What they thought back then...

Hippocrate (460 - 670 BC), the father of medicine
"wine is something that is wonderfully suitable for man, in sickness and in health alike, as long as it is correctly and moderately administrated in relation to the individual constitution.”

Charles Estienne and Jean Liebault, doctors who in a text written in 1554

spoke highly of clairet (rosé wine), which was “suitable for studious people, town dwellers, in short, all those who have a quiet, inactive and sedentary life, chiefly those born during prosperous years. For these wines don’t warm, burn and dry the body’s insides, unlike the wines brought to us from Gascony and Spain, and other hotter regions, which due to excessive heat and drought, burn the liver and the spleen of those who drink them…On the contrary, the glistening and transparent, well-ripened, equally light bodied whites and clairets, are easily cooked, digested and promptly evacuated; they stimulate urination, nourish the body, boost the morale, and as a result are valued, sought-after and desired by everybody.”

François Rabelais (1494 - 1553), writer, but also Doctor of Medecine from the Faculty of Montpellier

“the juice from the vine clarifies the mind and the understanding, chases sorrow, brings joy and jubilation…”

Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592) in his Essays

"I have heard from Sylvius, an excellent doctor in Paris, that if you want to maintain the forces of the stomach, and prevent them from becoming heavy, it is good once a month to awaken them by drinking too much wine, and by pricking them so they don’t become numb”.

Quotes from an article by Didier Nourrisson published by the magazine «L'Histoire» in September 1997
Rhone deputy Yves Guyot, life member of the French Temperance Society, hence a staunch opponent of alcohol, declared in 1917 during the first World War,

“the “hydromanes” (water drinkers) pretend that they are patriots and betray their French homeland. Our daily drink influences our character, our skills and our general being. Someone from Munich will never think and act like someone from Gascony. There will always be a difference between a glass of beer and a glass of Medoc…

If you took away France’s wines and spirits, you would also take away part of the qualities producing its charm and resulting in its influence.”

At the beginning of the 20th century, the National League Against Alcohol asked the State when it launched an educational anti-alcohol programme in primary schools, not to discredit “good” wine as opposed to “bad” alcohols.

Educational information distributed in schools on good behaviour reward incentives in the 1930s: “a litre of wine with an alcohol content of 10° has the same calories as 900 grams of milk or 370 grams of bread or 585 grams of meat or 5 eggs”.