Alcohol can damage your liver. On the other hand, there has been much suggestion that the drinking of wine is somehow "good for you." While it might calm your nerves a bit, what many want to say is that, for whatever reason, it can protect you from heart disease, perhaps by lowering cholesterol. Some point to those parts of the world where people eat high fat diets, drink lots of wine, and live to a very old age.
Some of the problems here are statistics. A good statistician can prove black is white, more or less. There may be other factors that are overlooked.
The bottom line is that, at this stage of knowledge, it probably isn't a good idea to start drinking to obtain hypothetical protective effects. Whether it helps you if you are drinking is controversial. Most people will agree that if you drink "too much," it is not good for you (for a variety of reasons).
The biggest complaint here is that some people develop headaches from drinking wine. There are several proposed causes. One is that sulfites added by the producer (or can be naturally present in lesser amounts) cause the allergic reaction. Furthermore, it has been suggested that cheaper wines are likely to have more sulfites as a cheap substitute for careful grape selection and winemaking. Some people say that it is only red wine that causes them a problem. Sulfites are present in both red and white wines. Another possible cause is anthocyanin pigments which are what makes "red" grapes red. These are also present in blue cheese. If both cause you problems, maybe you've found a reason?
While there are wines that claim to be sulfite free, most people will tell you that this is not possible, as sulfites exist in nature on the grape. However, the amount would be less if not artificially introduced. But since sulfur dioxide is used to control how the wine is produced (getting rid of unwanted yeasts, molds and bacteria), some feel that you may not get as good a wine. United States law requires that wine with over 10 parts per million of sulfites state that the wine "contains" sulfites.
Solutions suggested by some (but not recommended or approved by me in any way) are: Drink lots of water before drinking the wine. Take a pain-killer first. The problem with this last one is that is known to enhance the alcoholic affect. The best answer is, if this is a problem, don't drink wine. Some suggest wines not made from grapes.
I have received notes (and welcome more) from people indicating that the following wineries may produce wine that claim to be "sulfite free." If this is important to you, you should directly with these producers:
Most of the calories in wine come from alcohol, though some additional calories come from the "food" that came from the fruit (proteins, carbohydrates [like sugar], etc.). Since some wines are more dry than sweet (that is, they have less sugar), those wines would have a little less calories. Also, wines vary in alcohol content, which would, of course, also affect the number of calories from alcohol. The United States Department of Agriculture says that 100 grams of "table wine" (12.2 percent alcohol by volume) has 85 calories while 100 grams of "dessert wine" (18.8 percent alcohol by volume) has 135 calories.
In any event, a pretty good rule of thumb is that table wine has approximately 25 calories per ounce. When cooking with wine, you can end up boiling out the alcohol. The result is that the calorie impact from the wine is drastically reduced.
Heavy alcohol use in pregnancy can lead to birth defects. Some doctors feel that the safest course is not to drink any alcohol at all during pregnancy. Others feel that light, occasional drinking has not been shown to be harmful. Check with your doctor!
The general consensus is that alcohol might help you fall asleep immediately but that you'll be up in the middle of the night. A warm glass of milk seems to be a better idea.
Some people are concerned about high levels of lead in wine. A possible reason is that the high acidity levels in wine help to cause lead to leach out of things that it touches. Lead "capsules" (the foil at the top of the bottle) have all but disappeared from new bottles of wine for this reason. You can wipe the top of a bottle with a damp cloth before pouring if you have an older bottle with a lead capsule. There is some reason to believe that lead can be leached out of lead crystal glasses. Whether this occurs in significant numbers in the short run I do not at this time know, but I have read some material that indicates it is not a good idea to store an alcoholic beverage in crystal decanters for long periods of time.