Thursday, 18 March 2010

Study Shows Wine Actually Helps Women Lose Weight

Ladies, great news today! According to the New York Times, "new research suggests that women who regularly consume moderate amounts of wine are less likely to gain weight than non-drinkers and are at lower risk for obesity."

The study was published in the current issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, and get this: It states that compared with nondrinkers, the risk of becoming overweight is almost one third lower for middle-aged women who drink one or two "alcohol beverages" a day (let's just cut the mumbo-jumbo and say WINE).

Other gems buried in the research: The less-weight-gain-if-you-drink rule doesn't apply to men (sorry, guys, I'll just drink your wine for you), for two reasons. First, alcohol seems to speed up a woman's metabolism, but not a man's. So we might actually burn calories drinking wine? Is that like the story that chewing the grapefruit uses up more calories than the grapefruit contains? How great is that?

Second, men tend to add the calories from alcohol to their daily caloric total, where women will substitute alcohol for food. I know if I'm given the choice between more wine and more food, nine times out of 10 the wine wins. How many times have I been in a restaurant, and when the waiter asks a table full of ladies if we'd like to see the dessert menu, and we all look at each other and shake our heads ... but we're happy to have another glass of wine! We'd rather spend our calories on a small glass of chardonnay than a plateful of Death By Chocolate. Everything in moderation, ladies.

Some studies suggest that red wine specifically "appears to inhibit the development of fat cells and to have other anti-obesity properties," but presumably only for women. The good news just keeps coming! Note there is no mention of killing brain cells anywhere in this story, so that's a relief. Maybe that only happens in men ...

If you read through the comments on the New York Times coverage, you'll see an interesting note from a doctor, that if you drink alcohol right before you go to bed you're more likely to put on weight and not sleep well; it's better to drink your wine three to four hours before bedtime. So I'm on the right track sipping wine while I cook dinner and watch the news. Ladies, care to join me for a glass of cabernet and a chorus of "I Am Woman Hear Me Roar" tonight?

Original Story: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/mary-kate-cary/2010/03/10/a-wine-diet-study-shows-alcohol-helps-women-lose-weight.html

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Thursday, 14 January 2010

Wine trends for 2010, and the rest of the decade

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Wine trends for 2010, and the rest of the decade

I DIDN'T MAKE a list of the best wines of 2009. Instead, I've been pondering what the coming year — heck, this new decade — can expect from wine. What will be the new trends? The star grape, or blend? What new region will gain notoriety?

I just returned from a judging stint at the biggest blind-tasting wine competition in the country, so some of my forecasting is based on conversations with folks in the industry. Others have to do with current trends in the market. But every one of them have to do with value. Below are three trends to watch for in 2010.

Chilean pinot noir: We know Chile for its cheap cabernet sauvignon and good sauvignon blanc, but pinot noir? Isn't it too delicate a grape for Chile's warm climate? Not necessarily. Eager to cash in on world demand for pinot noir, young Chilean producers began planting the grape in the late 1990s in areas where it would thrive, namely in the granite-rich Casablanca Valley, the marine-influenced Colchagua Valley at the foot of the Andes Mountains, and even in the cooler, southernmost Bio Bio Valley. They hired some of the world's noted pinot noir experts, including Paul Hobbs, Martin Prieur, and Byron Kosuge, to consult on their projects. Now, the fruits of their labors are starting to roll out.

I've tasted about a half dozen Chilean pinot noirs, and their shared characteristics are emblematic of the New World: Bright berry flavors and full extraction of color. At $15 to $30, most are also bargains, at least when it comes to good pinot noir. With about 1,000 pinot noir acres planted in the Casablanca Valley alone, you can expect to see some real values in the 2007 and 2008 vintages. Wines to check out: Kingston, Cono Sur, Vermonte.

Domestic malbec: Last year, merlot and cabernet sauvignon lovers looking to trade down for value turned to Argentine malbec, thanks to its dense and powerful fruit flavors, smooth tannins and easy price tag. In the first half of 2009, imports of Argentine wine (most of that malbec) climbed 39 percent to 6.6 million gallons, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and it could quadruple in the next decade.

