HIGH AND HEALTHY

Published: 23 July, 2008

Wines grown at high altitude are the best at preventing heart disease, according to Professor Roger Corder, this year's winner of the Geoffrey Roberts Award. The award, a travel bursary given annually to a food and/or drink related project, enabled Corder to study the wines drunk in Sardinia's hilly Nuoro region, where a cluster of centenarians live. This followed his previous work which showed a link between red wine and the prevention of heart disease. Speaking during a presentation entitled Do high-altitude vineyards hold the key to a longer life?' Corder said the wines found in Sardinia were more effective at preventing vascular problems associated with heart disease than almost any others he had tested. It seems wines that grow at higher altitude get a higher amount of UV light, which then stimulates polyphenol synthesis, the most likely source of wine's health-giving properties. Those interested in next year's bursary should visit www.jancisrobinson.com

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