Chinese: Ganbei! (dry your cup) Dutch: Prost! (health) English: Cheers! French: Santé! (health) German: Prost! (cheers) Hebrew: Le'chaim! (to life) Irish: Sláinte! (to your health) Italian: Per cent'anni! (for one hundred years) Italian 2: Salute (health) Japanese: Kanpai! (dry your cup) Russian: Vashe zdorovie! (to health) Spanish: Salud! (health) Welsh: Iechyd da! (health)
"Vita vinum est" -- "Wine is life" -- according to Petronius, a Roman writer
7/6/2006
Sherlock Holmes’ advice that
“When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
7/18/2006
A very good impression with my wines to Catherine Fallis, Master Sommelier.
Even if the publisher edits me out I must have done something right :-)
TC,
John Z
Catherine Fallis is the world's fifth female Master Sommelier.
July 5, 2006
To: John Zuccarino at Silver Springs Winery
From: Catherine Fallis, Master Sommelier, and Robert Cohen Co-Authors, Great Boutique Wines You Can Buy Online, Fall 2006, Silverback Books
Re: Inclusion in Great Boutique Wines You Can Buy Online
Dear John:
Thank you for submitting Silver Springs Winery to be considered for Great Boutique Wines You Can Buy Online. We have included your winery and one or more of your wines in the manuscript submitted to the publisher. There may be some final cuts made to the manuscript by the publisher, so we cannot guarantee that your winery will appear in the finished version.
In the meantime, we’d like to thank you for helping with the production of Great Boutique Wines You Can Buy Online. If you have any questions, please contact either Catherine Fallis at grapegoddess@planetgrape.com or Robert Cohen at robertcohen@greatboutiquewines.com.
Best wishes,
Catherine Fallis, MS, and Robert Cohen Co-Authors Great Boutique Wines You Can Buy Online
10/18/2006
Survey Shows Growing Interest in Unoaked Chardonnay
New Report Tracks Latest Trends of High Frequency Wine Drinkers
From Daily News Links, 10/18/2006
Press Release, St. Helena, CA (October 17, 2006) - Frequent U.S. wine drinkers are discovering the pleasures of less or no oak flavors in their Chardonnay. Awareness of wines of this style stands at 59% and is growing, according to a report released today by Wine Opinions. "Of those who have heard of these wines, 78% have tasted or purchased unoaked Chardonnay wines," said Christian Miller, the Research Director of Wine Opinions. "And interest in trying these wines among the rest of core consumers is remarkably high.
From our data, it looks like the wine consumer market is fracturing when it comes to a taste for oak in Chardonnay."
Grape harvesting season is just around the corner and the Finger Lakes are having one of the best years since 1999. Wine makers are expecting nothing but a bountiful harvest in the next three weeks, which means businesses in the Finger Lakes region are going to reap the benefits of this good grape season.
you've probably heard it through the grapevine. Finger Lakes wineries are expecting to harvest some of the best grapes in the region.
"It started out with a mild Winter, which allowed very little bud damage and that gave us a larger harvest, larger quantity and then the weather's been very warm this Summer. We've had just about the right amount of rain producing the quality grape and helping to mature them," said Mike Countryman, Casa Larga's Cellar Master.
For 15 years, Countryman has been growing, tending and harvesting grapes for Merlots, Chardonnays, Pinot Noirs and Casa Larga's famous ice wines.
"We grow ones that are suitable for our climate and a year like this allows them to mature properly, so we do pretty good," said Countryman.
But a good harvest doesn't just mean good business for wineries, it also means good business for the entire Finger Lakes region.
9/21/2006
Publication date 20/09/06 WINE buffs have uncorked a campaign to banish screw caps from bottles. The move comes after it was revealed screw caps can leave some wine just as tainted as corks can. Research carried out for this year's International Wine Challenge - the world's biggest wine competition - found faults caused by screw caps are almost as common as cork taint. Meanwhile, technological improvements have meant the number of wine bottles spoilt by corks is in decline. The findings have been seized on by wine traditionalists, who hate screw caps and say cork has served the industry perfectly for hundreds of years. Screw caps, left, are seen by some wine experts as industrial and lacking the romance of a cork, right, which gives a satisfying pop when the bottle is opened. However, they have been adopted widely by supermarkets because it was thought there was much less chance of wine going off under a screw cap - a problem said to affect 10% of bottles with corks. Now tasters at the International Wine Challenge in London claim cork taint is in decline and problems affecting wines sealed with screwcaps have been underestimated. From a blind tasting of 13,000 wines, they discovered 4% of the wine with corks had faults from oxidation or high sulphide levels - giving it an eggy flavour - compared with 2% of screw-cap bottles.
9/20/2006
Red Wine May Prevent Alzheimer's
Tests On Mice Show Promise, But It's Too Soon To Raise A Toast For People
Sept. 20, 2006
Researchers say tests on mice show red wine put a cork on the formation of brain proteins tied to Alzheimer's disease. (CBS/AP)
Fast Facts
After seven months of sipping their designated drinks, the mice individually were placed in a maze and challenged to find their way out. Those in the red wine group performed best
(WebMD) Red wine might put a cork on the formation of brain proteins tied to Alzheimer's disease, a new study shows.
But don't raise your wine glass to celebrate yet: The study only included mice. It's too soon to know if the findings apply to people.
Still, the data deserves further study and supports the theory that one daily drink of red wine for women and two for men "may help reduce" Alzheimer's risk, write the researchers. They included Jun Wang, PhD, of the psychiatry department at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
Wang's team notes that alcohol has risks as well as benefits, and they're not recommending anyone to start drinking wine for Alzheimer's prevention. Their study is due to appear in The FASEB Journal's November edition. "FASEB" stands for Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
Wang's team studied female mice with genes that order the production of amyloid-beta protein, which has been linked to brain plaque in Alzheimer's patients. The researchers split the mice into three groups. One group of mice got its drinking water spiked with red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon from California-grown grapes). Another group of mice had its drinking water mixed with ethanol that didn't come from red wine. The mice in the third group were teetotalers, drinking water with no alcohol.
The mice were free to drink as much as they wanted for seven months. None went on major benders. The mice's average wine consumption equaled moderate consumption in humans, the researchers note. They defined moderate consumption as:
1 daily 5-ounce glass of wine for women
2 daily 5-ounce glasses for men
After seven months of sipping their designated drinks, the mice individually were placed in a maze and challenged to find their way out. Those in the red wine group performed best. The mice in the ethanol group weren't better at mastering the maze than the teetotalers, the study shows.
That finding "suggests that ethanol, at concentrations comparable to Cabernet Sauvignon, does not significantly influence spatial memory," the researchers write.
Then Wang's team made the maze test tougher. They flipped the finish line to the opposite side of the maze. That way, the mice didn't find the finish line where they expected it to be.
The mice in the red wine group were quicker to adapt to that change. But the mice in the ethanol and water groups "performed poorly" in the new maze, note Wang and colleagues.
The researchers checked the mice's brains for signs of amyloid-beta proteins. The mice in the red wine group had the lowest levels of amyloid-beta proteins. No differences were seen in amyloid-beta levels in mice in the ethanol and water groups.
Lastly, the scientists doused Cabernet Sauvignon, at moderate levels for human consumption, on the building blocks of amyloid-beta protein. Instead of making amyloid-beta, those chemical building blocks formed a different type of protein, the study shows.
The researchers caution that there is "no direct experimental evidence" that red wine or antioxidants called polyphenols in wine "beneficially influence" Alzheimer's disease. That is, they're not making any Alzheimer's prevention promises for people.
What ingredient in red wine might explain the study's results? That's not clear.
Resveratrol, an antioxidant found in wine, has drawn attention in other research. But in this experiment, resveratrol levels were 10 times lower than the minimum effective amount in past studies, note Wang and colleagues. They call for more research to see if red wine and its polyphenol extracts are beneficial against Alzheimer's disease.
SOURCES: Wang, J. The FASEB Journal, November 2006. News release, Mount Sinai School of Medicine.: Wang, J. , November 2006. News release, Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
8/15/2006
Study: White Wine As Heart-Healthy As Red
University of Connecticut and University of Milan scientists say they have evidence that white wine may be as heart healthy as red.
Study leader Dipak K. Das, of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, says that the pulp of grapes appears just as heart-healthy in laboratory experiments as the skin.
Past studies have shown that the cardioprotective compounds in grapes -- polyphenolic antioxidants -- reside in the skin and seeds. Grape skins, which contain purple pigment, are crushed with the pulp to make red wines.
But skins are separated from pulp to make most white wine, leading to the conventional belief that red wines and red grape juice are the most heart healthy.
Although further study is needed to identify the principle ingredients responsible for the cardioprotective abilities of the grape flesh, to the best of our knowledge, our study provides evidence for the first time that the flesh of grapes is equally cardioprotective with respect to the skins, the researchers report in the Aug. 23 issue of the Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry.
6/14/06
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The Vintners Late harvest select Chardonnay
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This Chard is done right as nature intended it to be made, unaltered, unoaked and just left alone, no manipulation. The wine is a great seller and the public is voting with their pockets and cases are flying out the door. 2005 was the kind of year that happens to a winemaker once in a lifetime and we have had our chance to participate in this amazing fruit and make wine unlike any other year. The wine is great now and will achieve brilliance as it ages, so enjoy the passion of this grape.
