In medical terms the alcohol in red wine is of a minimal importance as compared to the resveratrol in wine.
Indeed resveratrol in wine is said to have anti-clotting effect. Anti-clotting effect prevents formation of blood clots in the blood vessels. Blood clots in the veins are a potential cause of heart attacks & strokes. In addition it prevents one from cancer & slows the ageing process. Research has shown that high consumption of red wine have fewer incidences of heart disease and cancer.
Red wine is usually fermented with the skins, seeds, twigs etc of grapes. Resveratrol is found in the leaves, twigs, bark of the grape vines & skins of grapes.
Unlike red wine, wine is only made from fermented pressed juice of grapes & therefore lacks in the advantages of red wine.
Not all red wines are cited as a healthy alcoholic drink. Red wine sold in the market today cannot be entirely trusted as some are just brand names and are fake in quality. Thus it is important to make sure that you get the right red wine recommended to you so that you can benefit from its properties. Some red wines are said to have vinegar, a substance that is treated as having the ability to reduce weight loss. The benefits of red wine, it must be noted, are only accessed if consumed in moderation. This has to be kept in mind while trying to exploit the benefits of resveratrol.
From this page : http://singularityhub.com/2009/09/03/will-resveratrol-let-you-live-forever/
In the 1930s Crowell and McCay at Cornell University discovered that feeding mice less food helped them live longer. This calorie restrictive diet got everyone thinking about how to reverse the affects of aging. Coincidentally, resveratrol was first isolated as a substance in the roots of the white hellebore soon after in 1940.