Wine Health

In the 1840's, several Australian doctors linked their medical practices with the development of some of the first vineyards in the area. One particular Australian doctor who was interested in the health benefits of wine was Dr. Henry John Lindeman who had trained in London at St. Bartholomew's Hospital prior to emigrating to Australia for his medical practice. The impetus for Lindeman's fascination with the health benefits of wine was his extensive European travel. In 1843, Lindeman became concerned by the heavy drinking of his colleagues and embarked upon educating his fellow colonists on the beneficial qualities of drinking wine in moderation. In 1845, Lindeman planted his first vineyard on his Cawarra property in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales. Throughout the rest of his career, he strongly advocated wine as the national beverage for its benefits to both physical health and mental well-being.

The first medical research that suggested that moderate alcohol consumption might be beneficial to health was reported in 1926 by an American biologist, Raymond Pearl. During his investigations of tuberculosis, Pearl found that people who drank moderate amounts of alcohol lived longer than nondrinkers. Though Pearl faced significant controversy for the conclusions that were drawn from his study, this is thought to be the very first scientific study that demonstrated that moderate consumption of alcohol is not harmful.

Some people believe (and based on other surveys buried in medical archives) that other studies preceded Pearl's findings but yielded similar results.

French doctors and scientists were studying this topic early in the 1930's as well and were (not surprisingly) led to similar conclusions; that moderate wine consumption is not harmful to general health.