6/21/2006
Can't sleep? Have a glass of red wine - 19-Jun-2006
Scientists in Italy say they have discovered that the grapes used to make some of the most popular red wines contain high levels of the sleep hormone melatonin. Melatonin is naturally secreted by the pineal gland in the brain, especially at night. It tells the body when it is time to sleep.
The researchers, from the University of Milan, said the discovery of melatonin in grape skinscould explain why so many of us reach for a bottle of red wine to help us wind down after a long day.
'The melatonin content in wine could help regulate the circadian rhythm [sleep-wake patterns], just like the melatonin produced by the pineal gland in mammals,' says researcher Iriti Marcello at the University of Milan.
Until recently, melatonin was thought to be exclusively produced by mammals but has recently been discovered in plants. It is thought to have antioxidant properties. Iriti's study discovered high levels of melatonin in Nebbiolo, Merlot, Cabernet Savignon, Sangiovesse and Croatina grape varieties.Iriti's team have also shown that melatonin content can be enhanced in grapes by treating vines with a plant vaccine Benzothiadiazole.
Richard Wurtman of the brain and cognitive science department at MIT is unconvinced, however, and believes further research is needed to determine whether the compounds discovered are melatonin, or something very similar.
I
The Passion of the Grape !
I am the grape; I am born over and over again, in all parts of the World so the story is told. As a Grape I have thrived longer than mankind for this some say that I shine. As a grape I have witnessed the rise and fall of many a great empires, some not so great not close to the grape. King’s have proclaimed me when I am a wine “ The wine of King’s and the King of wines” when I transform them into something sublime. Sometimes it’s just happens as I lay on the ground, fully ripe and then I am found. My friends I call on have a name called yeast, that live on me to say the least. The animals come to taste me, they drink me and roll all around; some are the birds, yet the biggest fan is the Elephant who runs from wine to wine in search of the pleasures of the divine.
When I grow the Deer try to eat me before my time the beetles and other pest have put me to the test, yet I survive you know the rest. I am mostly Bi-Sexual that is unless I can cross bread, as Cabernet Sauvignon did 400 years ago indeed. Why Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc are the parents of Cab Sav. What a shock. It was a brief affaire bold I dare to find Red and White combine to give me life the fruit of such fine vine.
Trials and tribulations about and yet I stand strong without any doubt, old World or new this is a choice for you. Each Grape harvest I die in the end, to rise and become something that lives again and again. With each vintage I change so coming back is never the same, yet I feel no shame. Some years are hot others are not, yet I survive and thrive with tender care of the ones that have an affaire.
Beauty and fun is what I have become, to some, it’s all about the fun, and laughter that I evoke, the spirit stands awake. Most religions have a prayer for me; this is how life is for me to see. Holly and holding your cup to your lips and your face, some supple in which I express with grace, although I also have a dark face. Each thing that enjoys life is nothing without my life as the passion of the grape no matter what race.
White Merlot is the new mystery wines ! This light fruity blush wine features incredible bursting fresh, juicy berry flavors, particularly strawberry and raspberry, softly sweet. Great for sipping alone or with food and extremely fun. RS 4%
7% Tastes like an Ice Wine with out the cost
Other releases are the “ NO OAK”
Vintners Select Late harvest Chardonnay
Stainless steel tank cool, slow fermentation and steel tank aged. The clarity and brilliance combined with the nose of pineapple, apricot, passion fruit and with a tropical fruit finish. Long, clean, and silky mouth feel. RS 1%
The Don Giovanni 04 wines are progressing very nicely in barrel, they will be better than the 03's if that is possible. Our new mystery wines are going to be 4% RS and 7% RS and they will be unique to the area. One clue, think white then think pink then think different. The first one to guess the mystery wine will get a case if they are right... Good Luck!! I almost forgot our steel tank fermented and aged Chardonnay will be all about the fruit. Look for it in May 06, cheers.!!
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3/10/2006
The 04 reds are blended and ready for bottling. I must say I am very impressed at the structure of such young wines. The potential is enormous, wine with a big fat attitude, yet as supple as a ballroom dance. If you like to Tango then Tri-Dition will spice up your life, as the blend 65% CF 25% Merlot and 10% Cab Sav. is perfect.
The Chardonnay is crisp fruity no oak and due to the best quality fruit I used deserving the designation of a Reserve out of respect for what was accomplished.
The two mystery wines hum all I can say is, well a hum a mystery, release date for them will be mid June.
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This Popular Drink May Delay Aging!
Sip a glass of red wine with dinner most nights, and it may buy you a longer life as well as delay the onset of aging.
That's the word from scientists at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy, who have shown that red wine can actually delay the onset of aging thanks to the ingredient resveratrol. At least it works in fish, and the researchers think the findings could apply to humans as well.
Resveratrol, an organic compound found in grapes and particularly enriched in red wines such as pinot noir, is part of a group of antioxidant compounds known as polyphenols. Scientists have shown through previous studies that resveratrol can help prevent inflammation and cancer. The Italian researchers, led by Alessandro Cellerino, added resveratrol to the daily diet of 150 Nothobranchius furzeri fish, a breed that typically lives about nine weeks in captivity. The result? It not only significantly prolonged their lifespan, but also delayed the onset of age-related problems, including loss of memory and diminished muscular performance.
The fish that received a lower dose of resveratrol lived on average 33 percent longer than fish fed their normal diets, while those fed the higher dose lived more than 50 percent longer. Previous research showed a similar effect in fruit flies and worms, making resveratrol the first compound to consistently prolong life in three very different animal groups. The hope is that resveratrol could someday be used in drugs that would help prevent age-related diseases in humans. The study findings were published in the journal Current Biology.
This isn't the first research to show the anti-aging qualities of wine. Women who drink one glass wine daily tend to have sharper minds into old age than do women who abstain, reports Reuters of a large study of 12,500 nurses from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Light to moderate drinking has also been shown to prevent heart disease and stroke.
Led by Dr. Meir Stampfer, the team found that female drinkers aged 70 to 81 were 20 percent less likely to experience a decline in their thinking skills over a two-year period than women who did not drink at all. Specifically, women who drank daily tended to have the mental agility of someone a year and a half younger than abstainers.
Just in case you have any ideas about beefing that up by imbibing more, forget it. Drinking more than one glass of wine a day didn't provide a greater cognitive benefit.
3/16/2006
Palate expansion
The expansion of ones palate can happen by tasting wines that you never tasted, now you don't have to drink them, just do the four S's if all you want to do is taste. I had a bottle of Musar red that opened up my palate, so when I went and opened up a bottle of my traditional staple wine, it tasted deeper, fuller,complex and I was able to taste things that I never did before. I experienced palate expansion as my cognitive abilities to peal the wine layer by layer seems to have evolved, literally overnight.
We all fall into a rut where we seem to drink what we like, so be it that's fine, but open up your adventurous side and taste as many different wines as you can. Now don't think this can be done in one night, rather think of it as a lifetime adventurous experience with open ended results.
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4/06/2006
What is Terroir ?
Well now that Spring is upon us you have the best chance to really understand the term Terroir. Many fields in the USA are being tilled this time of year, if you are lucky enough to see this in real time stop the car, bike or whatever you are travailing in. Get out and take a good smell of the tilled earth, that smell is a part of Terroir and will make it into the product that is grown on that site. I suggest you take Terroir notes just like you would with wine. Now the fun part travel a few miles and do it again if you have time make about six stops and take notes. You should note the site the time of the day and date. Now summer comes up faster than you think, go back and repeat the smelling and take notes, repeat for each season. After one year you will have had a hands on experience of the tale of the soil as she will have something different to express each time.
Understanding the Terroir will now enable you will be an empowered wine taster. George is a mineral man as he tells us although he does enjoy the fruit. Some of us will have the preference of the fruit or the minerals or both. Anyway whatever your wine preference you are right, being this is a subjective choice, so why would you subject yourself to something you don't like.
AP - Wed Dec 7,11:00 AM ET
A makeshift peace sign of flowers lies on top John Lennon's 'Strawberry Fields' memorial in New York's Central Park, Wednesday Dec. 7, 2005. The memorial is near the Dakota building where Lennon, a former member of the Beatles, lived with his wife Yoko Ono and son Sean when he was murdered outside the building. Thursday is the 25th anniversary of his death. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Beatle John Lennon during a gathering of fans and supporters at Lennon's Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California December 8, 2005. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)
HEALTH WATCH
What causes red wine headaches?
Tribune Media Services
Q. I get headaches after drinking red wine. Why? I'm 56 years old and in excellent health.
Getting a headache after drinking red wine seems to be common, but no single explanation has been found. Several theories have been proposed, but none has much evidence behind it.
One theory holds that the culprit is histamine, a compound found in grape skins. Red wine contains more histamine than white wine because it's made from the whole grape (including the skin), not just the juice.
Some people have a shortage of an enzyme that breaks down histamine in the small intestine. Alcohol also inhibits the enzyme, so the combination may boost histamine levels in the blood, which can dilate blood vessels and cause a headache.
