By now, we're all aware of the health benefits of red wine. It offers beneficial antioxidants that work to prevent cancers and heart disease while lowering cholesterol. White wine doesn't seem to offer as many benefits, but its bubbly cousin, champagne, seems to. Researchers have found that sparkling wines, such as champagne, cava and prosecco, contain the same polyphenols as red wine, plant chemicals that boost nitric oxide in the blood, which widens blood vessels, easing the strain on your heart and brain. So why the benefits for champagne and not white wine? The grapes used in making champagne are typically red grapes - pinot meunier and pinot noir.