This week, there’s a festive feel to our drinks news with a mulled wine and a raspberry cocktail and the claim that a bottle a day can help…..!
Festive raspberry cocktails
WHAT YOU NEED
125g raspberries
25g Sugar
1 bottle of sparkling dry wine or Cava.
Mint leaves to serve
WHAT TO DO
Place the raspberries and sugar in a small saucepan and heat to allow the sugar to dissolve. Pour into a sieve and using a spoon mash the flesh of the raspberries until only the seeds remain. You should now have a lovely red juice.
Divide the juice between 4 fluted glasses and top with the sparkling wine. Dress with mint leaves to serve.
Christmas mulled wine
WHAT YOU NEED
(for 12-15 servings)
300ml water
150g Sugar
300ml orange juice
2 cinnamon sticks
6 cloves
3 bottled red wine
Slices of orange and lemon to serve
WHAT TO DO
Dissolve the sugar in water in a large saucepan. Add the cinnamon sticks and cloves, bring to the boil. Simmer for 3-4 minutes.
Add the red wine and orange juices. Heat but do not boil. Serve with slices of orange and lemon.
A bottle a day cuts heart disease risk, study says
Drinking up to a bottle a wine a day can cut the risk of heart disease, says a controversial new study.
Decanter.com report that the research, published in the journal Heart, found that the risk of coronary heart disease, or CHD, decreases as alcohol consumption increases.
Dr. Larraitz Arriola, author of the study, found that drinking up to 11 units – or a bottle of red wine – reduced the risk of developing heart disease by 50 per cent.
The study was conducted in Spain, which has one of the lowest death rates from coronary heart disease.
This is not the first time medical practitioners have openly promoted the benefits of red wine.
Health professionals however, have warned people not to see this latest research as an excuse to binge drink.
“At the end of the day, you’re juggling different risks and benefits, maybe helping your heart or maybe damaging your brain and liver.
They say, “The simple message is moderation.”
