red wine quantity

[quijote]

Hi BH, I'm sort of newish on the board.... I cannot imagine 2 bottles of wine per night is too much, unless one feels that doing so interferes with other regularly pursued or routinely necessary activities.

For some people (many Europeans and Latin Americans, for example), a bottle or two of wine per day is an integral part of life, and many life patterns have to a certain extent evolved to accomodate peoples' eating and drinking rituals.

In the U.S. and in many other countries with important (powerful) Protestant-based populations, many of us have become conditioned to think of alcohol as a sin, so there are a lot of strong opinions about what "too much" alcohol is. (For some, any alcohol is too much.)

Interestingly, in the U.S., there is less of a stigma in activities such as watching two hours of tv per night, spending $200 on double-Snickers cappuccinos per month, and spending $2000 (or more) per year on "fashionable" clothes. But these activities can (though not always) indicate a form of excessive or dependent behavior that is ultimately detrimental to the mind and budget of the U.S. consumer.

So is any of these things too much? It all depends....

My own wine consumption fluctuates according to my work and other interests and obligations. Once in a while I'll drink the equivalent of a bottle or two per evening; much of the time I'll just have a glass or two; occasionally I spend up to several days at a time without (terrible!) due to work demands and other activities.



[This message has been edited by quijote (edited 01-23-2004).]