Morning after blues

Overindulged, underslept, feeling shaky and sweaty… Sound familiar? You’re experiencing classic hangover symptoms. Fiona McDonald speaks to a few winemakers and investigates hangovers, their causes and treatment.I've always found that the day after a hangover is the best. Not because you genuinely do feel wonderful – you’re simply feeling normal and that’s the truly fantastic part! You feel 10-feet tall. You can clear buildings in a single bound. You have energy to burn and food tastes so good! No more head-pounding, heart-palpitating, stomach roiling or weak, sweaty trembling.

But the events leading to it are usually to blame – and it always seems like such a good idea at the time. The party’s fantastic, everyone is so witty and charming, you’re utterly bulletproof! The next day it’s quite the opposite… sad, sorry, frail and fragile in the extreme.

Scientifically, hangovers are caused by a combination of factors: the toxic by-product of alcohol metabolism, dehydration and fl ushing the system of vital nutrients – vitamins A, B (especially B6) and C. The body goes into metabolic shock which causes the nasty symptoms. Cathy Marshall of Catherine Marshall Wines says she’s quite capable of remembering two memorable hangovers and the events that led to them.

“I really felt that I’d died and gone to hell! It was awful – truly awful – and all because of some friends known as the ‘sluts of the slopes’. I’d been at a wine tasting at Laibach and was then phoned to join these so-called friends for a whisky tasting at the Devon Valley Hotel. “I must also mention that I hadn’t eaten… and then squared off to 30 single malts. I also didn’t know that you were supposed to dilute them before tasting. The evening was great and I was fascinated. [Then hotel owner] David Nathan-Maister was telling us all these stories about the various distilleries, whether the whiskies were from the Highlands or the Lowlands…

“I just know that I woke up feeling like death the next day – and felt that way all day.”

The second episode was while sailing in the Caribbean and involved rum – lots of it, in punches. “The drinks were delicious – lots of sweet pineapple juice… again, I thought I’d died and gone to hell. I had to be put off the yacht because I couldn’t handle the movement!”

Former Rustenberg winemaker Adi Badenhorst, now making his own wine in the Paardeberg, vowed never to drink with Groot Constantia winemaker Boela Gerber after a particularly painful experience in France. “The details are a bit hazy but I just know that I woke up feeling particularly rough and covered in cuts, scratches and bruises – and it had all started with drinking pastis with Boela in St-èmilion while we were both working a harvest abroad.”

As Badenhorst said, the details are sketchy but he does recall going for a walk to “clear his head”… At some point “it seemed like a good idea to climb a tree because the sun was coming up and I wanted to get a lekker view of St-èmilion…” The story goes that he fell asleep in the tree with disastrous gravitational consequences! Stellenzicht winemaker Guy Webber says he can remember his worst hangover…but has no recollection whatsoever of quite how it happened. And probing for details was futile. “I don’t talk about it,” he said, “and asking me how I felt is like asking me to describe Satan!”

“To this day I’m not quite sure what caused it but I do remember taking part in a braai competition. Maybe the smoke resulted in a significantly lower oxygen concentration in the air or something… I’m quite sure it wasn’t the Sauvignon Blanc!”
A fellow Pinotage fan and a man who swears by the health benefits of the levels of the anti-oxidant resveratrol that his favourite grape contains, Beyers Truter also has a story to tell.

Like Badenhorst his tale took place on foreign shores – also in Bordeaux. “We had a wonderful dinner in this underground fish restaurant with lots of beautiful wine. It was afterwards that a friend and I decided to test every single Cognac that’s ever been made. “I felt as though a six inch nail had been hammered through each eyeball! And I couldn’t get it out…” What makes this tale even more woeful is that the duo had to catch the 6am train to Paris. “I think half my wardrobe is still lying in Bordeaux. If I visit there again one day I’ll go and fetch it.”

When it comes to this quartet’s words of advice Marshall advocates fluids – lots and lots of fluid to rehydrate the system. “At our age our livers don’t work so well,” said Truter, “so a tall glass of water with one or two aspirins help – both as a ‘pre-drinking routine’ and a ‘sure-fire’ remedy. If you’re strong enough or you want to punish yourself you can just let the hangover run its course over time, but then you must be able to take the pain!”

Webber said a bullet to the brain would take care of matters but said there was no quick cure. “24 hours is needed for the remedy.” Adi Badenhorst’s advice was short and sweet: “Don’t ever drink with Boela Gerber – under any circumstances!”