Can wine ever be good for you?

When it comes to falling for the seductive self-delusion that tells us it’s possible to have our cake and eat it, wine drinkers have been second only to Brexiters. Not that you can blame us. The idea that wine is not a vice but a kind of hedonistic medicine has been hardwired in the culture since the emergence of the French paradox in the 1980s, which was widely presented in the press as a doctor’s free pass for gourmandising.

A French diet that was high in cheese, red meat and, crucially, daily draughts of red wine was, in the more sensationalised and optimistic accounts, not merely claimed to be safe; some argued it might be healthier than the abstinent alternative.

In the decades since, the idea that moderate wine consumption could be good for you has hardened into something like received wisdom. As the British Medical Journal put it, in summing up one of the largest studies of its kind by the department of public health and primary care at Cambridge University in 2017, involving almost two million British adults: “Four decades of epidemiological studies” have “largely agreed” that moderate drinkers experience “lower rates of essentially every meaningful cardiovascular outcome except hemorrhagic stroke” than those who don’t drink at all.

The idea of wine as panacea is nonetheless hard to sustain. Conclusions are frustratingly tentative; details remain plausibly contested and contradicted. Meanwhile, the counter-arguments stack up. As well as the long-acknowledged dangers of alcohol abuse – from cirrhosis to the hell of addiction – public health professionals all over the world have started to emphasise the links between cancer and even the most meagre of moderate alcohol consumption, culminating in last year’s headline-grabbing claim that a bottle of wine a week has the same impact on our lifetime risk of cancer as five cigarettes a week for men, or 10 for women.

Should that spell the end of the wine drinker’s state of exception on matters of health? That rather depends on how broadly you define health. For me, and millions of others, wine’s pleasures – social, cultural, intellectual – are hugely beneficial to our mental wellbeing. I’m all for respecting wine’s risks. But, as we pass another dry January, let’s not completely discard its rewards.

Six drinks for January

Ode d’Aydie Madiran
France 2016 (£11.50, thewinesociety.com)
When the idea of the French paradox emerged, the duck-fat heavy cuisine and red wines of south-west France, rich in the micronutrients known as polyphenols, were central to the story. Science may have moved on, but this robust, tannic tannat still provides a psychologically cheering bear hug of a deep dark red.

Marks & Spencer Classics Carmenère
Rapel Valley, Chile 2019 (£8, M&S)
Scientists at Glasgow University in the 1990s singled out Chilean reds as the richest in potentially heart-healthy flavanols. Again, research into the subject is ongoing, but this is a hearteningly currant-scented, great value red, with a lovely cedary streak.

JJ Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett
Mosel, Germany 2018 (£19.68, justerinis.com)
For those looking to lower their alcohol intake without cutting out wine entirely, the delicate spidery verve of Germany’s kabinett riesling is one of the few styles to offer an abv below 10% (9% here) without sacrificing style, elegant complexity or pleasure.

Saracco Moscato d’Asti
Italy 2020 (£14.95, thewhiskyexchange.com; agwines.co.uk)
Another low-alcohol staple that offers far more flavour than its abv suggests, Moscato d’Asti clocks in at around 5%, but fills the glass with fluffy textured sweet peach, blossom and muscat grape and, in the best examples, such as Saracco, an easy breezy freshness.

Lucky Saint Unfiltered Low Alcohol Lager (£1.80, 33cl, Sainsbury’s)
Wine hasn’t managed the art of no-alcohol – for that you really have to turn to beer, with Lucky Saint being this correspondent’s go-to brew in periods of abstinence for its convincingly mouth-filling texture, its refreshing citrus notes and savoury depths.

Vichy Catalan Sparkling Mineral Water (£2.20, lasdelicias.co.uk)
Very much an acquired taste, this intensely flavoured Spanish mineral water is a brilliantly gastronomic alternative to wine at the dinner table when alcohol is off the menu, offering a hit of salty minerals that is savoury where so many soft drinks are sweet.