Kent’ Annos!” It translates to “May you live to be 100!”Several years have gone by but I’ve often thought about these Sardinian’s mystifying longevity. In search of wisdom, I began to study all things old.
The Bible was one of them. Like far more ancient civil and religious texts, it is replete with references to the healing properties of wine and its positive place in spiritual life and practices. The ancients seemed to know that drinking wine in moderation was an aid to health. They therefore encouraged, even celebrated,its use as a daily beverage.
Fast forwarding to modern times, since the French Paradox revelation there has been 300-plus scientific studies extolling the health benefits of red wine.When I came upon a groundbreaking survey in the prestigious journal publication Nature, it had those Sardinian old timers making crystal clear sense to me.
A professor named Roger Corder, head of the department of Experimental Therapeutics at the William Harvey Research Institute in London, wondered if wines from “high altitudes” were better at preventing heart attacks. He and other scientists believe that polyphenols in red wine seeds and skins hold the key to this phenomenon.
And that high altitude wines are very rich in polyphenols. Why Because UV radiation increases at higher levels and also that harsher climates results in a greater concentration of polyphenols in grapes. It seems that grapes under stress growing in adverse conditions, such as a blistering sun, lack of water, etc. results in increased polyphenols.
When two bottles of cabernet sauvignon wine from Mendoza, Argentina, at 2500-5000 feet elevation were sent to Corder for analysis, a startling revelation was made. They showed it to be 2 to 6 times more potent in polyphenols than a selection of 22 red wines from Australia, Chile, Italy and other major wine producing countries! And soft reds carefully engineered by winemakers to be drunk young were much less effective in general.
But the best from Corder was yet to come.
In July 2002, he spent two weeks tramping around the Sardinian hills and mountains collecting various wines. Corder brought back with him a collection of phials to test in his London lab. It proved that different wines vary enormously in their potential to reduce damage to the linings of arteries, a precursor to the common killer, cardiovascular disease. Certain red wines hold the key for stopping the damage to arteries showing cardiovascular disease.
When Mr. Corder analyzed various Sardinian wines, he came up with another surprising discovery: some of their high altitude wines have a mystery compound that affected a key molecule involved in coronary heart disease called endothelin-1—ET-1. The unknown phenol is responsible for the effect on blood vessels that suppresses ET-1 production and so helps prevent heart disease!
Corder is now trying to isolate the enzyme and find out what it is.“Identifying it may give us some insight into preventing atherosclerosis by other means,” he says. “It could be a target for a new discovery.”No doubt Corder saw some of those same old-age mountain inhabitants in Nuoro that I had.
He and other scientists such as Robert Koenig, who wrote in Science Magazine, that there are three times as many inhabitants, 100 years and older, as there are elsewhere in Western Europe! And the discovery presented undisputable claims of age verification documentation!
Even more unusual, life expectancy in men (traditionally more enthusiastic wine drinkers than women) who reach the age of 85 in this region is greater than their female counterparts.The largest vineyard of these Sardinian high altitude wines are robust ones from Cantina del Mandrolisai. It has a bottle label that reads in their dialect: A Kent’ Annos—May you live to be 100! Familiar words to me.
Did Spanish explorer/dreamer Juan Ponce de Leon have it all wrong when he set sail to the Caribbean and Florida in search of the fabled Fountain of Youth Professor Corder has scheduled his next stop to Madiran, France in the Pyrenees Mountain region (called Midi Pyrenees) wedged between the Bordeaux region and the Pyrenees, with the Atlantic Ocean and Spain to the south. Full bodied reds are the dominant wines, and some of their grape varieties are found nowhere else. In this elevated area are more men above the age of 75 than anywhere else in France!
Corder also plans to visit the Republic of Georgia. In that impenetrable northern part of the Caucasus Mountains there also are an abundance of centenarians who drink their native wine. It wouldn’t surprise me if wines from the Pyrenees and Caucasus Mountains prove to have high vascular protective qualities.
Perhaps while the experts search those areas, I could be off to China trekking its high ground areas like north of Tibet near Kazakhstan, where Silk Road traders brought grape seeds centuries ago. Or perhaps to the nearly 5000 foot Mount Tai Shan, called the cradle of Chinese culture, near the birthplace of Confucius.