Tannins, another grape-skin constituent, could be at fault. Tannins are plant chemicals that impart flavor to red wines and contain antioxidants. But they also spur the release of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which at high levels can cause headaches in some people. Other plant chemicals (polyphenols) may be involved.
Some experts think that sulfites, a preservative in wine, are to blame. But sulfite sensitivity usually causes breathing problems rather than headaches. Moreover, many white wines and other foods also contain sulfites.
These potential culprits vary from wine to wine, so if you don't want to give up red wine altogether, you might try different brands or grape varieties to see how they affect you. When you try a new red wine, start with less than half a drink. If it's going to give you a headache, it'll do so within 15 minutes.
Any alcoholic beverage can dilate blood vessels in the brain and cause a headache. Avoid drinking wine, beer or liquor on an empty stomach or when you're dehydrated. Try to drink a glass of water between glasses of wine. And limit your wine intake. One glass per day is most healthful. But if you have two at a sitting, they should be separated by at least an hour.
Red wine is a matter of the heart
(February 14, 2006) — The month of February offers up two opportunistic holidays for wine lovers to celebrate. Speaking of lovers, today happens to be the first of them. Happy Valentine's Day to all, with wishes for lots of love and resveratrol!
The second holiday is ... wait. Could it be you don't know the story of resveratrol? Yikes! Back up. Today is the universal day of the heart. OK, that love thing is a big part of it, but more importantly we must think about the health and longevity of that wonderful organ that does it all for us.
The heart has a friend by the name of anti-oxidant. You can find this friend in products such as dark chocolate. (Rather appropriate for the day, don't you think?) And you can also find the "A" friend in a compound called resveratrol (pronounced "rez-VAIR-uh-troll), which happens to hang out in many red wines. Cool.
Why red wine and not white? Well, the "Res" resides in red wines because it comes from the actual grape skin. During the winemaking process, the juice for white wines is extracted from the grape skins right away, so the "Res" leaves hand-in-hand with the skin. However, the juice from red grapes will soak with their skins for some time. This not only gives the two of them the chance to say farewell after a long growing season, but it also allows that luscious juice to absorb the deep color pigments, the tannins and the inherent flavors of that soon-to-be extracted red skin. And yes, that is when the "Res" friend decides to finally leave the grape skin and travel with the grape juice to that great barrel in the sky. So it conveniently ends up in your wine glass.
Now I am not a health expert, but apparently, resveratrol does not get along with the bad cholesterol (LDL) in our cardiovascular systems. This discovery became public in November 1991 when 60 Minutes aired the episode about the French Paradox. This surprising report focused on a small town in southern France. The inhabitants pretty much lived on cheese, foie gras, croissants and rich pastries — some of the highest saturated fat and cholesterol foods you can find. Yet, these folks had one of the lowest rates of coronary disease in the world. It didn't make sense.
As the investigation continued, it was revealed that the party responsible for this phenomenon was a compound found in red wine — resveratrol. This polyphenolic phytoalexin reportedly has the ability to inhibit platelet aggregation, reduce lipid levels and protect cells against lipid oxidation. Yada Yada.
After 60 Minutes, the sales of red wine soared. Subsequent research has led to the discovery that our good friend and current screen celebrity, Pinot noir, offers some of the highest levels of "Res" on record. Not only that, but New York state seems to rule the roost. As a matter of fact, one of the highest "Res" levels in the world has been found in a lovely little red wine called Fleur de Pinot Noir from Dr. Konstantin Frank on Keuka Lake (available in limited quantities only at the winery). When measured, this wine contained four times as much resveratrol as the nearest California Pinot noir tested.
Long story short, you can feel good about red wine and chocolate today, and for that I am thankful. Of course, as my mother always says — "Moderation in all things." So in addition to your dinner reservations for tonight, don't forget to reserve some room for resveratrol.
Tutankhamen liked his wine white
16 February 2006
From New Scientist Print Edition
IT SEEMS that Tutankhamen, the teenage king of ancient Egypt, sloped off to the afterlife with a good supply of fine white wine. It's a surprising discovery, considering there is no record of white wine in Egypt until the 3rd century AD, 1600 years after the young pharaoh died.
Rosa Lamuela-Raventós and her colleagues from the University of Barcelona, Spain, used liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to analyse the residue from six of the jars in Tutankhamen's tomb. All contained tartaric acid, a chemical characteristic of grapes, but only one contained syringic acid, found in the skin of red grapes. It's this skin that gives red wine its colour.
The absence of the chemical in the other five jars suggests the wine in them was white. Because it is unlikely Egyptian wine makers would have removed red grape skins to create white wines as modern wine makers do, white grapes probably did exist in Tutankhamen's time.
In ancient Egypt, red wine was placed in tombs to accompany people into the afterlife. Now it appears that white wine was on the menu too.
"It must have been considered a very good drink," says Lamuela-Raventós, whose findings are reported in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science.
From issue 2539 of New Scientist magazine, 16 February 2006, page 22
NewsTrack
Study: Drink red wine, live longer
ROME, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Italian researchers say an antioxidant in wine called resveratrol slows aging and makes you feel better.
The researchers tested resveratrol on killifish --a tropical fish whose short life span makes it ideal for aging studies, ANSA reported .
The molecule boosted lifespan by 30 percent, warded off muscle weakening and delayed a decrease in learning ability.
Alessandro Cellerino of Pisa University and Antonino Cattaneo of Lay Line Genomics said their experiment provided the clearest evidence yet that red wine can help animals live longer.
The study is set for publication in the journal Current Biology.
Dramatic expansion of US wine drinkers January 11, 2006 Adam Lechmere
Wine is reclaiming its place on the family dinner table and more US adults than ever are drinking it, a new survey has revealed.
The survey by the Wine Market Council found that between 2000 and 2005 the wine drinking population in the US increased by 31% among adults in households with a household income greater than US$35,000, while the number of adults drinking beer and/or spirits but not wine decreased by 25%.
Wine is increasingly being chosen as an accompaniment to meals in 'casual chain' restaurants, and at home when all the family dine together, the survey found.
Wine Market Council chair Michaela Rodeno said, 'The tremendous surge in popularity for wine is coming from several sources. Young adults of the millennial generation are embracing wine in a manner not seen since the baby boomers took to wine in the 1970s.'
Beer and spirits drinkers, she added, are also increasingly finding they like wine as well.
The new generation of drinkers was also found to be interested in learning more about wine, and are open to experimenting with wine from all over the world.
Drinkers are also most interested in brands that convey a lighthearted and relaxed image, the survey of 1,398 wine consumers, conducted by Merrill Research, found. It is the fifth wave of a series of studies undertaken by the Council, beginning in 1994.
The findings were presented this week at the Culinary Institute of America in St Helena, Napa.
Wine Market Council is an independent, non-profit trade association of grape growers, wine producers, importers, wholesalers, retailers and other organisations affiliated with the wine industry.
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Take a Hair of the Dog that Bit You.
After a debauch, take a little wine the next day. Take a cool draught of ale in the morning, after a night’s excess. The advice was given literally in ancient times, “If a dog bites you, put a hair of the dog into the wound,” on the homœopathic principle of “Similia similibus curantur” (like cures like).
Moderate drinking reduces obesity risk Asian News International
Washington, December 6, 2005
A new study has found that people who drink small amounts of alcohol regularly are less likely to be obese than people who do not drink at all.
According to the study, published in the open access journal BMC Public Health, consuming a drink or two a few times a week reduces the risk of being obese, but four or more drinks per day increase the risk of being obese by 46 percent.
Ahmed Arif from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and James Rohrer, from Mayo Clinic, USA, analysed the results of the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III in a subset of 8,236 non-smoker respondents. The respondents had all filled a questionnaire about their drinking habits and their body mass index (BMI) had been measured.
Out of the sample studied, 46 percent were 'current drinkers' and drank at least one drink a month on average. Individuals who drank four or more drinks per day were classified as heavy drinkers. Obesity was defined as a BMI equal to or higher than 30.
Current drinkers had 0.73 lower chances of being obese than non-drinkers. Current drinkers who drank one to two glasses regularly, but less than five drinks per week, were significantly less likely to be obese than non-drinkers and heavy drinkers. Heavy drinkers were 46 percent more likely to be obese than non-drinkers.
The mechanisms of the protective effect of alcohol on obesity are not well understood and the authors emphasise that "the data give no evidence to advise non-drinkers to start drinking alcohol just for reducing body weight."
Wine-and-grape industry pours $6 billion into state economy
By BEN DOBBIN The Associated Press
ROCHESTER — The fruit of the vine is lifting New York's economic spirits.
The global wine-and-grape industry sent $6 billion flowing through the state economy last year, and homegrown vineyards were the biggest contributors, a California research firm said in a report Tuesday.
With 31,000 acres of vineyards, 212 wineries and 1,384 grape farms, New York is the nation's second largest wine producer after California and the third biggest grape grower behind California and Washington.
Wineries, grape producers and related businesses in New York, from liquor stores to makers of bottles, glasses and labels, account for almost 36,000 jobs and a $1.3 billion payroll, Napa Valley-based MKF Research said.
