Why Pinot Noir may be the best wine for your health
Above: Pinot Noir ready to be harvested at Butterworth Estate’s Julicher Vineyard, 2021.
Red wine has been touted as good for one's health because of its anti-oxidant properties making it better for heart and blood flow. How much better than a pill or specific red variety - I don’t know.
After my father had his third heart challenge - and several stents later - he was strongly advised to avoid white wine and just stick with red. That was only if he chose to drink. Low or non-alcohol based wine can deliver the same anti-oxidant properties as a wine with alcohol. That means the red matter has the magic.
The key ingredient or compound that makes all this happy heart action take place is called resveratrol, and it's well known as a powerful antioxidant. Fortunately, it can be taken in pill or it can be enjoyed whilst imbibing in a glass of pinot noir. My preference is the latter.
Pinot Noir is a natural match to many dishes, from char-grilled red meats to pasta, practically all vegan and vegetarian dishes, and weightier fish like salmon and tuna. It’s not good friends with heat spices such as chilli or ginger, but can be great mates with fragrant herbs like thyme and rosemary.
The article below by Joseph Micallef (Joseph V Micallef) explains in detail the perceptions, benefits and some scientific hard evidence about the health benefits of red wine and in particular, Pinot Noir.
The benefits of drinking red wine have long been debated. Numerous studies have suggested that there is a link between moderate red wine consumption and heart health, but the issue has yet to be definitively settled.
According to the Mayo Clinic: Red wine, in moderation, has long been thought of as heart healthy. The alcohol and certain substances in red wine called antioxidants may help prevent coronary artery disease, the condition that leads to heart attacks. Any links between red wine and fewer heart attacks, (however) aren't completely understood.
The health benefits associated with drinking red wines are mainly associated with a powerful antioxidant called resveratrol. The Mayo Clinic has suggested that:
Resveratrol might help prevent damage to blood vessels, reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol) and prevent blood clots.
According to Jim Bernau, the president of Willamette Valley Vineyards, one of Oregon’s leading Pinot Noir producers, cool climate Pinot Noir, especially whole cluster fermented wines, are more likely to deliver high levels of resveratrol than other varietal red wines. Bernau notes that resveratrol is a fungicide, “a polyphenolic compound – an antimicrobial deterrent and repellant” that is naturally produced by grape plants to protect grapes from molds. It’s found in the skin of the grapes.
Red grape varieties grown in cool regions that are prone to high levels of humidity during harvest time, and more prone to mold damage, will produce higher levels of resveratrol than red grapes grown in drier regions.
Thin skinned grapes are even more vulnerable to being attacked by molds, so those varieties of grapes, he believes, also tend to produce even higher levels of resveratrol. According to Bernau, “local climatic conditions post veraison, regardless of where the thin-skinned grapes are grown, is the determining factor.”
There are many thin-skinned red grape varietals. Sangiovese, Tuscany’s main grape varietal, is famously thin skinned, although Sangiovese Grosso, the Sangiovese clone used to make Brunello di Montalcino, is much thicker skinned.
In addition to Pinot Noir, other thin skinned red grape varietals include Grenache, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Nebbiolo and Gamay. Grenache and Merlot are typically grown in drier, Mediterranean like climates, Bordeaux being something of an exception, and are less prone to mold outbreaks.
Cabernet Franc, Gamay and Nebbiolo can thrive in cooler climates in regions that can be prone to rainy weather during harvest season. They are good candidates to produce resveratrol rich wines.
Pinot Noir, however, is usually the northernmost planted red grape varietal, and typically reaches its most complex expression when grown in cool climates. Combined with its notoriously thin skins makes it the ideal candidate for producing wines with elevated levels of resveratrol.
That’s why Bernau, believes “the defense response is greatest in the Pinot Noir variety” He notes, however, that the impact of grape varieties on resveratrol levels needs more extensive study.
Resveratrol is a powerful antioxidant. That means it will combine readily with oxygen. In the body antioxidants inhibit oxidation, hence the name, by combining and neutralizing potentially damaging oxidizing agents.
To maximize the level of resveratrol in a wine, Bernau argues, “it’s necessary to minimize the wine’s contact with oxygen.”
As a general rule, winemakers want to limit oxygen contact with grapes, especially the grape must during fermentation.
Whole cluster Pinot noir grapes being emptied from a fermentation tank prior to being crushed.
Oxygen combines with phenolic compounds in wine or fermenting grape must and causes them to oxidize, resulting in a loss of fruity flavors and diminishing aroma. Oxidation can also lead to browning in a wine and the creation of aldehydic, nut like, flavors.
Oxidation is an inevitable consequence of aging wines. That’s why older wines tend to lose the purple and crimson coloration of their youth and become browner, more brick like in color, and often exhibit less intense fruit aromas and flavors. Presumably that means that older wines are likely to contain less resveratrol.
Whole cluster fermentation, a popular technique among Pinot Noir producers and the signature style of Beaujolais, is especially suited, Bernau believes, for maximizing resveratrol levels in wine.
Grapes that are vinified as whole clusters are not destemmed or crushed prior to vinification. Instead, they are placed as whole bunches in a fermenter. Typically, the grapes at the bottom of the fermenter are split open by the weight of the grapes on top of them, and some juice is released, but the majority of the grapes remain whole.
Once the fermenter is filled, carbon dioxide is pumped into the tank to flush out any oxygen; creating an anaerobic environment. The technique is called carbonic maceration. In this wine making process most of the actual fermentation occurs within the grape itself, thus limiting even more the fermenting grape juice’s exposure to oxygen. After the fermentation is over, the grapes are gently crushed to release the juice.
Carbonic maceration is used to produce light bodied, fresh and fruit forward red and rosé wines. One of the characteristics of such wines is that they have a distinctive bubble gum flavor note. If you detect a bubble gum flavor in a wine, then the odds are that at least a portion of that wine was produced using carbonic maceration.
Since contact with oxygen reduces resveratrol levels, Bernau believes that you should not decant a wine if you are looking to preserve the resveratrol level.
He also notes that there is no relationship between a wine’s appearance and the level of resveratrol it contains. Since resveratrol is found in the skins of grapes, extended contact should theoretically increase resveratrol levels.
Deeply hued wines, presumably an indication of extended skin contact, do not, however, necessarily have higher resveratrol levels argues Bernau, “the issue is extraction at lower levels of oxygen … that’s why clusters fermented whole result in more resveratrol content than those macerated through punch downs or pump overs.”
There are still a lot of questions about resveratrol that remain to be answered. Its health benefits have not been definitively settled. How to maximize resveratrol levels in wine production, the impact of vineyard management techniques, the effect of different grape varietals, the consequences of different closures during bottling, all await further study.
For now, however, if you are looking to maximize the health benefits of drinking red wine, reaching for a bottle of whole cluster fermented, cool-climate Pinot Noir, like the kind produced in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, would be a good place to start!
If you’ve read through this article and agree with the ideas presented, then finding a good Willamette Pinot Noir in Aotearoa is going to be challenging. Have no fear though – we make fantastic pinot noir wine in New Zealand. Please have a look through my recently tasted to find some exceptional wines to try.