hip hip rosé
It’s not just red wine that’s healthy. A glass of the pink stuff also keeps the doctor away
W E’VE all happily heard about the health benefits of red wine. A recent study by the Annals of Internal Medicine found that a nightly glass can increase levels of good HDL cholesterol and help lower blood pressure, decrease blood-sugar levels and fight belly fat. But with warmer weather finally arriving, who wants to sip a hearty glass of Chianti or cabernet?
Thankfully, the good news isn’t limited to red wines. The main health-boosting ingredient in vino is resveratrol, an antioxidant found in much higher concentration in red wine grapes than white. Handily, rosés are made with red wine grapes, giving them health benefits that their colorless counterparts lack.
“In moderation, rosé can be a great drink for your health,” Dr. Johanna Contreras, a cardiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital on the Upper East Side, tells The Post. “I recommend a glass a day for women and two glasses a day for men ... It’s better than white wine because it has more anti-oxidants like resveratrol.” But not all rosés are created equally. “Definitely look for rosé wines with a darker shade,” says Maggie Moon, a Los Angelesbased dietitian and author of the forthcoming “The MIND Diet” (due in November from Ulysses Press). “They have more antioxidants.”
That’s because the antioxidants in wine come from the grapes’ skins. The darker a wine’s color, the longer amount of time the grape juice (and future wine) stays in contact with the skins in the booze-making process. White wines have no skin contact time, rosés typically have two to 20 hours, and red wines have a month or two.
Many traditional rosés produced in Southern France have little skin contact and a light hue. To get the most anti-oxidants, opt for cherry-tinted rosés, which
“In moderation, rosé can be a great drink for your health.” — Dr. Johanna Contreras, Mount Sinai Hospital
often come from Italy and Spain. Darker rosé wines also have more anthocyanins, colorants in red grapes associated with protection against coronary heart disease, according to a study by the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. To get the most out of your vino, drink fresh. Younger wines, whether red or rosé, have more health benefits. “[Wines] start out with an extremely high concentration of resveratrol, [and the levels ] deteriorate with time,” says Nick Mautone, the managing director at the Rainbow Room and Bar SixtyFive. And while many reds tend to require some aging to drink their best, few of their pink counterparts do. “Younger rosés are fresher, more vibrant and pack more anti-oxidants in their youth,” says Mautone.
If you’re looking to cut down on calories, avoid wines that are high in residual sugars. “A good way to avoid residual sugars in rosé is to look at its alcohol content,” says Diane McMartin, author of “This Calls for a Drink!” (Workman; out June 14). “If a bottle has more than 10 percent alcohol, it more likely means that the grapes spent a longer time in the fermentation process, which means there [are] less leftover sugars.”
For the most wholesome sip, also look for wines that are produced organically, naturally or biodynamically.
“A bottle of nonorganic wine contains more than 200 additives,” says wine expert Alice Feiring, author of three books, most recently “For the Love of Wine: My Odyssey through the World’s Most Ancient Wine Culture” (Potomac Books; out now). “If you’re drinking all those harmful chemicals, you’re canceling any health benefits you can get from a glass of wine.”