Wine sales alone generate $420 million in sales, but the state industry's multiplier impact on the economy came to $3.4 billion in 2004, the state-sponsored study found. That was topped off with $2.6 billion in direct and indirect economic benefits from the wine-and-grape industry in other states and countries.
“When you trace it from the vineyard to the table, wine is the ultimate value-added product,” said Jim Trezise, president of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation. “It's a gold mine for agriculture and tourism and manufacturing and many other sectors of the economy.”
The industry's economic impact is probably greater than $6 billion because New York had an unusually small grape harvest last year and data on property taxes and various “allied industries” were difficult to gather, said Barbara Insel, managing director of MKF Research in St. Helena, Calif.
A long-awaited state law allowing the direct shipment of wines into and out of New York went into effect in August and looks likely to give the industry a dynamic boost, she said.
About 70 percent of New York's wineries have opened in the last 20 years — 63 of them since 2000. Nearly half of all wineries are rooted in the Finger Lakes region in west-central New York, where a grape-friendly micro-climate is created by deep, slender, hill-framed lakes.
From Long Island and the Hudson Valley across to Lake Erie, New York's wineries are drawing nearly three times as many visitors as a decade ago, the New York Agricultural Statistics Service said in a recent survey.
It recorded 4.14 million “person visits” in 2003, up from 1.4 million in 1993 and 384,000 in 1985.
The actual number of tourists is less since most of those people visited more than one winery, but should exceed 3 million this year, Trezise said.
Originally published November 30, 2005
Wine country life It's beautiful, fun, and healthful. Perhaps that's why living in wine country has gotten so popular. November 25, 2005: 10:32 AM EST By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - One of the favorite fantasies of the affluent post-industrial age is the retreat to wine country.
Millions of dot-commers, investment bankers, entertainment industry mavens and average Americans have toyed with the idea of chucking it all and buying a small chateau or winery where they'll live happily ever after.
It's not just that they're looking through rosé colored glasses -- life among the vineyards really can be beautiful.
There are the vinescapes themselves -- grapes often grow in perfect settings, on rolling hills or in pleasant valleys and framed by lakes, seas, or mountains.
The vines are beautiful too. Their lovely deep colors and gnarled trunks can provoke passion in oenophiles and teetotalers alike. And heavy clumps of grapes hanging from slender tendrils make mouths water and palates tingle in anticipation.
Weather is fine
The climate in wine country is often very fine as well, although, as progress has been made in adopting European varietal grapes to sometimes harsh local conditions, wine grapes can increasingly be grown in much less temperate climes.
Still, in some of the best wine country, such as California's Napa and Santa Barbara counties, and the Willamette Valley in Oregon, the weather can be described as nearly ideal.
Even in more northerly grape growing regions such as the Finger Lakes and the North Fork in New York, the climate is softened by large bodies of water.
Lust for living
The grape-country lifestyle also hold attractions, even for non-drinkers. Many areas are hot beds of the burgeoning "slow food" movement, which encourages a turning back to traditional agricultural practices. It's not just wine; it's artisanal cheeses, wild mushrooms, heritage livestock breeds, and naturally raised fruits and vegetables.
Green markets and farm stands provide welcome alternatives to the supermarkets and big-box stores where most Americans shop.
Recreational opportunities are common. Many are adjacent to or near ski areas or close to the sea or large lakes.
Wine country is expanding. Fifty years ago it was almost wholely confined to California and a few small parts of New York, Washington, and Oregon. Production outside the Golden State was negligible.
How that has changed. For example, in the Finger Lakes, according to real estate broker Ron Miller, the number of wineries just keeps growing. In Washington, the state had only about 20 wineries in 1985. Today the total is 350 and counting. Wine country is coming to areas never associated with wine before; states as diverse as Texas and Maine produce wine.
So, drink a toast to the residents of wine country. May their lives be as lovely as their surroundings.
For a look at what a million dollars buys around the country, click here.
Curious as to how much would your house cost in wine country? Click here to find out.
A chemical compound in wine reduces levels of a harmful molecule linked to Alzheimer's disease. In a recent study, resveratrol--one of several antioxidants found in wine--helped human cells break down the molecule, which contributes to the lesions found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Fortunately for teetotalers, the compound is also found elsewhere.
"Resveratrol is a natural polyphenol occurring in abundance in several plants, including grapes, berries and peanuts," says author Philippe Marambaud of the Litwin-Zucker Research Center for the Study of Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders in Manhasset, N.Y. "The polyphenol is found in high concentrations in red wines."
The scientists found that 40 micromoles (a measure of the amount of resveratrol in a liter of solution) cut levels of the Alzheimer's-associated molecules--amyloid-beta peptides--by more than half. Treatment with proteasome-inhibitors nullified the benefit. The team thinks therefore that the substance works by boosting the effectiveness of the proteasome--a multi-protein complex that breaks down other proteins inside a cell. These findings will be published in the November 11 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The pinot noir grape apparently boasts the most dietary resveratrol, but that may not be enough to fend off Alzheimer's. "It is difficult to know whether the anti-amyloidogenic effect of resveratrol observed in cell culture systems can support the beneficial effect of specific diets," Marambaud explains. "Resveratrol in grapes may never reach the concentrations required to obtain the effect observed in our studies."
The researchers now hope to find similar, stronger compounds that can increase the effect even more and test them in mice. "We have already obtained analogues of resveratrol that are 20 times more potent than the original natural compound," Marambaud notes. In the meantime, a glass of red wine just might do the trick, or at least ease the fear of losing memory. It might even make for some nice ones.
You’ve just had a fabulous steak dinner with an even more fabulous big, red wine. It was the perfect meal with the perfect company.
But you suddenly find you have a headache. Or, maybe you don’t notice it until the next morning.
It can’t be a hangover, you think, because you only had a glass, maybe two of the wine. You were never drunk.
What’s happening? Many will tell you that you have an allergy to sulfites and should stick to white wines despite your love of reds.
We’re here to tell you that’s wrong.
Many people get headaches from red wine, and what causes it exactly is a little bit of a mystery. But the condition is so common there’s even a name for it – Red Wine Headache. You heard us: If you get headaches from red wine, you may be suffering from RWH.
Sulfites get the blame for the headaches most often. But it turns out only about 1 percent of the population is truly allergic to sulfites, which are found in most wines – red and white. And because sulfites act as a preservative, you’ll find them in a lot more places than just your favorite bottle of wine.
If you can eat dried fruit and guacamole without a problem, you likely don’t have a sulfite allergy. And if your only symptom is a headache, that’s another sign you’re not allergic to sulfites. Those allergic to sulfites will also experience coughing, wheezing, itching and even hives.
If that’s not happening to you, it’s probably something else in the wine that’s bothering you. Some people blame the tannins found in red wine. Tannins come from the grapes and their skin and act as a natural preservative for the wine. It’s why red wines often have the ability to age longer than white wines.
But studies haven’t been able to prove that tannins cause headaches. In fact, said University of California-Davis wine chemist Dr. Andy Waterhouse, studies have proved that lots of things do not cause red wine headaches – but no one knows what does.
“I haven’t heard of anything that can actually explain it,” Waterhouse said. “There’s plenty of data that shows it’s real – they’re not just drinking too much. There’s something real going on, but the cause is not known.”
Waterhouse said most of the suspected causes – everything from sulfites to histamines – have been disproved.
So what is it then that’s causing your head to pound? Well, some suspect it might be something called “congeners,” which appear in most alcoholic beverages. Congeners are a byproduct of fermentation and have higher concentrations in darker alcohols, like red wine.
Waterhouse said the congeners theory is a new one to him, but the search for the cause continues.
Now that you know this, what can you do about it? Well, there are a few remedies on the market, but nothing we’ve tried. Fortunately, we don’t suffer from RWH.
If you’re willing to suffer a few headaches in the name of research, it might be interesting to know whether certain red wines, like cabernet sauvignon, cause worse headaches than lighter reds, like pinot noir, or whether there is a threshold, like one glass is OK but two triggers a migraine. If you’ve got something that works for you, let us know and we’ll pass it along to 100,000 of our closest friends.
Another red wine ailment people often complain about is having their lips or teeth turn blue or purple after a glass or two or six.
Now this one, we can tell you about from personal experience. We went to Rome a few years ago where wine is cheaper than water. (Bottled water was $3.50, while a half-liter of wine was $3. Trust us, we miss Rome.) So, of course, with every meal, a glass of wine or two is standard. Well, not breakfast – but definitely brunch.
By the end of the trip – OK, just a few days into the trip – Krista’s lips were stained dark purple. It was a little disconcerting, but worth it for the great wine we had.
What caused it? The same thing that causes wine to have its color in the first place – the compounds in the grape skins. Just like soaking the skins in the juice during fermentation makes red wine deep ruby, soaking your lips in a glass can eventually have the same effect. Finally, many people have asked us why their faces get flushed when they drink wine – particularly red wine. Well, we know that drinking alcohol thins the blood and those suffering from Rosacea, a condition that causes the skin to turn red, have a hard time with red wine.
But we don’t know why red would do that to some people more so than white wine, except that red wines tend to be slightly higher in alcohol than whites, with some blockbuster reds approaching 15 percent.
