WINE THE ORIGINAL VIAGRA? THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF ART, FROM GREEK TO ROMAN MYTHOLOGY TO THE GENIUS OF THE RENAISSANCE, IT DEFINITELY WAS. NOW IT HAS ALSO RECEIVED SCIENTIFIC VERIFICATION WITH A STUDY CONDUCTED BY THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF UROLOGY.

Scientific studies have already verified that moderate consumption of red wine is linked to a reduction in heart disease. In fact, the cardiovascular system as a whole seems to receive a series of benefits from the antioxidant polyphenols that are present in red grapes. And, now, it also appears that another benefit is that wine works as an aid for erectile dysfunction due to its vasoconstrictive effects.
Studies in this field have recently been published in the journal of the European Association of Urology (written by Riccardo Bartoletti, Nicola Mondaini, Tommaso Cai of the Università di Firenze and the Urology Department at S.Maria Annunziata hospital in Florence; info: www.europeanurology.com) and in other scientific publications (Hashimoto M, Kim S, Eto M, “Effect of acute intake of red wine on flow-mediated vasodilatation of the brachial artery”, Am J Cardiol 2001; Corder R, Douthwaite JA, Lees DM, “Endothelin-1 synthesis reduced by red wine”, Nature 2001; Montorsi P, Montorsi F, Schulman CC, “Is erectile dysfunction the “tip of the iceberg” of a systemic vascular disorder?”, Eur Urol 2003; Leslie SJ, Atkins G, Oliver JJ, Webb DJ, “No adverse hemodynamic interaction between sildenafil and red wine”, Clin Pharmacol Ther 2004; Toda N, Ayajiki K, Okamura T, “Nitric oxide and penile erection function”, Pharmacol Ther 2005; Corder R, Mullen W, Khan NQ, “Red wine procyanidins and vascular health”, Nature 2006).
But even before all of these scientific verifications, the perception of this intimate link between wine and sexual potency had long been noted, with many examples evident in art history and mythology. For the Greeks, the god Dionysus was the symbol par excellence of fertility and his tears were made of wine.
In Roman mythology, Dionysus was substituted by Bacchus but who had the same symbolic significance, and with his marriage to Venus, Priapus was born, who was the symbol in absolute of pagan virility.
And this pagan universe would return to prominence during the Renaissance, with profound effects on the genius Leonardo da Vinci. His sketch that was discovered in Germany in 1990 of the famous Angel of the Annunciation (probably done around 1505 as part of preparatory studies for the Battle of Anghiari) remains a clear testimony of this knowledge by the leading Florentine artist and scientist of the era.