Light red wines for spring drinking

Can wine ever be good for you? After a night on the chȃteau de migraine that question seems apt, and choices matter: red wine contains more heart-protecting polyphenols and a richer variety of minerals than white. For any potential benefit it should be young, not too tannic or sweet, low in alcohol (around 12.5% ABV) and ideally drunk with food; seek out unusual grape varieties to broaden your gut microflora.

Dr Tim Spector endorses two glasses a day. Options abound. A sprightly beaujolais, a luscious Sicilian frappato or a cooler-climate pinot are all valid picks, but the Loire feels like the spiritual home of these so-called “health wines”. Though best known for whites such as pouilly-fumé and sancerre, the region’s light, elegant reds are especially suited to early spring drinking.

The Loire, France’s longest river, runs about 1,000km from the Massif Central to the Atlantic, and its wines reflect that variety.

France, Loire

red wine, polyphenols, low alcohol, gut microflora, tim spector, loire, beaujolais, frappato, pinot, sancerre