The new movie "Julia and Julia" which highlights the life of Julia Child, reminds me of what an incredible contribution to food and wine that she made. In an interview with the Wine Spectator, she once said "Life is too short to drink bad wine." She famously ended each of her cooking shows with a cheerful "bon appetit" taost holding a glass of wine, at a time when wine with meals was not part of the American lifestyle. In my book Age Gets Better with Wine I have a chapter called Wine is a Food, which I belive to be absolutely true. It is a healthful, nutritious part of a meal, and better for you that most of what passes for food these days. So item #74 in our list of 101 healthy reasons to drink wine: Wine is a Food.
Who doesn’t
know someone who swears they can drink wines when they are in Europe but has a
reaction to wine back home? Theories abound as to why this occurs, but none of
them completely explains the problem. Suspect sulfites? Maybe, but that is almost
certainly not the issue for most. Pesticides possibly? A tasting room server
pressed that idea on me recently, claiming that American winemakers use more of
them and they accumulate in our fat tissue over our lifetime, increasing our
sensitivity to them. But evidence suggests otherwise, at least as far as
pesticide use is concerned. Is it lower alcohol content? There is a persuasive
case to be made for that, but as European winemakers chase higher scores, the
alcohol content increases there too. Each of these premises may apply to some
degree, but I have another idea to toss into the mix: I think that when we are
in Europe, we drink differently. We are probably on vacation, and we are more
relaxed. We are more likely to drink in a tradit…
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