Nov. 10--If your Facebook feed is anything like mine, you've probably seen a lot of buzz (pun intended) in the last 24 hours that drinking Champagne may prevent Alzheimer's disease. Pass the mimosas, am I right?
Actually, I'm not. At risk of being the parents who come home early and kill the party, I have some bad news: As with a lot of scientific research that goes viral, you're connecting a couple of shakily drawn dots to get from Point A (here, a Champagne flute) to Point B (health benefits for you!).
The headlines you're reading are unearthing a 3-year-old study that indeed found that slipping some Champagne into study subjects' diets improved spatial working memory compared with those who didn't get the booze -- interesting and promising, sure, but the subjects were rats. Until research has been done involving humans, bubbly intake and Alzheimer's onset, it's hard to read too much into these findings.
That said, as sparkling wine lovers, we have plenty of other reasons for you to pop a cork. Just know that your memory is probably going to be the opposite of those rats in the morning ...
1. Bubbly is the ultimate wine to pair with dinner when you're not sure what goes, writes Tribune wine critic Michael Austin.
2. It's also the best wine to pair with cheese, according to our former wine writer, Bill St. John.
3. You know Champagne, Prosecco and cava, but have you tried the more unconventional sparklers on the market? For example, a number of wineries are now making sparkling teroldego, a red grape from Italy.
4. Chicagoans: There's a local sparkling wine that's actually good.
5. When you're celebrating, there's no sweeter sound than a cork popping. This is also true when you have nothing in particular to celebrate. Sparkling wine: the ultimate mood-lifter -- and we don't need any science to prove that.
