Marvellous Champagne

More on the delights and benefits of Champagne from Your Good Health!: Medicinal Benefits of Wine Drinking by Dr Maury:

You would do better to choose… (as an appetiser)… extra-dry Champagne which is heartily recommended for several reasons… this wine has a beneficial effect on the alimentary canal through its natural aeration. This acts on the stomach muscles which thus retain their suppleness and elasticity. (p 55)

I have already commented that the wines from the Champagne region, whether dry or extra-dry, have a beneficial effect, both chemical and mechanical, on the digestive system. They are therefore recommended for people suffering from flatulence and a bloated stomach. (pp 57-58)

… you should bear in mind the complications associated with this condition: arterial hypertension, the risk of narrowing of the coronary arteries and the possibility of a heart attack… your diet should be complemented by natural elements designed to strengthen the action of the heart and improve kidney function. You should therefore include the wines of the Champagne region, the extra-dry Champagnes of the Montagne de Reims, Côtes des Blancs or those of the Marne valley. (p 66)

… the sulphuric anions in Champagne wines activate the mechanisms of cellular oxidisation and give them purifying and cleansing properties. Finally, as dry white wines they possess powerful diuretic agents, helping to rid the body of its wastes. (p 66)

People who have mild rheumatism should opt, depending on personal taste, … for the ‘blancs de blancs’… of the Champagne region… (p 76)

Still with the same aim of restoring organic and functional order, never forget the beneficial effects of extra-dry Champagne, due to its natural phosphorus content. Its glucose and fructose content also helps to restore energy. (p 85)

On the other hand, if the mineral deficiencies are phosphatic salts, causing physical fatigue and mental depression, the Champagne wines are very suitable… They have the added bonus of ascorbic acid (vitamin C). The most noble of all, an extra-dry variety, should be chosen and two glasses may be taken as an apéritif. (p 91)

The good doctor recommends Champagne (usually extra-dry) for loss of appetite, cardiac problems, digestive ailments, rheumatoid arthritis, convalescence, detoxification, mineral deficiencies, hypertension and heart attack.

One final quote:

This spirit of creativity, drawn from the ‘divine nectar’ is evidence of an art of living and a joy in living. If it is sometimes hidden, it will always surface in those millions of bubbles that rise from a glass of Champagne. It took a man dedicated to God, Dom Pierre Pérignon, cellarer of the Abbey of Hautvilliers in the Marne district, inspired by the pagan influence of Bacchus, to blend the vintages of different varieties of wine. By this act of creation was born a beverage of incomparable quality, which can only be produced in the soil of Champagne. It does not need us to exalt its virtues and describe how it affects the emotional centres of the brain by arousing the noble functions of the spirit. (p 100)