Pairing wine and wellness

The Healthy Swirl is a bridge between wine and wellness. Here we explore how wine and healthy living blend seamlessly together, with topics like: what kind of wines are healthiest? what are natural wines? what are the physical and mental benefits of wine? how much wine should I drink? as a regular wine consumer, how can I stay in peak health? what health foods/recipes go well with which wines? I will dispel urban myths about wine and winemaking style, and explore how healthy lifestyle choices can benefit us wine lovers! With endless ways to enjoy this pairing, I hope you find the information and guidance I provide here useful and fun. I created The Healthy Swirl as a guide for people like myself who love wine and love being healthy too! I am a bit of a wine geek - I truly savor the exquisite aromas, layered flavors, vibrant colors and sultry ambience of wine. I also love to research factoids about wine, grape growing and winemaking techniques. Some even say I am slightly obsessed with this mysterious fermented beverage that imparts such beauty and sensuality upon us. As one who is also slightly obsessed with health and optimal living, it’s my pleasure to find the link between wine and wellness. The Healthy Swirl is currently in the research and development stage as I explore and prepare articles, presenting related information to you, my wine-loving friends! So stay tuned to the pages of The Healthy Swirl.

If you have a subject you would like me to cover, or are in the wine industry and would like to be featured on these pages please contact me directly at astryd@TheHealthySwirl.com

About Me

Hi, my name is Astryd deMichele Remati and I am a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, Yogi, and Wellness Practitioner who loves wine! I created The Healthy Swirl as a way to provide information and ideas to other wine lovers who desire to be healthy too. There is a bridge between good wine and good health, and I explore that here. With a background in Organic Farming and Permaculture, I am particularly fond of wines made with minimal intervention using organically farmed grapes - hence my desire to explore and present info on minimal intervention wines, natural, organic, and biodynamic wines (these are all technically different, and we’ll find out why!). As much as I would like to focus on these wines only, I realize that they’re not always convenient or cost effective to get ahold of, and there is much to know and understand in this realm. So, while my intention is to gear in that direction, we’ll explore all types of wine helping us gain an understanding of how to make the best choices for us as individuals to please palate, pocketbook and persona.

So how did I get here, to this wine and wellness sphere? There is no glamorous story behind my first forays into wine. In my early twenties, working as an Organic Farmer, enjoying craft beer and living in Oregon, I literally said to myself, “wine looks interesting. I want to know more about it.” So I went to my local wine shop and began asking for good entry level wines that were inexpensive. I have no recollection what they were, but, ever-the-explorer, I continued to go back each week and ask for a new one. I enjoyed the colors and flavors, but especially the myriad of aromas and the ambience of slowly sipping a beautiful glass of wine. I will save the details of what happened next for when we can perhaps meet over a glass of wine in a virtual or in-person wine tasting, but it entailed a sharp career turn, moving to the Middle East and becoming an expat for about a decade. During this time living abroad in Egypt, Dubai and eventually Singapore and Indonesia, I had the pleasure of meeting some inspirational wine aficionados who undoubtedly set me on my path of wanting to know everything I could ever learn about wine. Visiting wineries in Tuscany, Italy and the Rhone Valley, France, I was further enamored and imprinted for life. After repatriating to the US in 2016, I was simultaneously completing my Holistic Nutrition Consultant certification, taking my first 200 hours of Yoga teaching certification, and embarking on my WSET 2 diploma (Wine & Spirits Educational Trust). Today, my main job as an Account Manager for west coast wine merchant, Grape Expectations, is the underpinning of my continued education in wine, and I continue to practice as a Certified Holistic Nutrition Consultant and Yoga Instructor (500-RYT). I am currently studying for my Certified Specialist of Wine diploma (CSW). With all of these passions ingrained in my lifestyle, I see no better way to continue to pursue life’s dreams than by weaving all of these magics together and offering them up to you in The Healthy Swirl!

Follow my journey on The Healthy Swirl Blog : Click here

Want to connect? Email me astryd@TheHealthySwirl.com