He called Tai Shan “the most magnificent spot under heaven.”Until I set off for my fountain of youth expedition, I’ll continue eating right, exercising often and eliminating stress from my life. And with the star of high altitude wines rising, I’ll hop aboard for the ride. These “good heart” wines “blessed by heaven” just may be the perfect invigorating elixir.
If wine is about life and laughter, may you live to be 100…and laugh along the way!
David Orange is a freelance writer, professional actor and president of Wine Emporium Importing Company.
DavidOrange@wineemporiumny.com
After locating it on the sea bottom and restoring it to its lofty spot atop the church, we became heroes to the villagers. All of the films gadgetry and equipment drew a crowd of onlookers. I became particularly intrigued by a spirited group of men coming off a boat that had just docked. By the way the men moved, I assumed that they were in their 50’s or 60’s. Was I ever wrong!
A local informed me that they were from the highland region of Nuoro, in Sardinia, a larger island about a hundred miles west at sea where it nearly touched another island, French Corsica.
These vibrant-looking men, who came off the mountain once a year to visit friends in Elba, were much older than they appeared. The youngest of the dozen was 91 years old! Several had reached the centenarian mark, the eldest at 103! As the day’s filming concluded, we were given a wrap party with some locals. With my curiosity over these Methuselah-like people peeked, I begged off from the party to learn more about them. Though these highlanders spoke with a native dialect, with the help of a translator and some bottles of wine, our communication gap narrowed until disappearing altogether.As did our wine!
These people weren’t retired, for working was as natural abreathing. They were shepherds and farmers of vegetables and vines. Though their faces showed normal age lines, the suppleness of their bodies had them moving like people half their age. Hearing them describe their Nuoro region enraptured me. The area is packed with caves and large flocks of sheep that feed on wild herbs. Their high altitude lifestyle isn’t for the faint-hearted. In summers, heat can be blistering, and the winter winds are said to be the most vicious in all the Mediterranean.
Their towns are gracefully perched on the slopes of steep hills. Surrounding them are the highest mountains of Sardinia, their presence having a hold over the people and their towns. The summers are long with little rain. The high, sunny hills have perfect exposure to the sun.
Amazed by their extraordinary appearance, humorously I asked what it was in their regimen that kept them so healthy. Was it due to working out in health clubs. They looked at me as if I was from another planet. None of them ever experienced a lifestyle other than what they knew.The secrets to their longevity varied:
1. An agrarian lifestyle with low stress levels of outdoor habits.
2. The clean air of high altitude living.
3. Movement—“rest turns to rust”
4. They eat bundles of fresh produce and everything they ingest is the very definition of organic—from their produce to their free-range meats. And every meal is doused with copious amounts of olive oil and washed down with lots of red wine.A junior member of their bunch, Michele, at 93, was spry and animated.
He, like these other highlander men exhibited a strong streak of coscienzioita—a deep, devotional sense of duty to those around them—and a sense of humor as dry as their wine. In a strong voice laced with a chuckle, he revealed their longevity secret. “It’s our wines whose grapes are planted so high. They are blessed by Heaven!”
The true love of their wines didn’t seem to hurt them in the least. It gave me further proof that perhaps wine could be added to the formula of healthy eating and exercise. I’d heard about the so-called French Paradox theory in 1991 on the TV news magazine show, 60 Minutes.
The French consume fatty foods considered threatening to the heart but they live as long as anyone else. Americans were three times as likely to die of a heart attack as a Frenchman. Studies have proven that the healthy French heart was due to a connection in wine, mainly red; with chemical antioxidants called polyphenols.
When this most interesting evening came to an end, the men gave me a parting salute in their native dialect, “A Kent’ Annos!” It translates to “May you live to be 100!”Several years have gone by but I’ve often thought about these Sardinian’s mystifying longevity. In search of wisdom, I began to study all things old.
The Bible was one of them. Like far more ancient civil and religious texts, it is replete with references to the healing properties of wine and its positive place in spiritual life and practices. The ancients seemed to know that drinking wine in moderation was an aid to health. They therefore encouraged, even celebrated,its use as a daily beverage.