The fact is, the chemistry of wine is complicated, and even though humans have been making wine for thousands of years, there’s still much we don’t know about it. Researchers such as Waterhouse have dedicated their entire careers to exploring the chemical mysteries of fermented grape juice.
We may not understand it all – it seems like every week a new report on the health benefits of wine is published – but we know we love drinking it. And in the end, that’s what really matters.
Cheers!
Dan and Krista Stockman are wine lovers – not wine experts – and reporters at The Journal Gazette. Got a question or comment about wine? Call 461-8457; e-mail uncorked@jg.net; or write to Uncorked, c/o The Journal Gazette, 600 W. Main St., Fort Wayne, IN 46802. To discuss this entry of Uncorked or other wine topics, go to the Uncorked topic of “The Board” at www.journalgazette.net.
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Posted on Wed, Oct. 26, 2005
M O R E N E W S F R O M
• Drink
• Wine
Expert advises `tasting' wine with your nose and eyes first
HALF OF BOTTLES FAIL KEVIN ZRALY'S TESTS By Chris Sherman St. Petersburg Times
With non-stop jokes and bestselling books, Kevin Zraly has tried to teach us about wine tasting for decades. And now he has decided we got the concept backward.
``It should never have been called wine tasting. It should be called wine smelling,'' Zraly told his latest pupils. For his 34th anniversary as a wine educator this month, his stage was a simple room crowded with two dozen wine lovers in the back of West Palm Wine in the historic Ybor City area of Tampa, Fla.
His lesson plan and monologue were the same: The nose knows far more than the tongue or palate, he said. Oh, yeah, and taste with your eyes, too.
Zraly, director of wine for the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse chain, assesses 5,000 wines a year but dismisses half of them with eyes and nose alone. He doesn't have to put the wine in his mouth.
It could be because his mouth is always moving as he works a room like Dame Edna or a Catskills entertainer.
Live, Zraly is an electrified, bearded version of his books, which were the first to make wine simple and friendly with lots of graphics and short questions and answers. His ``Windows on the World Complete Wine Course'' (Sterling, $24.95) grew out of his classes 25 years ago and have now sold 2.5 million copies.
Today, Zraly's books may be the most numerous surviving remnants of the grand restaurant on top of the World Trade Center shattered by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001.
``For me the day is still incomprehensible,'' Zraly writes in the latest edition of the book, in which he remembers the lost restaurant and colleagues, including six construction workers building a new wine cellar.
In recent years, Zraly has concentrated on teaching smell, and his next book will focus on the magic and mysteries of the olfactory sense.
Why? Zraly said taste registers a paltry few sensations -- sweet, salty, bitter and sour -- while there are roughly 10,000 smells in the world. Humans, he said, have the olfactory gear to note 2,000 of them, 200 of which are in wine.
He also told the group that women have a more developed sense of smell than men. No one challenged him when he demonstrated that one nostril worked better than the other. Half the group said their right was more sensitive; the other half said left.
Yet he didn't bother trying to pick out green apple, cigar box or other arcane aromas, focusing instead on whether the smeller liked the final mix.
Zraly simplified the fractured, complex geography of Burgundy by turning it into a children's game. Waving his arms in smaller and smaller circles, he narrowed the location. With each wine he asked what country it was from, which region, what district, what village and, finally, what vineyard.
The focus was on the Côte de Beaune for reds and whites and Côte de Nuits for pricier reds. Along the way, Zraly explained how beginners can sort Burgundy quality by labels. Above the generic level of Bourgogne, wines of the next-best quality are identified by the name of a village. Finer premier cru wines wear a longer name, including the village and a vineyard. The finest grand cru Burgundies carry only the vineyard name.
Zraly demonstrated his technique for judging wine.
With the eye, color reveals age, and clarity hints at drinkability. White wines darken from pale straw to gold copper and dark brown as they age. Reds do the reverse and become lighter as they grow old. And, Zraly said, if wine is clear enough to see your fingers through it, it's ready to drink.
Smell the wine three times. The first will just clear your nostrils. Try again, inhaling deeply. For the third, put one hand over the glass and swirl, remove your hand.
Then, finally, taste. Take a sip of wine, hold it in your mouth for five seconds to warm the wine and release the fumes that go up the back of the throat to the nasal passages.
Swallow and savor the aroma and taste for at least 60 seconds before making a judgment. Not only will a wine change, but the length of the experience is also important. A good wine will last in balance at least a minute, great wines can last three minutes or more.
Zraly clocks how the tastes and sensations change in 15 seconds to see if the tart acid outlasts the mouth-puckering tannins or if they balance out before he decides if the wine is too young, just right or far gone.
And when you get a wine that's too tannic, don't give up, he said. The cure is fat and protein, which Zraly happily translated as cream sauces, cheese and rare roast beef.
Like many wine advisers, Zraly's rules for picking Burgundies are to trust the vintage first, then pick the producer.
That is easier now with a string of good vintages from 1996 on; his book skips 1998 and 2001.
For recommended producers, the book cites the big names: Bouchard, Drouhin, Jaffelin, Jadot and Latour and Laboure-Roi but notes that there are small producers such as Grivot that smart merchants can recommend.
10/26/2005
King Tut Drank Red Wine, Researcher Says
By JENN WIANT, Associated Press Writer
LONDON - King Tutankhamen drank red wine, says a researcher who analyzed very dry traces of the vintage found in his tomb. Maria Rosa Guasch-Jane, who briefed reporters Wednesday at the British Museum, said she had invented a process which gave archaeologists a tool to discover the color of ancient wine.
Guasch-Jane also discovered that the most valued drink in ancient Egypt, shedeh, was made of red grapes.
"This is the first time someone has found an ancient red wine," said Guasch-Jane, who earned her Ph.D. in pharmacy from the University of Barcelona in September.
Wine bottles from King Tutankhamun's time were labeled with the name of the product, the year of harvest, the source and the vine grower, Guasch-Jane said, but did not include the color of the wine.
Several clues had led scientists to believe that the wine may have been red: drawings from the time of grapes being pressed into wine were red and purple, for example. But the color of King Tut's wine was impossible to verify until Guasch-Jane invented a process to detect a color compound not found in white wine called syringic acid.
To test her method, Guasch-Jane scraped residue from wine jars owned by the British Museum and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Two of the jars came from King Tut's tomb, discovered by English archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922.
Winemaking dates to 5400 B.C., according to American molecular archaeologist Patrick McGovern, who discovered the earliest known traces of grape residue in northern Iran in 1994.
When I come across an example of the near reverential devotion that some wine lovers can develop to not just wine drinking and appreciation, but also to the act of winemaking, I’m want to dismiss it at no more than a bit of winsomeness for a career that only SEEMS so special and different and attractive. Yet the curious thing is, when I think about it, it is that it’s really my own familiarity with the wine industry that too often prevents me from seeing what the devotees see…and appreciating their winsomeness for what it really is: an understanding that winemaking truly is something special.
Consider the specialization that has overcome us all in our careers. We are not merely lawyers, but “real estate lawyers.” Not publicists, but “wine publicists.” Not fashion retailers, but “purveyors of fine toddler clothing for the naturalist-minded.”
The trend toward the specialization of the species was noticed as far back as the Renaissance, has proceeded without stoppage, and has define the progress of society in nearly every field. Some decry this, others take it for what it is and merely accept the consequences of the world they live in.
But consider the winemaker.
The winemaker really lies outside the lines of specialization and has so for centuries. Instead, their careers demands they interact with their culture, their senses, their own scientific age and the natural world in a way very few of us are asked to in our careers.
The winemaker literally lives, all year long, with his eyes pointed skyward, wondering what cards nature will deal him this vintage. And it’s not just a matter of invoking chants to handle a deluge or a drought. The winemaker also interacts with nature, deploying defenses to and responding to “acts of god” with technology that can only be used if one understands how the natural world works.
The Winemaker is equally charged with critical mechanical tasks, an entirely different type of response to the world around him than his duel with nature demands. They must understand how liquids flow, the implications of an overworked press, the best way to maneuver though a damp field on a tractor, and the best method to pack all those barrels and cases in one small structure. Here, the winemaker is mechanic.
The Winemaker is also asked to create something that will prove inspirational and satisfying to an audience. They are artists. They employ their interactions with nature and their mechanical abilities to draft then refine what is literally a four dimensional piece of art: wine. Here they make decisions concerning the interaction of color, of textures, of taste, of aroma. The very best and most creative winemakers have an idea in their mind, an idea of a wine to which they aspire. Their mastery of technique and appreciation of nature are the tools that get them closer to that idea.
This is not to suggest the glamorization of winemaking, but it is putting winemaking on a pedestal as a career and act distant from the specialized grinds the vast majority of people live with. And this is why the devotee is reverential in their appreciation of winemaking: it is a rare field that falls into the category of generalist. Like the astrophysicist, evolutionary biologist, artist, writer and priest, the winemaker deals in subject manner spanning broad swaths of topics and disciplines.
How is this not special? How is this not an approach to life and career that we who toil in hyphenated careers with extended titles at companies that specialize in specialization could not put on a pedestal?
10/01/2005
Drink Bear Or Wine And Be Sharper?
