Blackberry Wine

[els9754]

Good Morning!

My father has been told to drink a small glass of red wine each evening by his doctor. He has been trying various over the last month and says that his favorite is blackberry wine.

Could you give me any suggestions on names of moderately priced blackberry wine? I do well with merlots and cabs, but this is a new area for me.

Thanks!

[Innkeeper]

I'm pretty sure, but am willing to be educated, that blackberries won't hack it. The reason is that the benefit in red wine is a substance called resveratrol which comes from the contact with the skins of the red/black grapes. If blackberries contain it, that's a new one for me. You might see if Dad can handle a glass of a nice fruity Pinot Noir. That would be good for him, for sure.

[wondersofwine]

I've also heard that Welch's purple grape juice has some benefit.

[Thomas]

Any product made from pressed red grapes should benefit--doesn't have to be wine. But wine has other properties beyond resveratrol--one, namely, is alcohol--that also are healthy when taken in moderation.

I don't know anything about blackberries.

[Zinner]

Yep, many years back the doctor told my mother to get some wine to "build up her blood." She went out and bought Mogan David blackberry wine and drank it by the thimble full. Perhaps that's what dad is dipping into.

Grape juice is good for you to a degree, but doesn't have near the concentration of resveratrol as wine. Plus much fruit juice is loaded with added sugar.

What you probably want is to find dad the red wine from grapes that is ripe and soft(not tannic or acidic). Ask at your local wine store and be sure they understand that you want fruity and ripe flavors.

We get one that I haven't tried yet called Don's Blend Lodi Red(sells for $6.99). I do know that the winemaker is supposed to have made it to please the palate of his own father. It's supposed to be quite quaffable.

Also you might laugh, but a researcher once told me that muscadine wines have lots of the healthy elements too and quite often those are sweet(possibly pleasing a new drinker). The reason is that the muscadine skins are thick and the healthy stuff comes from the skins.

If dad has trouble liking red wine at first, you might start him out with some white wines(Chenin Blanc, classic Riesling) and then later try again with reds.