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I’ve never for one second doubted the magical abilities of a glass (or two) of good red wine.

Without needing to gather any scientists and participants to test the effects of some Syrah out, that is something we can all agree on already, right?

Then again, it never hurts to have the experts do some scientific research and cement the fact that the effects of red wine can, indeed, make a person feel downright lovely.

New Scientist astutely writes that while there is research that can change the world, a paper in PLoS One, “The power of Dionysus—Effects of red wine on consciousness in a naturalistic setting”, is the kind of science that just makes the world a better place.

The research kicked off during a time when there was a “lack of research on effects of red wine on consciousness when drank in wine bars designed to enhance the pleasurableness of the wine-drinking experience”.

Fair enough.

Rui Miguel Costa and his colleagues at the Institute of Applied Psychology gathered their participants in Lisbon.

102 participants were set up in a “naturalistic setting”, a local wine bar, and examined singly, in a duo, or as a group of six.

They were then made to consume two glasses of Quinta da Lapa Reserva Syrah 2018, “a silky full-bodied red wine from the Lisbon region with 14% of alcohol”.

After enjoying their wine experience, the participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire that would detect changes in their state of consciousness.

The results were summarised in the paper’s abstract:

Red wine increased pleasure and arousal, decreased the awareness of time, slowed the subjective passage of time, increased the attentional focus on the present moment, decreased body awareness, slowed thought speed, turned imagination more vivid, and made the environment become more fascinating.

Red wine increased insightfulness and originality of thoughts, increased sensations of oneness with the environment, spiritual feelings, all-encompassing love, and profound peace.

These “changes in consciousness” were felt regardless of whether volunteers were drinking alone or in a group, and were the same for men and women.

Interestingly, elder participants felt a greater increase in pleasure, while younger ones correlated with greater increases in fascination with the environment of the wine bar.

The conclusion is thus:

Drinking wine in a contemporaneous Western environment designed to enhance the pleasurableness of the wine drinking experience may trigger changes in consciousness commonly associated with mystical-type states

I feel so validated now.

While we can’t necessarily offer you the exact wine that these participants drank, we are pretty sure that Anthonij Rupert’s Syrah 2014 can do the job just as well:

Bonus that it has an extra 0,5 % of alcohol.

When you sip on this complex and intriguing Syrah, with a fynbos edge and vanilla spice to the nose, you will feel all those lovely things outlined above.

Drink it in an “environment designed to enhance the pleasurableness of the wine drinking experience”, AKA the majestic Anthonij Rupert Wyne Farm nestled among the vineyards and mountains of Franschhoek.

For a tasting and to make a real day out of it, you can book a table at their Terra Del Capo tasting room and antipasti bar, or just order a bottle or two online.

Then, sip back and enjoy the effects of red wine as your environment becomes more fascinating and your imagination more vivid.

[source:newscience]