It doesn’t matter if it’s one glass or four, I get the wine lips. Since my apartment is pretty much the place where wine goes to die, I’ve looked into preventing this reaction. We all know wine isn’t the most hydrating refreshment on the market. I’m generally a dry person… dry skin, dry humor, dry gin. That’s not true, I hate gin. My lips will start cracking on my second glass of vino and it’s all down hill from there. Involuntary lip rouge.
But why, wine, why do this to your loyal companion? The truth is, the very thing that embodies the taste, is the same thing that stains the lips, just like cooking with butter. Tannins are the natural compounds in wine, coming from the grape itself in reaction to the barrels wine is matured in. Tannins will also turn your mouth purple. Don’t be fooled, they aren’t all bad. Tannins are an excellent antioxidant and natural preservative. They are also responsible for giving the wine structured flavor, taking your mouth on a dimensional journey through happiness.
So what’s the fix for a wine mouth? Vaseline or flavorless lip balm between glasses. You can also try to drink wine with a low tannin content: young wines, Merlot, or Pinot Noirs, and avoid the high tannin content of Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz. Either that or drink so much you just don’t care. That’s what I usually do because Shiraz is my number one drink of choice. If you’re going to be a wine-o, you’ll have to deal with residual wine lips anyway.
About the Writer:
KT Smash struggles to live in Los Angeles (gasp), works in reality television (for shame), and hopes that her borderline feminist rhetoric won’t precede her, but her inappropriate comments do (clutch my pearls). She blogs at The Internet Bachelorette.
About Guest Writer
Ah, yes; the wine lips.
But better than the alternative, no?
The beer belly.
Twitter Name: highlyirritable
I think I’ve been lucky not to get the wine lips, but what about the red wine tongue? Haven’t found a solution for that one yet.
Twitter Name: breathe_again