Fast forwarding to modern times, since the French Paradox revelation there has been 300-plus scientific studies extolling the health benefits of red wine.When I came upon a groundbreaking survey in the prestigious journal publication Nature, it had those Sardinian old timers making crystal clear sense to me.
A professor named Roger Corder, head of the department of Experimental Therapeutics at the William Harvey Research Institute in London, wondered if wines from “high altitudes” were better at preventing heart attacks. He and other scientists believe that polyphenols in red wine seeds and skins hold the key to this phenomenon.
And that high altitude wines are very rich in polyphenols. Why Because UV radiation increases at higher levels and also that harsher climates results in a greater concentration of polyphenols in grapes. It seems that grapes under stress growing in adverse conditions, such as a blistering sun, lack of water, etc. results in increased polyphenols.
When two bottles of cabernet sauvignon wine from Mendoza, Argentina, at 2500-5000 feet elevation were sent to Corder for analysis, a startling revelation was made. They showed it to be 2 to 6 times more potent in polyphenols than a selection of 22 red wines from Australia, Chile, Italy and other major wine producing countries! And soft reds carefully engineered by winemakers to be drunk young were much less effective in general.
But the best from Corder was yet to come.
In July 2002, he spent two weeks tramping around the Sardinian hills and mountains collecting various wines. Corder brought back with him a collection of phials to test in his London lab. It proved that different wines vary enormously in their potential to reduce damage to the linings of arteries, a precursor to the common killer, cardiovascular disease. Certain red wines hold the key for stopping the damage to arteries showing cardiovascular disease.
When Mr. Corder analyzed various Sardinian wines, he came up with another surprising discovery: some of their high altitude wines have a mystery compound that affected a key molecule involved in coronary heart disease called endothelin-1—ET-1. The unknown phenol is responsible for the effect on blood vessels that suppresses ET-1 production and so helps prevent heart disease!
Corder is now trying to isolate the enzyme and find out what it is.“Identifying it may give us some insight into preventing atherosclerosis by other means,” he says. “It could be a target for a new discovery.”No doubt Corder saw some of those same old-age mountain inhabitants in Nuoro that I had.
He and other scientists such as Robert Koenig, who wrote in Science Magazine, that there are three times as many inhabitants, 100 years and older, as there are elsewhere in Western Europe! And the discovery presented undisputable claims of age verification documentation!
Even more unusual, life expectancy in men (traditionally more enthusiastic wine drinkers than women) who reach the age of 85 in this region is greater than their female counterparts.The largest vineyard of these Sardinian high altitude wines are robust ones from Cantina del Mandrolisai. It has a bottle label that reads in their dialect: A Kent’ Annos—May you live to be 100! Familiar words to me.
Did Spanish explorer/dreamer Juan Ponce de Leon have it all wrong when he set sail to the Caribbean and Florida in search of the fabled Fountain of Youth Professor Corder has scheduled his next stop to Madiran, France in the Pyrenees Mountain region (called Midi Pyrenees) wedged between the Bordeaux region and the Pyrenees, with the Atlantic Ocean and Spain to the south. Full bodied reds are the dominant wines, and some of their grape varieties are found nowhere else. In this elevated area are more men above the age of 75 than anywhere else in France!
Corder also plans to visit the Republic of Georgia. In that impenetrable northern part of the Caucasus Mountains there also are an abundance of centenarians who drink their native wine. It wouldn’t surprise me if wines from the Pyrenees and Caucasus Mountains prove to have high vascular protective qualities.
Perhaps while the experts search those areas, I could be off to China trekking its high ground areas like north of Tibet near Kazakhstan, where Silk Road traders brought grape seeds centuries ago. Or perhaps to the nearly 5000 foot Mount Tai Shan, called the cradle of Chinese culture, near the birthplace of Confucius.
He called Tai Shan “the most magnificent spot under heaven.”Until I set off for my fountain of youth expedition, I’ll continue eating right, exercising often and eliminating stress from my life. And with the star of high altitude wines rising, I’ll hop aboard for the ride. These “good heart” wines “blessed by heaven” just may be the perfect invigorating elixir.
If wine is about life and laughter, may you live to be 100…and laugh along the way!
David Orange is a freelance writer, professional actor and president of Wine Emporium Importing Company.
DavidOrange@wineemporiumny.com
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