We already know that wine makes us wise (Winecroft insights). More great news – wine also makes you lose weight!
A study from Oregon State University, where they have been looking into which dietary choices we can make to maintain and improve health, found that ellagic acid in wine helps reduce fatty liver (a leading cause of obesity and not being able to lose weight).
Ellagic acid is found in wines that are aged in oak-barrels. That is great news if you are looking to lose weight since most of the fine wines of the world have some degree of aging in oak barrels.
Why is oak so important to winemaking? Before the invention of glass bottles, most wines were stored and sold in wooden barrels. And, while we’ve outgrown the necessity for barrels to store and transport wine, we’ve come to acquire a taste for it. Oak barrels are an integral part of modern winemaking. Oak offers three major contributions to wine:
- It adds flavour compounds–including aromas of vanilla, clove, smoke and coconut.
- It allows the slow ingress of oxygen–a process which makes wine taste smoother and less astringent.
- It provides a suitable environment for certain metabolic reactions to occur (specifically Malolactic Fermentation)–which makes wines taste creamier.
So when you are enjoying a glass of 2016 David Moret Rully or 2016 Bertrand Sourdais Ribera del Duero ‘Antidoto’ from the Winecroft winelist, you can feel smug in the fact that it is contributing to you losing a few pounds!
