Cameron Winery -- sustainably farmed, non-irrigated, Oregon pinot noir and chardonnay

The Independent Order of Good Templers was founded in upstate New York in 1851 with the expressed purpose of ridding the world of alcohol beverages. Using Freemason regalia, it spread the word of temperance across the United States culminating in the 18^th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, ratified in 1919. This ill-fated attempt at controlling people’s lives in such a fundamental way was repealed only 14 years later. But the Good Templers never actually went away. They tried their programs in Southeast Asia among other places and finally ended up in Sweden in the 1970s where they dispensed with the Freemason regalia and rebranded themselves as Movendi International.

This time around they have taken a more nefarious route to achieving their aim of temperance for the world. Some of its members have established themselves in the World Health Organization (WHO) which has now declared that “no amount of alcohol is safe to consume”.  While a sizable quantity of scientific evidence argues against their stated claim, they have chosen to pick and choose bits of research that support their agenda. In Movendi’s view, there are no artisans or vignerons connected to land and history, there is just Big Alcohol which they can lump with Big Tobacco and vilify.

However, in reality, the tenets of famous J Curve still holds: low to moderate consumption of alcohol decreases mortality over teatotalers.  The nadir of the J-curve is ½ glass of wine per day but up to 4 drinks per day is still associated with lower mortality versus abstainers.  This data includes 34 studies and over 1 million subjects and 94,000 deaths.

In spite of the evidence supporting a healthy lifestyle associated with moderate consumption of wine (and other alcoholic beverages) the Prohibitionists continue to espouse their “no alcohol” mantra. By burrowing into the WHO, an organization with substantial media power, they have managed to enlist other unsuspecting allies into their orbit. Even the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) last year ran an advertisement denigrating wine consumption.

When several Oregon wine producers convinced the OHA to meet with us, it became clear that they were taking their lead from WHO.  Fortunately after meeting and talking with us they explained that they were concerned about excessive alcohol consumption and apologized for the tenor of the ad and pulled it from publication.

Excessive alcohol consumption has always been a problem but removing all alcoholic beverages does nothing to reduce addictive behavior. Therefore, at Cameron Winery we would like to encourage everyone to drink moderately and enjoy themselves this holiday season!!  There is much good wine and associated history to savored!