Coming soon to a holiday feast near you may be organic wine that's enhanced for your health. A new project between Summerhill Pyramid Winery, BC's premier organic winery, and Nature's Defense, a research company in the field of phytotherapy, will look at ways to improve the presence of beneficial plant compounds in wine.

One of these compounds, resveratrol, has received quite a lot of press, and is partially credited as a reason for the "French paradox" of low incidence of heart disease and cancer in France, despite their dietary habits of relatively high dairy, meat and alcohol consumption.

Resveratrol in wine, scientists believe, has a protective, antioxidant effect against the free radical damage that contributes to disease. Not all wines have the same level of beneficial resveratrols, however. Variations from almost zero to 150 times have been found in wines from places such as France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Hungary.

"We're hoping to find a variety of grapes that is high in reveratrol as well as other salvestrols," says Dr. Hoon Tan of Nature's Defence in an interview. "We also want to know the growing conditions and fermentation methods that allow optimal salvestrol content."

Salvestrols is the name of a larger group of protective plant compounds detected in not only wine but also in primarily organic fruits and vegetables. Produce that has been conventionally grown, says Dr. Tan, contains far less of these naturally occurring compounds. Salvestrols are part of a plant's natural defense mechanism as protection against pathogens such as fungi and viruses. But produce grown with agrochemicals don't need to develop the same protective measures, so they don't-a classic example of plant "Use it or lose it," so people don't receive a protective effects either.

That is why organic grapes are preferred over conventionally grown grapes, and why Summerhill Pyramid Winery in Kelowna, BC, makes a logical project partner. Ordinarily, grapes are a highly sprayed agricultural crop, but this award-winning certified organic winery doesn't use fungicides, herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers in their soil or growing methods.

Summerhill land has been set aside for this research. Dr. Tan says they will focus on red wines, as white wines are fermented without the skins and stems where salvestrols reside and thus contain far fewer salvestrols in the finished product.

If all goes well, "People who like to drink wine will actually receive a good dose of salvestrols," Dr. Tan says. He adds that these plant compounds are more than antioxidants; they are also involved in an enzyme process that has exciting applications in chronic disease prevention and treatment.

"We believe that there is no such thing as a chronic disease," says Dr. Tan. "Chronic disease only happens if you allow the fundamental biochemistry in the body to degrade because you don't eat the right foods. By eating the right foods, we believe chronic disease can be prevented, including cancer."

Let's raise our glasses to that!

Want Organic Wine? Look for These Labels
A'Notre Terre, Central Valley, California
Bonterra Vineyards, Mendocino County, California
Chapoutier, Rhone Valley, France
Hainle Organic Winery, Okanagan Valley, BC
Lotusland Vineyards, Fraser Valley, BC
Summerhill Pyramid Winery, Okanagan Valley, BC

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