Organic Wines

Dear Veronique,
I am 41 years old and a Breast Cancer Survivor this past year.
As I had a lot of time on my hands during chemo last year, I read several books. Everyone of them had a paragraph on sugar, a paragraph on animal fat, a paragraph on antibiotics....but 2 pages on Alcohol. I was disappointed, as my husband and I truly love to share our day over a glass of wine in the evening and an occasional bottle of champagne over the weekends. I am looking further into these accusations to see if I can put to rest some of the hype. Can you help me understand "Organic Wine" as compared to non organic wine. Can you give me any information from your winemaker that may help me understand with millions of women around the world that think they can no longer enjoy a glass of wine?
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Dear friend,
I understand your concern given your personal background! I have been reading the same information that you probably have. Nowadays we are inundated with studies which try to draw helpful conclusions and they are all fascinating however I deplore the use of the term "risk" in these presentations where all they found was a correlation between alcohol intake and cancer, but did not talk about all the other factors that may be involved! To make it a cause/effect relationship seems exaggerated. I am always doubtful of studies that overtime tend to be contradicted by new studies. However it is quite probable that the intake of ethyl alcohol has negative effects on your health just like many other components of wine are found to have a positive effect. Everything is always a matter of balance and moderation. Also it is important to come to terms with the fact that living is essentially dying slowly and that the present obsession with avoiding any kind of stress/poison/pollution is utterly ridiculous in view of all the things that can befall on us on a daily basis. How much of life do we have to do without to make it “safe” enough for our comfort and what kind of fun would you have living that life? I think the sickness comes from this attempt to control each and every aspect of our environment which is a never ending and probably lost battle. Lest you want to live in fear it is better to listen to your body wisdom and go for the feel good sensation provided you have enough clarity to understand what well being and balance mean for you.

That said, there is no reason to believe that the alcohol in organic wines is any different in its effects than the one in conventional wines. (until new studies prove that!). However several things could mitigate these effects: organic wine is a much more complete, balanced and therefore digestible product. The energetic signature of organic/biodynamic wines is incomparably stronger and healthier than conventional wines. The elements present in them certainly contribute to the best possible assimilation/elimination of undesirable components. Secondly, the absence of residues of any sort may also make a difference. In the studies there is no reference to organic wines versus conventional (that would stir serious controversy) and therefore who knows what is the incidence of the presence of pesticides which are a known cancer factor. This is the kind of subtlety that goes unnoticed in such studies. Alcohol is the big red flag but it may be all the things that come with it which are the real culprit.

To illustrate my point look at the tobacco statistics. There is a confusion between cigarette smoking and tobacco. If you were growing your own tobacco leaves, drying them and smoking them you would probably never get a cancer. But in a cigarette you are smoking a plant that has been treated with 40 different chemicals to grow it, protect it, dry it, color it, save it, flavor it etc, etc… plus the same thing on the paper itself! Therefore you are smoking a cocktail of chemicals where tobacco itself may play a secondary role. The industrial aspect of the tobacco business has made smoking indeed dangerous. It may well be the same for wine.

Another factor to consider is that organic wines in general and French ones in particular have a lower level of alcohol. Again there is more balance in the fruit leading to a more balanced end product. (and no acceptable way to correct artificially one aspect or the other). Since the risk is linked to the quantity absorbed it makes sense to look for wines around 12.5%, to drink it with food so that the alcohol is better digested, to eat enzymes which are sorely missing in our diet (Wobenzyme being one of the best).

Finally read Hulda Clark’s book “the Cure and Prevention of All Cancers” to understand what cancer really is and take the appropriate measures to protect yourself.

And I hope you won’t let anyone and particularly statistics prevent you from enjoying the simple pleasures of life that make it worth living!D

Dr Mic