(WashingtonTimes) - Wine has long been considered the liquid precursor to sensual pleasure, the elixir of Bacchus, the one lusty, legal intoxicant. A conservative line of thinking associates the loss of inhibition brought on by all forms of alcohol with wild, Bacchanalian revelry. Those of us who appreciate wine as an accompaniment to meals scoff at such narrow minded ideas. But there just might be something to the notation that wine’s powers can lead to unbridled passion… In 2004 I had the very good fortune to meet Dr. Max Lake, an Australian vintner, surgeon and author of several gastronomic books with titles like Scents and Sensuality. Lake became somewhat of a mentor to me until his death in 2009. Lake passed on a great deal of knowledge about biochemistry as it related to attraction. But the most profound of Dr. Lake’s teachings was on the relationship between wine and sexual stimulation and attraction.