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2005
(AP/CBS)
Quote
If you enjoy a glass of wine with dinner or a beer with your pizza, you should feel good about yourself, and if you're drinking three or four glasses with dinner, this study is another good reason to cut it back to just one.
(CBS) A study published in the Jan. 20, 2005 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine found that women who have a drink of beer or wine daily have sharper minds into old age than women who abstain.
The report, based on a study of nearly 12,500 nurses, adds to the apparent benefits of light to moderate drinking, which can also prevent heart disease and stroke.
The Early Show medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay tells co-anchor Rene Syler the large group of elderly women, ages 70 to 81, were monitored for both their alcohol intake and mental fitness.
What they found was that the women who drank moderately stayed sharper than non-drinkers - they lowered their risk of memory loss and senility by about 20 percent, Senay explains. On average, the women who drank a beer or a glass of wine each day tended to have the mental agility of someone a year-and-a-half younger than those who abstained.
The good news is it didn't matter which type of liquor it was, Senay notes. The bad news is that it's not a lot.
Researchers saw the best results in the women that consistently drank one half to one drink a day – the women consumed between 1.0 and 14.9 grams of alcohol per day. That translates into about 12 ounces of beer, which is how much is in this glass; 4 ounces of wine, which is in a wine glass; or an ounce of liquor in a shot glass. That's not a lot of alcohol - you only get to drink one of these glasses per day. You shouldn't have all of them, Senay exclaims.
So does that mean that people who don't drink add a daily cocktail to their routines?
Absolutely not, Senay says. This doesn't mean you should dust off those wine glasses and start stocking beer in the fridge. There are some benefits to drinking alcohol, but there are also a lot of risks associated with alcohol consumption.
There are a lot of common medications that shouldn't be taken with alcohol; drinking dehydrates you - and if you don't drink enough water, that can lead to serious problems; heavy drinking has been linked to increased risk of heart disease and stroke, and there's always the risk that you might be susceptible to alcoholism. And while not everyone is going to become an alcoholic, once you've opened the liquor cabinet, it's way too easy to have more than just one. This study is reassuring to people that already drink up to one drink a day, but it is not license to start drinking.
For those people who are already moderate drinkers, this isn't the only benefit. Senay explains there is a lot of evidence that shows moderate alcohol consumption actually helps prevent heart disease and stroke. And red wine specifically has biochemical effects that make it good for the heart such as making the blood thinner and less likely to clot and cause a blockage.
So the bottom line is: Yes, if you enjoy a glass of wine with dinner or a beer with your pizza, you should feel good about yourself, and if you're drinking three or four glasses with dinner, this study is another good reason to cut it back to just one.
9/22/2005
Most Popular Drink in the U.S.A. Is...
...wine! That's the surprising word from a new Gallup Poll that began keeping track of Americans' alcoholic beverage preferences in 1992. And every year the answer has been beer. Until now.
The Los Angeles times reports these results from Gallup when adults were asked which alcoholic beverage they drink most often:
39 percent of American drinkers say they drink wine most often.
36 percent say they drink beer most often.
The remainder prefer liquor with a small percentage indicating they like all three equally.
In previous years, beer was ahead of wine by as much as 19 percent. In 1992, the first year in which the poll was conducted, 46 percent of drinkers said they opted for a beer, compared with just 27 percent who preferred a chilled glass of wine.
When you take into account the margin of error for this year's poll, wine and beer are pretty much tied, according to the pollsters, but it's still an eye-popping advance for wine. While wine costs more than beer, it is now more affordable and available than ever, thanks to such retailers as Costco and Trader Joe's.
There may be several reasons for the soaring popularity of wine. Namely, it's a very healthy drink.
Enjoy a bit of red wine with your dinner, and you may add years to your life. Previous research has shown that when we drastically restrict our calorie intake, we may extend our lifespan. Harvard University researchers have concluded that resveratrol, an ingredient found in abundance in red wine, has the same life-extending effect on fruit flies and worms as severely restricting caloric intake has on monkeys, reports Reuters of a study that was published in the journal Nature.
Red wine may help stimulate a gene that reduces the number and size of fat cells in the body. The gene in question is called SIRT1, which has been shown to reduce the development of new fat cells and increase the "burn rate" of fat within existing fat cells, reports Science Daily. Found in both mice and humans, the gene also seems to repress fat-related proteins that tell the body to store fat when food is scarce. Now researchers from Oregon State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Ottawa have determined that SIRT1 can be stimulated to work better with a bit of red wine--at least in mice.
If the choice is a mixed drink with gin or a glass of red wine, go with the wine to protect your heart and help fight clogged arteries. The magic ingredient is something called polyphenols. Jefferson Medical College researchers from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia along with a team from the University of Barcelona in Spain have determined that red wine's complex compounds of polyphenols--all of which are absent from gin--have a significant effect in lowering the "anti-inflammatory" substances found in our bloodstreams that also are risk factors for the development of heart disease and stroke.
We're long overdue to answer some of your questions. This week, we'll tackle an excellent topic: the right temperature to serve wine. Plus, some insight on the grape varieties of Bordeaux, and the (puzzling) difference between sauvignon blanc and fumé blanc.
None of your articles tell us at what temperature we should serve the wine. I have two bottles of syrah, one bottled in France and one bottled at a local California winery. Should they be served at room temp or refrigerated? It will be my first taste of syrah so I want it done right. -Lois B., Woodland, Calif.
Temperature is a matter of endless discussion, but it's safe to say that most Americans serve their red wine too warm, and often their white wine too cold.
Syrahs need a bit of warmth to express their terrific gamy, peppery aromatics. The ideal temperature should be somewhere around 65 degrees Fahrenheit, just shy of room temperature.
Now, red wines should be stored around 55 degrees, if you can manage it. (A portable wine fridge, or well-insulated basement, can suffice.) So you'll want to give your syrah an hour or two at room temperature to warm up a bit. Warmer than room temperature and you'll probably start smelling more alcohol in the wine; too much cooler and the wine will taste dull.
What you don't want is to store your wine at room temperature or warmer for an extended period of time. At the very least, it will speed the aging of the wine, but more likely you'll end up "cooking" the bottle, robbing the wine of its aromas and flavors.
Every wine will have its own optimal serving temperature. But let's establish a few approximate rules of thumb. Note that the typical refrigerator temperature, in the high 30s or low 40s, is too cold for most white wine. If you chill your wine in the fridge, take it out beforehand:
Tart, bright white wines: 48-52 degrees
Sparkling wine: 50-55 degrees
Rich white wines, like an aged chardonnay: 58-62 degrees
Light white wines (Chianti, Beaujolais, young pinot noir): 60-65 degrees
Heavy red wines: 63-68 degrees
The perfect temperature for any given wine will depend on how much fruit, tannin and alcohol it contains. No surprise that temperature remains a topic of debate among wine types.
It's a safe bet, though, that you should never serve (or store) a wine above 70 degrees
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9/19/2005
Wine-and-grape business feeds $3.3 billion into N.Y. economy
BEN DOBBIN Associated Press
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - With 31,000 acres of vineyards and 212 wineries, the burgeoning wine-and-grape industry sends more than $3.3 billion rippling through New York's economy, a Napa Valley-based research firm said Monday.
"The direct income from grape, grape juice and wine sales is just the beginning of the total economic impact the industry has on many sectors of the economy," said Barbara Insel, managing director of MKF Research in St. Helena, Calif. "There is a huge multiplier effect."
The preliminary, state-sponsored analysis, expected to be finalized in October, found that wineries, grape producers and related industries, from makers of bottles, glasses and labels to trucking, real estate and liquor stores, accounted for at least 23,250 jobs and a payroll of $786 million in 2004.
The total economic impact came to $3.34 billion, Insel said, noting that "this figure should be viewed as conservative" because of the difficulty of gathering data on property taxes and on "allied industries." In addition, New York had an unusually small grape harvest last year.
"The quality and the seriousness of this industry just keeps getting bigger and bigger," Insel said. "In terms of numbers of wineries and employees, I have the sense it is where Napa probably was in the '80s."
Helped by a 1976 state law that let wineries sell directly to anyone who visited their tasting rooms, the ranks of wineries from Long Island and the Hudson Valley across to Lake Erie multiplied from 19 in 1975 to 125 in the late 1990s. That tally has soared over the last decade and could top 300 by 2008, predicted Jim Trezise, president of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation.
A long-awaited state law allowing the direct shipment of wines into and out of New York went into effect last month. Many vintners think the potential for sales growth nationally exceeds the risk that the local market may turn more toward wines from other states.
New York churns out roughly 200 million bottles of wine each year, generating more than $1 billion in sales, and is the nation's third-largest wine producer behind California and Washington.
Fifty-two wineries opened in the 1980s and another 52 in the 1990s but 74 have already sprouted since then, Trezise said. Nearly half of the wineries are rooted in the Finger Lakes region in west-central New York, where a grape-friendly micro-climate is created by deep, slender, hill-framed lakes.
The wineries are drawing nearly three times as many visitors as a decade ago, the New York Agricultural Statistics Service said in a recent survey. It recorded 4.14 million "person visits" in 2003, up from 1.4 million in 1993 and 384,000 in 1985. The actual number of tourists is less since most of those people visited more than one winery, but should exceed 3 million this year, Trezise said.
