Wine

St Paul suggested that wine should be taken in moderation "for the stomach". Now we are learning that it is also good for the heart. The temptation is not to heed the advice of Paul of Tarsus and drink as much as the stomach can take.

On a short holiday abroad I saw the pitiable scene of a man in his forties, under a torrid Mediterranean afternoon sun, sleeping on the pavement, stone drunk. I cannot continue to describe the scene, as he was obviously sweating from the wrong parts. Alcohol can become as addictive as drugs. On the other hand, alcohol from wine and refined spirits are socially accepted.

It was interesting to read that a hospital in Swindon has put heart patients on a wine diet. Two glasses a day for the heart. This is the revised version of St Paul's dictum. It seems that the French were the first to notice the effects of red wine on circulation, and they have a vested interest in wines. But it seems that the discovery was not a promotional gimmick, and studies have been carried out on the good effects of the flavinoids which are found in the skin of the red grapes.

The fruit inside is the same. It is the skin that plays the trick. Red wine, as far as I know, is left to ferment on the red skins for some time, so that the colouring is transferred from the skin to the juice. It is not only the colour but also the good things that go with it. I read somewhere that the benevolent element is tannin, which is exuded by the pips and stalks, which is also found in tea. Let us be honest about it... there is some difference between a cup of tea and a glass of wine.

I relish a good glass of red wine. I know that white wine needs more sophistication to remain stable, and that means that chemicals have to be added, whatever the producers may say and vouch for. White wine makes my head heavy the day after. Red wine never. But my greatest temptation for wine came when legally it was not possible to buy it.

I happened to be in Libya, and was residing in a guest house for Maltese workers in connection with my professional work on behalf of some of them. They were cooking dinner, and asked me whether I wanted a glass of wine. At first I thought they were joking, but soon they presented a clear wine which they said they produced on the premises, very quickly, and the basis of it was rice, sultanas and orange juice. After that I came across a very interesting book about making wines from fruits.

Recently I was invited to Bahrija where they hold a competition for wine making. There were some exquisite fruit wines. Tradition demands that a good wine should come from grapes, or so the story goes.

The wine festival...

As I was going into Valletta, a big poster caught my eye. It replaced political posters, and had a better taste. Furthermore, now we know it is good for the heart. It advertised the forthcoming wine festival at the Upper Barracca.

I do like such events. Some years back, while driving overland, my car broke down on the Calabrian mountains, and I had to spend some days in Frascineto. This is a small community, of Albanian origin, living under the Pollino mountain. They still preserve their Albanian traditions and language, even in the saying of Mass.

During my stay, they held a wine festival and I learnt that they managed to develop a special type of wine, after importing the vines from Germany. They were producing excellent Hoch wine, which was identical in every respect to the original. For them it was an important industry.

That we should put on the market and make it known to the public that we can produce good wines is a duty not simply a pleasure. There are some excellent Maltese wines on the market, and we should not disdain them because they have been born here. Foreigners do relish the local taste. They do not necessarily want what they can get back home.

A toast for Her Majesty

We also learnt last week that the Queen has dropped Champagne and opted for English wines. A few years back, few if any ever believed that it was possible to grow vines and have wine producing grapes in the UK. The story is now different, and this is due to the dedication of those who wanted to experiment with what others thought was not possible.

The Queen wanted to save on the budget. We heard that in one year the change has made a difference of £7,000 sterling! It made news. It comes as no surprise to me. Back in 1980, when I was received by Her Majesty on the Britannia in Melbourne, while attending a Commonwealth meeting in Australia, she asked me what steps Malta was taking for alternative sources of energy, especially from the sun. She said that her husband was heating the swimming pools in the palaces through solar energy.

What I appreciate in the whole story is that Her Majesty gives the good example of preferring what is British. Secondly, despite her wealth and public contributions to her budget, she does not refrain from cutting costs. A toast to Her Majesty, and a hearty glass of Maltese wine!