Yvonne Turgeon
Orchard & Vine Year End 2023
Families change. We journey, we age and suddenly there are new faces at the table when we gather. Recently, arriving at a restaurant, we were swept up in a flurry of welcoming hugs and requests for chairs, plates and of course, glasses. We settle and wine is poured. Before the chatter, the sharing of stories and the ordering of the feast, we raise our glasses together.
One of Canada’s biggest sporting events has brought us across the country, but honestly, it hasn’t been that long since we gathered. It’s my third Canadian province in less than three months to join family in celebration—some with birthday cake, and all with food and wine.
The faces around the table, the occasions that bring us together and even the days of the week change but wine remains. A few days ago, I pulled a beef roast from the oven, served up two supper plates and opened a lovely Okanagan bold red. It was a Monday.
I step back to reflect on this “miraculous” drink. Wine has shaped human development, touching aspects of both health and culture. The vine, remarkably resilient, bears fruit in the most extreme conditions, thriving where water is scarce, like in the desert landscapes of the Middle East. For centuries, in an age when clean, potable water was often hard to come by, wine was safe to drink.
But today, the abstinence campaigners are making us question, “Is wine safe for us?” Certain groups propose a “no safe level” stance regarding alcohol consumption, implying that any amount of alcohol may pose risks. This viewpoint is shaping policy, leading to calls for a significant reduction in the weekly drinking limits to merely two drinks — a dramatic drop from the earlier guidelines of 14 for men and 10 for women.
As the opening panelists at the recent Fortify conference held in Penticton stressed, the debate about staying sober is now quite sobering for those in the wine, cider and spirits industry in Canada.
For years, the narrative around alcohol and health primarily centered on addressing excessive drinking. As Financial Post writer Peter Shawn Taylor reminds us in his Raise a glass to the J-Curve! article, beverage lovers and medical professionals alike have long been in agreement that there’s a “sweet spot” to imbibing. Studies have consistently shown that moderate drinkers tend to be as healthy, if not slightly healthier, than non-drinkers.
This phenomenon is elegantly depicted as a “J-curve” in scientific studies. Put mortality risk on the vertical axis and number of drinks per day on the horizontal and the curve dips, like a “J,” before rising.
“As a cardiologist, I can tell you that there are hundreds of well-done studies that repeatedly show a J-curve,” says Martin Juneau, professor of Medicine at Université de Montréal. This J-curve presents a serious obstacle to the efforts of the Canadian Centre for Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) to scare Canadians into thinking every drink they take brings them closer to the grave.
“I think they did a little cherry-picking,” said Junea of the research approach. “I think they selected papers that confirmed their theory.”
Wine industry leaders can look to the Canadian Association for Responsible Drinkers (CARD), a collective of concerned citizens and businesses to find unbiased, science-backed information to help inform the debate.