Every once in awhile, I get a client who wants to purchase a wine for medicinal or health purposes. “I need something to help me get a good night’s sleep,” says one. “I want to drink wine because it is healthier than the Scotch and bourbon I normally drink,” says another. “Can you help me find something that will turn off my thoughts so I can chill out after work?” asks yet another. Almost always, the person requesting help adopts a serious tone, one that might be used when asking for a remedy from a medical doctor.

​At this point, I visualize myself wearing scrubs, a stethoscope, a lab coat, and comfortable shoes. Recalling my theater days from college, I go deep, utilizing the Stanislavski method of acting. I mirror the client’s serious demeanor.

This a delicate situation because, while I want to deliver on the clients’ requests, I also feel the compelling need to inform them about wine’s role in relation to health and specifically the malady they hope to cure. As Doctor Wine, I simply cannot, in all good consciousness, simply recommend a bottle or two and send my clients on their way. To do anything less than compassionately explain how wine will affect my patients, I mean clients, and what they can expect, is a travesty to my commitment to the Hippocratic oath. Please, on the cellar stage, I am an artist.

Wine and alcohol in general have been appreciated for their medicinal properties since ancient times to cure everything from the plague to the common cold to poisoning and mental disease. Basically, any ailment you can imagine has been addressed by physicians, including Hippocrates, with a wine remedy. Records exist on such medical treatments in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, China and most civilizations. The Romans and Greeks in particular have a long history of appreciating the curative value of wine. Pliny the Elder was a leader in scientific and medical theories until the middle ages. He believed wholeheartedly in wine as medicine and became known for his quotes, “In vino sanitas” (in wine there is health) and, “In vino veritas” (in wine there is truth). While anything in excess can be detrimental to your health, I am not alone in valuing the magic that happens when you uncork a bottle of wine in good company. Wine, like tea and coffee, encourages us to slow down and have a good conversation with family and friends, something I find satisfying if not therapeutic.

Civilizations intent on treatment not only drank wine but also applied it to their wounds. They were on the right track, because wine is antiseptic and antimicrobial, contributing to the healing of wounds. Alcohol is a disinfectant, and the tannins in wine, along with other compounds, actually form an environment that is conducive to healing physical injuries. It is common knowledge that alcohol has been used throughout history as a safe alternative to polluted and infected water. The father of pasteurization, Louis Pasteur, felt that wine was “the most healthful and hygienic of beverages.” Sometimes civilizations added herbs or bitters to wine as they built impressive drinks to combat what ailed them, a tradition that continues to this day in the form of digestifs such as sweet vermouth, an aromatized wine with barks, herbs, spices, flowers and other botanicals. In Medieval Europe, monks provided health care to their communities. Many orders had their own proprietary recipes for wine-based medicine.

In the twentieth century, what is known as the “French paradox” came into vogue, when an article by Professor Serge Renaud revealed that the French, a culture notorious for producing and drinking wine, had a lower rate of coronary heart disease than Americans despite consuming a diet high in fat. While no research has proven that wine is responsible for the French paradox, science is demonstrating that the tannins, antioxidants and flavonoids in wine can contribute to good health, assuming the proper moderation. These nutrients can also be found in berries and grapes in their raw, unprocessed state. As a wine lover, I’m going for the fermented version when dinner hour rolls around.

When my mouth waters for wines with oak characteristics, I might first think of red Bordeaux variety grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Carménère because they are traditionally aged in oak, whether as blends (customary) or single variety offerings (gaining in popularity). In discussing oak aging, we often think of reds first, but whites are also part of the picture.

Just yesterday I ordered a R de Rieussec 2017 Bordeaux that is roughly half Sémillon (a grape that fascinates me) and half Sauvignon Blanc (also fascinating, but for different reasons). This wine is produced as a dry white in a sub-region of Sauterns that neighbors Château d’Yquem, a sweet white wine producer in a league of its own.

If you you appreciate the effects of oak in wine, you are not alone. Many of the world’s fine wines are aged in casks, giving the wines added complexity, richness, flavor and body. Oak imparts wonderful flavor compounds such as vanilla, spices, caramel, and smokiness. The winemakers of Burgundy are known for pioneering techniques to shape the flavors and richness of Chardonnay, including the use of old barrels, in both fermentation and aging. In addition to barrels, both whites and reds can be aged in stainless steel, concrete, amphoras, and other vessels, depending upon the choices of the winemaker. The R de Rieussec was barrel aged, and I can’t wait to receive the delivery at my doorstep in a few days.

Most white wines around the world are fermented in stainless steel tanks, giving the maker control over temperature, oxygen ingress and egress, and other elements of winemaking. Stainless steel tanks are a safe bet for the fermentation of whites. However, some vintners choose to ferment a portion of their white wine in oak barrels, like the making of the wine I just ordered. Twenty percent of the wine is fermented in barrels while the balance is directed to large vats for fermentation. Eventually, the barrel-fermented wine is blended with the batch from the large vats. The winemaker tastes the wine in each barrel to follow its unique characteristics, then decides how much from that barrel will be blended into the whole. This process allows for quite a bit of creativity in the final outcome of the wine. Fermentation in new oak provides expressive flavor and noticeable texture to white wine. If the winemaker ferments in previously used or old, neutral barrels, mostly the texture, rather than the flavor, will be affected.

Red wines require hands-on activities during fermentation to break up the cap of pulp and skins that build up on the surface of the wine. Techniques such as “punching down” ensure that this thick matter is redistributed into the wine so that the color, flavors and tannins will be properly extracted. The intervention that red wine requires makes it practical to use large vessels rather than wine barrels for fermentation. When I ferment wine at home, I gently push down on the pulp and skins and stir them into the wine. This stirring helps to cool the wine when fermentation is intense and the temperatures rises.

Part of my mothering of the wine is to monitor the temperature at least twice daily, and I keep dry ice on hand to cool the wine if necessary. If the fermentation temperature gets too hot, the health of the yeast is at risk and the warmth may attract undesirable organisms. The result can be wine with stewed fruit flavors and muted aromatics . . . wine that is a disappointing shadow of what it could have been. If the fermentation temperature is too low, the yeast can go dormant and stop working. Nobody likes a stuck fermentation. When that happens, you have to figure out how to wake up the yeast so that fermentation can continue until the wine is dry or deal with an end product that is undeveloped and sweeter than planned. Since sweet wines are not as popular in the market as in the past, most makers do everything possible to nurture the yeast throughout fermentation to ensure a dry finish.

During winemaking with grapes, I take sugar readings, taste the wine, examine the skins, seeds, pulp and liquid throughout the fermentation. In this manner, I develop an intimate relationship with the wine, as do many winemakers. Driving the fermentation is my favorite part of homebrewing. Perhaps car lovers feel this love when they take an excursion in a nifty car, especially a stick shift, where you effectively become a part of the machinery that enables the drive.