Liebe. L'Amour. Kjaerlighet.
All words to describe the indescribable feeling of love in different languages (even though the last one in Norwegian sounds a bit like the first word I utter when I'm woken up in the morning...).
Yes, the day that either sends people running to the nearest '3 courses for a tenner' restaurant clutching a garage forecourt-bought bunch of pansies, or battening down the hatches and hunkering down until all the loved-up madness passes by for another year. Valentine's Day has crash landed once again and whether you are a lover or a fighter of it, many glasses and bottles of beer and wine will be consumed over the 24 hours that covers the 14th February.
However, just before you get out the corkscrew and get ready for the hedonistic delights of your favourite bottle of Rouge or Blanc, have you ever thought why wine is considered such an integral part of the courting ritual? Does having a sip of something stronger than strawberry milkshake stir up the passion in the loins? Or could you achieve the pinnacle of romance without sipping the 'Devil's Brew'?
Wine has always been used as the lubricant that oils the pistons of love, ever since the Romans used to fill their amphorae to the brims and ring the bells on their day long 'sexy parties'. The Ancient Greeks had their tipsy God of Wine Dionysus, who was characterised as not only as an over-the-top type of God, but also a charming, playful and (some would say) very erotic kinda guy. Then you also have the famous wine quote 'In Vino Veritas' (or 'In Wine, there's Truth') by the guy who really needed Deed Poll to change his name, way back in 'Before Christ' Greece. Pliny the Elder. It was used then as an explanation as to the spirituality and enlightenment that wine brings, where as we'd interpret it to be be declaring that you fancy the pants off him/her after 2 glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon.
But enough now about 'the good old days', lets crack on with the science behind the statement. Back in 2009, a group of Italian researchers conducted a spot of research into the consumption of red wine and women's sexual libido. and found out that women who consumed on average 2 glasses of red wine a day had a higher sex drive than those who consumed less than 1 glass a day and those who didn't drink at all. What also startled them was that the average age of the women who did drink 2 glasses a day were older than the other 2 groups, when it is commonly assumed that the older a woman gets, the lower her sex drive becomes.
Now, there is no actual nailed on, carved in stone, definitive reason why this was the case, but many experts have pointed to the fact that alcohol stimulates a part of your brain called the horrendously unpronounceable Hypothalamus, which controls the most basic of human functions, such as hunger, body temperature, hormone levels and your sex drive. Other explanations focus more on the fact that red wine contains loads of a compound called Resveratrol (see this article for the benefits of Resveratrol), which help to widen the blood vessels leading to both men's and women's naughty bits, which in turn could lead to a bit of Midnight Athletics.
However, remember the fact that moderation is key. If two glasses of beautiful wine can get you in the mood for a bit of 'slap and tickle', three glasses could lead to you being passed out, snoring by 9pm. Beware!
Looking at different cultures, alcohol has been heralded for many a century as a instigator of passion. In countries such as China and the Korean countries, the mysticism behind potions classed under the label of 'wine' has lead some to be complete devotees of the art, regardless of the murky way they are produced. In the media recently, two Chinese nationals were stopped from taking an 'aphrodisiac wine' through customs, so decided to chug it at the gate before they went through. This 'Tiger Bone Wine', supposedly made from ground up tiger bone gives the imbiber sexual powers. China banned the the sale of any tiger-based products many years ago, but unfortunately its still big business and many people in the Far East still believe in its properties. Adding to this, there is also such things as Snake Wine, where venomous snakes are steeped in rice wine and left to 'mature' for a few months and consumed in shot-type glasses. It is believed to be brilliant for the health and virility, but I don't think we'll be seeing this prescribed on the NHS, thankfully.
Whatever you are doing to celebrate/commiserate this most passionate of days, I truly hope whatever you put in your mouth, makes you happy...
Stop the sniggering at the back there...
Wine has always been used as the lubricant that oils the pistons of love, ever since the Romans used to fill their amphorae to the brims and ring the bells on their day long 'sexy parties'. The Ancient Greeks had their tipsy God of Wine Dionysus, who was characterised as not only as an over-the-top type of God, but also a charming, playful and (some would say) very erotic kinda guy. Then you also have the famous wine quote 'In Vino Veritas' (or 'In Wine, there's Truth') by the guy who really needed Deed Poll to change his name, way back in 'Before Christ' Greece. Pliny the Elder. It was used then as an explanation as to the spirituality and enlightenment that wine brings, where as we'd interpret it to be be declaring that you fancy the pants off him/her after 2 glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Now, there is no actual nailed on, carved in stone, definitive reason why this was the case, but many experts have pointed to the fact that alcohol stimulates a part of your brain called the horrendously unpronounceable Hypothalamus, which controls the most basic of human functions, such as hunger, body temperature, hormone levels and your sex drive. Other explanations focus more on the fact that red wine contains loads of a compound called Resveratrol (see this article for the benefits of Resveratrol), which help to widen the blood vessels leading to both men's and women's naughty bits, which in turn could lead to a bit of Midnight Athletics.
However, remember the fact that moderation is key. If two glasses of beautiful wine can get you in the mood for a bit of 'slap and tickle', three glasses could lead to you being passed out, snoring by 9pm. Beware!
Looking at different cultures, alcohol has been heralded for many a century as a instigator of passion. In countries such as China and the Korean countries, the mysticism behind potions classed under the label of 'wine' has lead some to be complete devotees of the art, regardless of the murky way they are produced. In the media recently, two Chinese nationals were stopped from taking an 'aphrodisiac wine' through customs, so decided to chug it at the gate before they went through. This 'Tiger Bone Wine', supposedly made from ground up tiger bone gives the imbiber sexual powers. China banned the the sale of any tiger-based products many years ago, but unfortunately its still big business and many people in the Far East still believe in its properties. Adding to this, there is also such things as Snake Wine, where venomous snakes are steeped in rice wine and left to 'mature' for a few months and consumed in shot-type glasses. It is believed to be brilliant for the health and virility, but I don't think we'll be seeing this prescribed on the NHS, thankfully.
Whatever you are doing to celebrate/commiserate this most passionate of days, I truly hope whatever you put in your mouth, makes you happy...
Stop the sniggering at the back there...
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