Big Red

Every now and then, very rarely, we encounter a story that is simply all good news. Such was this bit from yesterday’s New York Times, reporting on a paper that is supposed to be online in Nature (but I couldn’t find it just now). The online headline — “Study Spurs Hope of Finding Way to Increase Human Life” — lacks the critical piece of information that readers of the paper newspaper were treated to in the sub-headline: “Chemical Found in Wine May Hold the Key.”

Not just wine — red wine. The chemical, resveratrol, is found in higher quantities in pinot noir than in cabernet sauvignon (Burgundy devotees can rejoice), and grapes grown in more “difficult” circumstances — colder, more trying climates — seem to have more of it than grapes that had an easier time of it.

This news, of course, fits in with other research on the so-called “French Paradox” (low rates of coronary heart disease in European and Mediterranean cultures whose cuisine isn’t necessarily low fat or low cholesterol). It is also simply cause for celebration for those of us who like our glass or two of wine with dinner. In vino, veritas — and extra years, too.