The Herbal Medicine-Maker's Handbook_ A Home Manual - James Green [94]
THE UNIQUE RELATIONSHIP OF WINE WITH THE HUMAN BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT
It would be a sober error to conclude that a given quantity of wine is equivalent to an equal quantity of water containing a like percentage of distilled grain alcohol. The peculiar effects of a true wine depend upon its ethereal and saline elements, such as its volatile oils, sugar, or acids, which modify materially those effects that would be produced by its alcohol alone. The grape-derived, naturally occurring accessory components of pure wine help the body metabolize and eliminate the wine’s alcohol more gracefully, excreting it more benignly. Whereas purified alcohol is blunt in its nature, seeming to bump and bruise the organs and the brain as it transits through the body. Understand, of course, that any alcoholic liquid, be it grain alcohol or fine wine taken in excess on a regular basis, may bump, bruise, and break livers, careers, and families.
In various circles, discussion swings back and forth on the benefits and evils of imbibing alcohol of any nature. Traditionally it was believed that the physiological actions of wine on the human experience afforded many benefits. It was held that genuine unadulterated wine is essentially a stimulant of the nervous and circulatory systems, but its mode of stimulation is quite unlike that of other alcohol. In moderate proportions, wine increases activity and freedom of action, quickens and brightens the intellect and imagination, warms the feelings, invigorates the digestive powers, and it diffuses a cordial satisfaction throughout the whole being. No wonder Bacchus has always been humanity’s most favored god.
In contrast, the action of distilled alcohol tends to benumb the faculties even while stimulating them, so that subjectively and objectively they seem to be struggling under a brute force; the exhilaration they produce is usually fierce and maudlin and they often leave in their wake a dull and torpid feeling. Quality wine, when taken in excess (which occasionally happens), affects the body less harshly (though harshly none the less) than distilled alcohol; the latter leads to complications with the liver, heart, and kidneys, while the former engenders gout, gravel, and nervous affections.
Wine, especially when used medicinally, needs to be of premium quality, and fortunately the California wine industry (and I assume other regions of the U.S.) is providing some excellent quality beverage and vinum menstrua for our humble domestic use.
During convalescence from fatigue or disease, wine taken in moderation with food is uplifting and can be an agreeable aid to recovery. It can also be of significant assistance in chronic conditions which waste the strength by profuse discharges, or by pain, or by inducing an anemic condition. In all of these cases, red wine seems to be more helpful than white. Sparkling wines have been used to help allay seasickness and other motion sickness.
The primary properties of pure wine are stimulant and antispasmodic. In convalescence from prolonged fever and the sinking of one’s vitality, wine is potentially one of the finest remedies. In some convulsive and spasmodic conditions, wine, liberally imbibed, can be quite useful. There is evidence that one glass of red wine a day is beneficial.
THE NATURE AND VARIETY OF WINE
Wine is characterized as a spirituous liquid, the result of the fermentation of grape juice (the fruit of numerous varieties of Vitis vinifera), containing natural coloring matter and other substances, either combined or intimately blended with the spirit. All wine’s other qualities vary with the nature of each particular wine.
The “spirit,” the intoxicating ingredient in all wine, is alcohol; hence their relative strength depends upon the quantity of this substance entering into their composition. Wine’s other ingredients, aside from water