Drinking red wine 'healthier than not'
September 16 2005 at 11:37AM
By Di Caelers
If, in the interests of good health, you're avoiding wine and reaching for the vitamin bottle instead, you could well be doing yourself more harm than good.
Rather take the lead from the enormous benefits of diets that closely mimic "Mediterranean" diets, complete with generous helpings of fruits and veggies, with olive oil as the prominent "lipid" and wine the most common alcoholic beverage.
Local medical pharmacologist Dr John Straughan told an international wine conference outside Stellenbosch this week that a regular intake of good wine had been shown to offer "considerable health benefits" - particularly in reducing the development and severity of heart disorders.
Straughan was vocal about the dangers of taking vitamin tablets
His view was supported by a fellow speaker at the Vindaba International Congress on Health and Wine, UCT heart specialist Professor Lionel Opie, who reportedly told the conference that people who drink two to three glasses of wine a day were more healthy than people who didn't drink at all. However, if you drink more, your health will suffer, Opie warned.
Straughan was vocal about the dangers of taking vitamin tablets indiscriminately and said good, whole fresh foodstuffs were really what was needed to keep our bodies as healthy as our genes and the effects of our environment and lifestyles would permit.
"Most whole foodstuffs provide a wondrous array of anti-oxidants. We need to take the lead from the enormous benefits of diets that closely mimic Mediterranean diets, and put the emphasis on whole foods," he said.
Taking Vitamin C as an example, he said the suggested regular daily intake was not more than 400mg to maintain good body tissue levels. Too much could make it a "pro-oxidant" that aggravated illness and disease.
Beta-carotene, he said, had been shown to cause lung cancer when taken in large regular doses.
"No whole foodstuffs provide just beta-carotene. Hundreds of carotenoids are found in foodstuffs that are rich in beta-carotene, but in our un-wisdom we fixate on beta-carotene and expect it to work wonders - when in fact in can provoke tragedies."
Wine, he said, was the most common alcoholic beverage in a Mediterranean-type diet.
When the juice of the grape was allowed to ferment - so its sugar content was reduced and some alcohols (especially ethanol) generated - it had a low glycaemic index. The fermentation process also worked "magic" in concentrating a wide spectrum of anti-oxidants from the grape.
"And these are especially evident in red wines," he said.
Opie said those with high blood pressure who drank two to three glasses a day of red wine - which had more health benefits than other kinds of alcohol - suffered fewer heart attacks than those who did not drink at all.
dic@incape.co.za
Research News
Wine Fans Take Heart: Smells Differ in Nose, Mouth
All Things Considered, August 17, 2005 · New research shows that the brain perceives an odor differently if it arrives through the nose rather than through the mouth. The finding validates techniques that wine tasters have been using for centuries to assess a vintage.
8/11/2005
State to build wine center in Finger Lakes
The City of Canandaigua in Ontario County will become home to the New York Wine and Culinary Center, Gov. George Pataki said Wednesday.
Plans were announced during as Pataki awarded the Governor's Cup of the New York Wine & Food Classic to Casa Larga Vineyards of Perinton
The state has pledged $2.1 million in funding to build the center, which is scheduled to open in the summer of 2006 and will serve as a gateway to the wine, food and agricultural riches of New York State and promote New York wines and agricultural products. The center is expected to draw 76,000 visitors each year and generate $11 million annually to the Finger Lakes region.
The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets will provide $1.65 million to be used towards the construction of the facility, as well as for the creation a permanent Pride of New York presence, and a portable wine and grape educational display.
Agriculture accounted for more than $3.6 billion to the state's economy last year
7/26/2005
I am taking orders on the future limited (June 2006) release of our 100 case 2004 "Tri-Dition" copyright 2005. Tri-Dition will be a blend of Cab. Franc, Merlot and Cab. Sauvignon from our 2004 barrel reserve reds. If you want to place a order for pickup or delivery E-mail me @ Big7771846@aol.com , please give me your time zone best time to call and your name and number and I will call you personally to take the Futures order. I have 20% sold thus far via futures and expect to sell out of this limited 100 lot, I grantee your satisfaction.
The cost now is $25.00 and when released will be $30.00 per bottle.
7/14/2005
Theory about Brand value and the Screw Cap or other closures than cork:
I came up with this possible theory that states: as the Screw Cap or other closures than cork become the majority in the market. That the people using cork will be thought of as rouge and counter- culture and cork will have a in vogue cult following and the brand value will be incrementally more valuable as the percentage of cork users goes down. Conclusion if a producer stays with cork in 10 years they will be the standout producers as the people using other closures are now. Thus the value of the brand is enhanced by the use of cork and if they produce a fine wine the potential is unlimited until others emulate and start to use cork.
The Above is called the Zuccarino theory of cork 2005 .Copyright 2005
7/13/2005
N.Y. Authorizes Out-Of-State Wine Shipments
By BEN DOBBIN, Associated Press Writer 45 minutes ago
LODI, N.Y. - Gov. George Pataki has authorized the direct shipment of wines into and out of New York, signaling a new era for state wineries hampered by alcoholic beverage laws dating back to the repeal of Prohibition in 1933.
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"It is really the next important step for New York wineries to continue to grow," Pataki said after a bill-signing ceremony at Lamoreaux Landing Wine Cellars in the heart of the burgeoning Finger Lakes wine country in west-central New York.
"I have no doubt that the Finger Lakes can certainly match, maybe even surpass" California's famed Napa Valley someday, Pataki added in an interview Wednesday. "It is an excellent standard to shoot for but I don't see any reason why we can't achieve that."
The new law, which takes effect in 30 days, also allows New York connoisseurs to order wine by mail from wineries throughout the country.
A Supreme Court ruling in May struck down laws in New York and Michigan as discriminatory because they allowed in-state wineries, but not out-of-state businesses, to ship directly to consumers. The decision blew the lid off a hotly disputed distribution system that barred wineries in 22 other states from shipping directly to out-of-state customers.
Under the ruling, New York either had to let all wineries sell directly to consumers or block all shipments. While state wineries pushed hard to remove shipping restrictions, Pataki insisted on one compromise: limiting customers to orders of 36 cases a year from any winery.
The potential for sales growth nationally among New York wineries exceeds the risk that the local market may turn more toward wines from other states, in the view of many vintners.
The law "transforms the industry from a local curiosity into a national player," said Jim Trezise, president of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation. "It's probably the most liberal direct-shipment law in the country."
New York's 219 wineries typically churn out about 200 million bottles of wine each year, generating more than $1 billion in sales. New York is the nation's third-largest wine producer behind California and Washington.
In the Finger Lakes, a largely unspoiled setting of lakes, hills and valleys with 92 wineries, most sales are made in tasting rooms. Just a few wineries have become big enough to easily hook up with distributors in other states. But many wineries are now looking to expand, and officials think winery sales could jump 20 percent in a few years.
Lamoreaux Landing, which opened in 1992, sells about 8,000 cases a year, and relies on visitors to survive, said owner Mark Wagner. The new law is expanding its market to the entire country, so his vineyards high above Seneca Lake will "undoubtedly get bigger," he said.
Lawmakers had in the past two years failed to act on Pataki's proposals to end the ban on interstate shipping, but the Supreme Court decision spurred action.
Under a three-tier system laid down by the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, wineries had exported their best brands at a deep discount through licensed wholesalers and distributors. The wine was then sold to restaurants, bars and other retailers.
Serving as a buffer between producers and the public, the politically powerful wholesalers collect billions of dollars in excise taxes each year. Looser controls on wine, they argued, could lighten state tax coffers and potentially pump up underage drinking.
Vintners countered that the 21st Amendment allowing each state to regulate the importation and sale of alcohol conflicted with constitutional amendments governing interstate commerce.
7/6/2005
"REX HILL SUES SUPREME CORQ
Newberg, Ore., winery Rex Hill Vineyards is suing Supreme Corq of Kent, Wash., one of the world's largest producers of synthetic corks, according to the McMinnville News-Register newspaper. Rex Hill also named Scotts Laboratories of California in the $1.4 million suit. Scott Laboratories sold the stoppers to the winery.
Rex Hill claims the synthetic corks did not properly seal the bottles, causing 370,000 of bottles of Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay to become oxidized, according to the newspaper.
6/30/2005
My mystery wine will be coming out spring of 06 along with more barrel reserves. I will give you a clue as to what the mystery wine is....hmmmm...... first clue I will have 3 mystery wines. Anyone who guesses the right one will get a 20% discount on the wine limit 2 cases.
6/17/2005
Free the Grapes! Toasts Connecticut Legislators for Supporting Consumer Choice in Wine!!!!
On 6/11/2005 we will be open now for one year. The best things are yet to come.
6/7/2005
The Don Giovanni Wines are bottle aging very nicely. The Cayuga White is giving off a peach and pear nuance just right for summer.
Court Lets Wine Lovers to Buy Out-Of-State
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer 5/16/2005
WASHINGTON - Wine lovers may buy directly from out-of-state vineyards, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, striking down laws banning a practice that has flourished because of the Internet and growing popularity of winery tours.
