As a society we have tamed alcohol

As the proverb says, Bonum vinum laetificat cor hominis (Good wine gladdens the heart of man). The saying is adapted from the Old Testament: "A feast is made for laughter and wine maketh merry..." (Ecclesiastes 10:19); two verses earlier, we find the following: "Blessed art thou, O land, when... thy princes eat... for strength, and not for drunkenness!" In other words, the message of moderation may be a little older than you thought!

Mead was the gift of the gods to the early Scandinavians; barley beer the magic potion of the Gauls. Hops were long considered a tonic for sickly children and the Cossacks drank fermented goat's milk. Then there's rice wine, cider, wine, spirits... even vinegar, which, cut with water, was often the only drink Roman soldiers ever got. It made a good disinfectant, too! All of these have gladdened the hearts of men (and women) since Ancient times. And what do you suppose warriors were given before going into battle? A sip of water?

Alcohol has been known throughout history for its curative, antiseptic and fortifying properties. A glance at some of our most common proverbs is enough to convince skeptics: there are enough references to strength, courage, health, sexual vigour and happy old age to suggest that alcohol may well be the only thing bequeathed to humanity from the days of Eden.

Imagine a Medieval monastery without its vineyard. Or a St. Bernard without its barrel. And could there be anything but references to health in the terms "apéritif," "digestif" and "eau-de-vie"?

Even when not taken internally, alcohol has beneficial properties: it can preserve food, and it can be used as a fuel, solvent, perfume or antiseptic. It is found in anesthetics, varnish, dyes, inks and industrial processes of all kinds. 

 As for the effects of drinking, scientists have been considering them for some time, alternating varying degrees of alarm with a more positive view. In France in the 1950s, people spoke of the scourge of drinking and quoted disturbing statistics: 481 deaths from alcoholism in 1946, 4,523 ten years later.

The 1960 edition of the Grand Larousse encyclopédique noted that five out of six "retarded" children were the children of alcoholics, and that sixty percent of "idiots" were the children of alcoholics. These, of course, were the days before political correctness. Usage notwithstanding, things do appear to be more in control today.

The average French person is drinking less, and the average Quebecer seems to have emerged relatively unscathed from the boozy fog.

Andrée Demers teaches at the University of Montreal and heads GRASP, a research group working on the social aspects of health and prevention. She believes our progress is a result of a series of some favorable circumstances. "Generally speaking, we are better educated and informed, and therefore more responsible. That's true not only in relation to health issues, but also with regard to the environment, our finances and many other areas. Studies show that Quebecers are primarily interested in knowing how alcohol affects their health. They are far more sensitive to such issues, as opposed to incentive measures and legislation to reduce alcohol abuse. Clearly, awareness and education campaigns are doing their job."

We now know that moderate drinking is not dangerous, that it may in fact have a beneficial effect, and that alcohol is very different from tobacco in terms of the harm it can cause. 

Andrée Demers, Director of the
Groupe de recherche sur les aspects
sociaux de la santé et de la prévention (GRASP).

Per capita consumption of alcohol in Quebec dropped from the equivalent of 9.9 litres of pure alcohol to 6.8 litres. This decrease is due primarily to a drop in sales of spirits and beer. Per capita consumption of spirits went from 2.6 litres to 0.9 litre, beer consumption dropped from 5.9 litres to 4.5 litres, and wine consumption remained stable.

The proportion of drinkers among the population also dropped: in 1994, 9.6% fewer men and 7.7% fewer women said they drink alcohol, compared to the figures for 1978. The percentage of daily drinkers was also down, from 9.1% in 1978 to 3.9% in 1994.

The percentage of drinkers was down in all age groups, except for 15-19 year-olds and 55-64 year-olds.

Nevertheless, beliefs and behaviour are slow to change. Continued effort is needed, particularly with young people, for each generation discovers alcohol in its own way.

"A teenager doesn't carry the same social baggage as an adult, who has already heard plenty of messages about moderation and responsible drinking. And legal access to alcohol is one of the 18-year-old's rites of passage into adulthood. We mustn't take anything for granted: teenagers 15 to 19 still drink as much as they ever did, often to excess. Many approaches have been tried, but positive reinforcement campaigns remain the most effective."

