Sunday, January 13, 2008

Scales of Justice not tipped in favor of French Wine!

Just when the EU wine reforms have come to a tentative agreement allowing the French wine industry
to concentrate on winning back some market share from foreign competitors, a French court has dealt the industry another blow. As reported by Decanter, newspaper articles on wine will be subject to the same guidelines as alcohol advertising. C'est très tragique. Where will this madness end? Winery web pages must also carry a warning. Will French wine bloggers be targeted next?
We all know by now that drinking wine is good for your health. A study published in the European Heart Journal seems to agree. This is not just another "wine is good for your health" claim. This study took place over a twenty year span. Read the entire report. The last line in the report states "Thus, both physical activity and alcohol intake are important
to lower the risk of fatal IHD and all-cause mortality." Sounds to me like a pretty strong endorsement for a glass or two of wine. Would a French newspaper dare to print that without running the risk of ending up in court? Have the scales of French justice tipped too far? For the rest of us, here is a suggestion.
Park your car a good distance from your usual wine shop, walk to it and purchase your wine, walk back to your car and go home to enjoy a glass or two. If its a particularly good wine and you want to get a case of it, that will mean a lot walking back and forth to fill that case. But with all that exercising you will live longer and as a bonus you will reduce CO2 emissions as well.
Dare I say "à votre santé"?




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