The 5-4 decision overturns laws in New York and Michigan, which supporters said were aimed at protecting local wineries and limiting underage drinkers from purchasing wine without showing proof of age. In all, 24 states have laws barring interstate shipments.
The court said the state bans are discriminatory and anticompetitive.
"States have broad power to regulate liquor," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. "This power, however, does not allow states to ban, or severely limit, the direct shipment of out-of-state wine while simultaneously authorizing direct shipment by in-state producers."
"If a state chooses to allow direct shipments of wine, it must do so on evenhanded terms," he wrote in an opinion joined by Justices Antonin Scalia, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.
The wine industry is booming, with an estimated $21.6 billion in sales and tourists flocking to wineries for tastings and tours. The recent hit movie "Sideways" took a lighthearted look at California's love affair with the grape.
While wineries have proliferated, there also has been consolidation. Smaller wineries say they can't compete with huge companies unless they can sell directly to customers over the Internet or by allowing visitors to their wineries to ship bottles home.
The Supreme Court case centered on the 21st Amendment, which ended Prohibition in 1933 and granted states authority to regulate alcohol sales. Nearly half the states subsequently passed laws requiring outside wineries to sell their products through licensed wholesalers within the state, allowing state governments to collect millions in alcohol taxes.
But the Constitution also prohibits states from passing laws that discriminate against out-of-state businesses. That led to a challenge to the Michigan and New York laws.
In a dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas argued the ruling needlessly overturns long-established regulations aimed partly at protecting minors. State regulators under the 21st Amendment have clear authority to regulate alcohol as the see fit, he wrote.
"The court does this nation no service by ignoring the textual commands of the Constitution and acts of Congress," Thomas wrote. He was joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices
While the ruling only involves wine sales, industry groups expect that it will soon apply to beer and other alcoholic beverages currently regulated through state-licensed wholesalers and retailers.
In the ruling, Kennedy wrote that states do not have the authority to regulate liquor simply to protect their economic interests.
The decision puts in doubt laws in 24 states that ban out-of-state shipments, although the opinion suggests the laws will be upheld so long as in-state and out-of-state wineries are treated equally.
The Washington-based Institute for Justice says the 24 states that ban direct shipments from out-of-state wineries are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont.
The cases are Granholm v. Heald, 03-1116; Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association v. Heald, 03-1120; and Swedenburg v. Kelly, 03-1274.
___
5/2/2005
Grappa is not the poor mans drink anymore. I do caution you home winemakers-distillers not to mess with this as you can literally go blind or die from the methanol by products from the seeds as well as the head or tail of Grappa. Grappa has long been a northern Italian treat that also served as a medicine. Then again at 180 proof my guess it could kill a lot of bacteria. Has anyone delved into the Grappa world?
The new line of Don Giovanni Wines tm are far better than we thought 1 month ago. We can foresee how these delectable wines will serve even the most discerning palates.
John D. Zuccarino
Silver Springs Winery
also T/A Don Giovanni Wines tm.
3/18/2005
Our Don Giovanni Wines barrel reserve reds will be released the first week of April 2005. The price will be $21.95 per bottle, thus giving a very popular price to everyone. How many people can spend over $30.00 for a barrel reserve red? Now we have granted the wine consumer wider access to barrel reserve reds by offering them at only $21.95 per bottle.
3/18/2005
New Haven, Conn.--A review article of the latest studies looking at red wine and cardiovascular health shows drinking two to three glasses of red wine daily is good for the heart, according to a Yale School of Medicine researcher in the Journal of American College of Surgeons.
2/20/2005
Screw caps! I will never produce a wine that I bottle and use a screw cap, yes I said NEVER. The big problem with the cork industry is cork taint caused by TCA. A 'Corked' wine is a wine that has been bottled with a cork that is contaminated with TCA (2,4,6-Trichloroanisole). TCA can be removed by a simple process and that's what I just can't understand. Why would the industry stray from what has been essential to wine, the cork? Cork in my opinion plays an important part in a wines development and aging process.
While I could go on forever I will stop now.
2/14/2004 HAPPY VALENTINES DAY
This is why we do reds to such an intensive level of perfection.
Red wine boosts good cholesterol - study
A glass of red wine a day increases good cholesterol and lowers levels of a blood-clotting chemical.
Research at the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Copenhagen, Denmark, shows that a daily glass of red wine for four weeks increases HDL or good cholesterol by up to 16%, and reduces the amount of the clotting compound fibrinogen by up to 15%.
And the research shows that it's the alcohol in the wine that provides the beneficial effects. No similar effects were found among people taking the same amount of red grape extract.
Although red wine has been linked to health benefits, it's not been known how the effects are achieved. Antioxidants and other non-alcoholic compounds have been suggested, but the new research points to alcohol.
"Moderate red wine consumption for four weeks is associated with desirable changes in HDL and fibrinogen compared with drinking water with or without red grape extract.
"The impact of wine on the cardiovascular risk factors thus seems primarily explained by an alcoholic effect," say the researchers.
Other research has shown that while red wine may be protective, other forms of alcohol are not. - Daily Mail
2/12/2005
The movie Sideways has sent trail traffic up and wine sales up so far by 25%. One can see a paradigm shift right before ones eyes as wine takes over as the healthy alcohol beverage of choice. The wine revolution has arrived and the Supreme Court will in my opinion side with the small wineries on the issue of out of state shipping. No doubt the movie Sideways has been a huge help and the consumer is voting with purchases. Red Red wine it's always been good to me and now it's good 4 U. :--)
Paradigm? Main Entry: par·a·digm Pronunciation: 'par-&-"dIm also -"dim Function: noun Etymology: Late Latin paradigma, from Greek paradeigma, from paradeiknynai to show side by side, from para- + deiknynai to show —more at DICTION Date: 15th century 1 :EXAMPLE, PATTERN; especially: an outstandingly clear or typical example or archetype 2 : an example of a conjugation or declension showing a word in all its inflectional forms 3 :a philosophical and theoretical framework of a scientific school or discipline within which theories, laws, and generalizations and the experiments performed in support of them are formulated
Bridget Jones' say it's time for wine!:
[World News]: London, Feb 9: A new survey conducted by consumer analysts Mintel suggests that more of single women are consuming wine to get over stress with more than a billion litres consumed in Britain last year. 69 per cent of British women drink wine compared with 62 per cent of men. Both sexes drink similar amounts at home but the difference appears when it comes to drinking out
2/7/2005
Lower Your Cholesterol
Alcohol also can have a very powerful effect and increase HDL "good" cholesterol by 20% if used moderately and in the context of a healthy diet along with regular physical activity, says Rimm. Higher HDL levels are linked to lower risks of heart disease.
"The research evidence points to ethanol, or the alcohol component, of beer, wine, or spirits as the substrate that can help lower cholesterol levels, increase 'good' HDL cholesterol," he says.
Boost Your Brain
A recent study shows a boost in brain power for women who enjoy a little alcohol. The study, published in the Jan. 20 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, evaluated more than 12,000 women aged 70-81. Moderate drinkers scored better than teetotalers on tests of mental function. Researchers found a boost in brainpower with one drink a day. Moderate drinkers had a 23% reduced risk of mental decline compared with nondrinkers.
1/21/2005 :::Time
to get political and use this bloggers site for direct wine sales. Please click on theFree the Grapeslink and help out the cause. We have the undisputed right to free trade!! What you do to fight for your rights is a click away.
1/20/2005::Women age better with a fine wine: Study: Alcohol helps memory. Just a small fact like many that wine is good 4 u :--) enjoy. "Wine on Ice" will be fun please click on events for the details.
1/18/2005:: Wine is hitting the headlines as never before with Sideways turning out to be one of the most lauded films of the year.
1/13/2005:: Well we are close to sixty degrees and the vineyards have to much water in the ground. You can't even walk the rows without milking boots on.
The high pressure system is good for racking wine as it holds the sediment or muck down. So we rack away and sample the wines.
1/6/05:: I have been busy blending the Don Giovanni Wines and am getting ready to bottle the 03's. The Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot all have exceeded our wildest dreams! One sip and you will drop out and tune in. The FrenchALLIEROak is invigorating while you float above and enjoy the incredible nose of the fruit that was used to make such delectable wines.
ELEGANT: Describes balanced, harmonious, refined red wines that make the Don a happy man.
1/8/05 Cold and snowing, but this is a good thing. The vines need to have the insulation provided from the snow. I have reworked a few barrels with our secret formula to improve the quality of the wine. The secret formula has been in our family for hundreds of years and even today nothing can compare. The formula is locked away in two bank vaults in case you are wondering.
1/10/2005:: Take a look at our new wine labels, especially the Don Giovanni labels. One surprise is the addition of two sweet winesCayuga Whitewith an RS of 3% and 5% for you sweet wine lovers.
Researchers say tests on mice show red wine put a cork on the formation of brain proteins tied to Alzheimer's disease. (CBS/AP)
Sip a glass of red wine with dinner most nights, and it may buy you a longer life as well as delay the onset of aging. 
(AP/CBS)
...wine! That's the surprising word from a new Gallup Poll that began keeping track of Americans' alcoholic beverage preferences in 1992. And every year the answer has been beer. Until now.
