The Israeli wine contains enhanced levels of plant chemicals which are believed to fight heart disease. Researchers from the Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology, found that they were able to fortify white wine with health-giving polyphenol compounds. Red wine is naturally fortified with the compounds, which are concentrated in grape skins. The fermentation process releases the polyphenols, giving red wine its colour and its antioxidant properties. White wine is not made with grape skins and therefore lacks polyphenols. But scientists at Technion discovered that they could boost white wine polyphenols six-fold, by incubating squeezed grapes in the presence of alcohol for 18 hours, before removing their skins.
The technique produces wine that looks and tastes the same as regular white wine but has the same antioxidant activity as red wine.
Israeli wine manufacturer Binyamina has begun using the recipe to manufacture the new healthier white wine, which is expected to go on sale in the US by the end of the year. Professor Michael Aviram, a researcher at Technion's Faculty of Medicine, said: "There has been an incredible response from those that have heard about the research, with many thinking of taking up drinking white wine more seriously.