Aside from this age group, the rest of us have made remarkable progress. Figures compiled by Andrée Demers and her research group are most revealing. In 1978, 9% of those who drank alcohol drank every day. The figure was down to 4% in 1994. Similarly, the percentage of drivers with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or more dropped from 5.9% in 1980 to 3.2% in 1991. Only a small group of incorrigibles remains completely resistant to awareness campaigns.

Is this the group responsible for most of the problems? "That's hard to say," says Demers, "but it's very important not to confuse incorrigible occasional drinkers with chronic alcoholics. Car accidents, violence and suicides are not caused by chronic alcoholics (who represent about 5% of the population); they're caused by the average man or woman who gets drunk on occasion. It's that one drink too many, one evening too many, which is behind most alcohol-related problems. We have hard evidence now that alcohol is not the exclusive problem of alcoholics; it has become a concern for you and me."

To reduce the social costs of drinking, then, we have to reach the population as a whole. At least recent efforts have had an impact. "There is no doubt that, as a society, we have tamed alcohol. It still causes too much damage and violence and too many accidents, but we are aware of the problem, and that's a big step in the right direction."

"It's that one drink too many, one
evening too many, which is behind
most alcohol-related problems.
We have hard evidence now that
alcohol is not the exclusive problem
of alcoholics; it has become a
concern for you and me."

Reds are sweeping Quebec

Not those reds! Red wines, which now account for 60% of all wine drunk in Quebec - exactly the popularity once enjoyed by white wine, notes Huong Q. Vu, Chief Operating Officer - Wholesale for the Société des alcools du Québec, and the man in charge of quality control.

Why the change? It could be due to the "French paradox," which appears to indicate that French people are in better cardio-vascular health because of red wine. Research findings have been tending in this direction for a few years now. If it's good for you, why not enjoy it?

That being said, increasing the quality, not the quantity, of wines sold in Quebec, is one of the SAQ's - and Huong Vu's - main objectives. The demand is certainly there. "We're drinking less, but better. And not only in Quebec, but around the world."

Increasing the quality, not the
quantity, of wines sold in Quebec,
is one of the SAQ's main objectives.
We're drinking less, but better.
And not only in Quebec, but around
the world.

The SAQ hopes to increase per-capita consumption of high-end wines in Quebec to 15 litres a year within five years. Sales of inexpensive wines, sold mostly in grocery stores, have increased by only two million litres since 1994, whereas wines sales in SAQ stores are up eight million litres. The products with the greatest increase in popularity are those with guaranteed vintages (appellation d'origine contrôlée) and those identifying the specific grape variety, as well as wines from southwestern France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Italy, Bordelais, Beaujolais and Burgundy.

Huong Vu is faced with a seemingly limitless selection when it comes to choosing new high-end wines for sale through SAQ outlets. "Whatever the country, producers all want to be as good as the best - meaning the French, essentially - and make a wine that brings out the true flavour of the grape, as opposed to the flavour of the wooden barrel in which it is aged, which you'll find more commonly in Australian and American products. Our job is to ensure that the characteristics of these wines remain unchanged, right to the SAQ shelves. We have developed some impressive techniques to give us the most stringent quality control over products sold in Quebec."

Wines shipped to Quebec during the cooler months must arrive in heated, or at least insulated, containers. In summer, refrigerated transportation is required for expensive wines.

The SAQ employs nine oenologist-chemists who taste all merchandise when it arrives. "Not to see whether they like it or not," notes Huong Vu, "but to make sure the product is the same as what they sampled from the salesman's bottle." The newly arrived wine then undergoes a battery of laboratory tests to see that it meets chemical standards.

And by the way, when you return a bottle to an SAQ store, it is never simply disposed of without first being tested in the lab. "We look for the problem and check if it exists in all the bottles of that series. If so, all are removed from the shelves."

  On average: 12 litres

On average, Quebecers drink a modest
12 litres of wine a year. That's barrels
away from the French and the Italians,
despite recent major changes in their
drinking habits. The average French
person drank 70 litres of wine last year,
compared with 120 litres a few years
ago, while Italians are down from
100 litres to 60.