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Female libido responds to red wine, study suggests

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By Mark Fisher, Staff Writer 5:04 PM Thursday, April 9, 2009

Red wine increases the female libido, according to a research study conducted by an Italian hospital and reported on the British wine magazine Decanter’s Web site, Decanter.com.

The study investigated 789 Italian women between the gaes of 18 and 50, Decanter said. The research showed that women who drank one to two glasses of red wine a day were more sexually active than those who abstained.

The Decanter story says the effect was not just due to alcohol’s ability to release inhibitions, although it’s not clear how that conclusion was reached. And the wine magazine noted that dark chocolate “has a similarly positive effect on the female libido.”

As one might imagine, the story generated considerable response when it was posted on Decanter.com and linked to from Uncorked (www.daytondailynews. com/go/wineblog). The responses ranged from serious to ... not so much.

“If there were only some hot men in Dayton, then maybe the wine would help,” one Uncorked reader wrote. “Yes, I will continue to drink red wine and dream about Hugh Jackman. That increases my libido!”

A second Uncorked reader pointed out that “only some lab geeks” would have needed a study to figure out that alcohol increases sex drive. “A six-figure income also increases their sex drive. Where’s the study on that?”

Over at Decanter.com, a reader from Berlin, Germany, was skeptical about the study’s cause-and-effect conclusions. The research might simply prove that women who have a positive attitude toward life — and who are able to fully enjoy sensory experiences such as drinking red wine or consuming fine chocolate — might be more, well, desirable to men.

And that, the reader said, might explain why red-wine-drinking women have more sex.

• Local husband-and-wife wine enthusiasts Jim Cretcher and Judy Robinson and the folks at Dorothy Lane Markets have come up with a creative way to help the family of Todd Nikolai.

Nikolai, who ran the wine shop at Dorothy Lane Market’s Oakwood store for several years and worked most recently for Mason-based wine distributor Vintner Select, was 40 when he died in June 2008, leaving behind a wife and 3-year-old daughter.

Cretcher and Robinson have donated a three-liter bottle of 1983 Inglenook Charbono that will be available for sampling during the regular Saturday afternoon tasting from noon to 5 p.m. on April 18 at DLM’s Washington Square store in Washington Twp. All proceeds from the Charbono samples will be donated to the education fund set up for Nikolai’s daughter, Carina.

Cretcher said he bought the bottle of wine — which holds the equivalent of four standard-sized bottles — from a Toledo-area retailer about 10 years ago. He and his wife hope the donation will inspire others to look for ways to help, too.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2258 or mfisher@Dayton DailyNews.com.

Taste of Wine

Mark Fisher

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