Levels of Procyanidins

After testing hundreds of red wines from around the world Professor Roger Corder created a scale of ♥ to ♥♥♥♥♥ as a means to express the concentration of procyanidins in the wines.  Most red wines achieve at least a ♥ rating (average), but some failed to achieve even this rating.



After excluding the Madiran wines, which as a group rated so highly, the analysis showed that;
1.5% of wines achieved a ♥♥♥♥♥ rating
8.5% of wines achieved a ♥♥♥♥ rating
33% of wines achieved a ♥♥♥ rating
and 57% rated only ♥ or ♥♥

So it can be seen that there are few wines that achieve the concentrated levels of AOC Madiran and others in our range that have been tested. Beware of claims about wines that have NOT been analysed.

Generally the most procyanidin-rich wines are those where the grapes have  thick skins and many seeds, such as Tannat and where the grapes, seeds, skins and all, remain in contact with the wine during fermentation and for an extended period of maceration.  This is not a common practice during production of most modern red wine styles.

The advantage of choosing procyanidin rich wines is that less needs to be consumed to achieve the health benefits.  One glass of top rated procyanidin wine will typically have up to 10 times the levels of procyanidins as the average modern style wine.

The healthy heart ratings we display for each wine are based on testing of the wines. The levels may vary from vintage to vintage.  We update the ratings as new vintages are tested.

Many studies have shown that NO consumption of alcohol carries greater risk of heart disease than a modest consumption of 1 or 2 servings per day.  This is often referred to as the "J" curve.  Do a Google search for the "Framingham Heart Study" which is one of the most quoted population studies that determines this.

Professor Giovanni de Gaetano of Italy, who was a speaker at the Wine & Health Symposium, stated that epidemiological studies have established that nowhere in the world where populations are given drug treatments to manage cardiovascular health, have they achieved the low levels of heart disease related deaths as occurs in Gers.  This is the area in the south west of France where the local wines are Madiran and the population consume high amounts of procyanidins.