Now an even healthier wine

AN AUSTRALIAN medico-cum-winemaker is claiming a world first with his resveratrol-enhanced wines which he says will have major health benefits for both red and white wine drinkers. Dr Philip Norrie, known as the Wine Doctor, has developed a method of adding reservatrol - a powerful antioxidant - to wine at the bottling stage in a form that is tasteless and odourless.

Whereas the normal resveratrol content in wine is said to be around one to two milligrams per litre in whites and four to six milligrams in reds, Dr Norrie has boosted the levels to 100mg a litre in his newly released 2006 shiraz and 2008 chardonnay.

Resveratrol, which is found naturally in grapes, has been largely responsible for the good press that wine, in tandem with responsible drinking, has received in recent years because it aids blood flow by helping to keep arteries clear of fatty deposits. Dr Norrie hopes to eventually have his patented process used by other producers. "My overall objective is to have resveratrol-enhanced wine as widely available - and widely accepted - as possible, so that the potential benefits are available to as many people as possible."

The R.E.W. unwooded chardonnay and shiraz, made from McLaren Vale fruit, are $19.95 a bottle and available exclusively from Wine IQ (www.wineiq.com.au).