You might remember a flurry of news stories some years ago about red wine being good for you. But unlike most dodgy diet advice, this story has some basis in rigorous scientific research. In 2007 Professor Roger Corder published a book called ‘The Wine Diet’, which became an unlikely bestseller. Corder has found clear links between moderate red wine consumption and improved cardiovascular health, and has spent decades trying to find out why.

All was revealed when I attended a recent talk by Corder at the London Experimental Oenology Seminars. It turns out that certain types of tannin in some red wines can halve rates of heart disease by changing the physiology of the arteries.