Right now, most of the malbec grown in California is used in meritage wines, where it is blended with syrah, merlot, petit verdot and cabernet sauvignon. But more than 1,400 acres of malbec are planted in California now, and based on the enthusiasm I've heard from mountain winemakers (malbec thrives at high altitudes) I think we'll start experimenting with single varietal wines before long. According to the Wine Institute, 37 wineries in California already report malbec varietal wines. Wines to check out: Kaz, Tobin James, Heller Estate.

More boxed wine: I think the Aussies are on to something. Fifty percent of the wine sold in Australia comes in a box. And you won't find a home in southern Europe without a box of rose or pinot grigio in the summer months. So it's easy to see why boxed wine is finally gaining traction in the United States. At $10 to $30, it's an amazing value. Most boxes give you three liters of wine at half the carbon footprint of just four standard glass bottles. And thanks to that airtight bag inside the box, leftovers last up to one month instead of a few days.

In recent years, winemakers such as Joel Gott of Three Thieves and Brendan Eliason of Periscope Cellars have put their name on various types of boxes. A reputable name means quality juice, and with so much fine, extra fruit on the market, I'm wondering if we'll see some really good pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon get boxed this year. Wines to check out: Three Thieves, Le Cask, dtour. read more at www.ibabuzz.com/bottomsup/category/corkheads.

Friday, 8 January 2010

Wine: Boost your knowledge with these five tips

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Wine: Boost your knowledge with these five tips

Whether you are an experienced wine lover or a relative newcomer to the joys of the grape, there are many fun ways to improve your knowledge of wine. The best part? They all involve tasting.

Start a wine club. This is my first suggestion because it has two benefits that can carry through a number of others: It's a social activity, and it can help cut costs by spreading the financial investment among several people.

Gather a group of friends regularly and set a theme: red wines under $15, for example, or zinfandel or some other grape variety. Everyone brings one bottle (or more, depending on the group). Conceal the labels with paper bags to eliminate the possibility of bias, and rate the wines on your own personal scale. You might find a $10 bargain that you prefer to the $30 version, or you might develop a better understanding of why some wines cost more. Either way, you come out a winner.

Explore your favorite wine variety. Do you love chardonnay? Most wine drinkers do. But have you experienced chardonnay's varied expressions, from the Russian River to Santa Barbara, from Chablis to Macon? Barrel fermented versus "naked" of all oak treatment? Make an effort to sample chardonnays from around California, or around the world, either together or over time. Compare their different flavors and nuances to glean your own concept of terroir, that sense of place conjured up by wines that speak of their land of origin. One way to do that -- one of many -- would be to compare chardonnays by the same producer (such as Au Bon Climat, pitting its Santa Barbara County and Santa Maria Valley bottlings against a single-vineyard wine from Bien Nacido Vineyard). Another tactic would be to compare a Russian River chardonnay with another from Carneros and a third from Washington state's Columbia Valley.

The possibilities here are endless: Bordeaux fanciers can explore the cabernet sauvignon-dominated wines of various communes of the Medoc, or the merlot-heavy wines of St. Emilion and Pomerol. Burgundy lovers can explore the appellations of the Cote de Beaune and the Cote de Nuit. (Again, doing that with a group can spread the cost around and be more fun.)

Get to know a new retailer. A great way to learn about wine is to cultivate a retailer you trust who knows what you like. Even better: Cultivate two or more. That way, you will be introduced to new and interesting wines whenever you walk into a store.

Don't abandon your favorite, but branch out to another. Several new stores in the area -- Ansonia in Adams Morgan, Au Domaine in Alexandria, Out of Site Wines in Vienna -- focus on artisanal, high-quality, small-production wines. Look for these specialty stores and be willing to take a chance on their recommendations.
Attend a wine dinner. Many stores and restaurants host dinners with visiting winemakers or importers, pairing their portfolios with a multi-course meal. These can be expensive, but they often represent great value and a chance to experience their range in a single sitting. There is no better connection to a wine than to shake the hand that made it, and your link to the winemaker or the importer could pay off on your next visit to wine country.

Wherever you travel, drink local. When business, family or pleasure takes you across the country, look for local wines. Celebrating a deal in St. Louis? The first official American Viticultural Area was not Napa, Calif., but Augusta, Mo., along the Missouri Weinstrasse west of St. Louis. Travel taking you to Michigan? Look for the Rieslings or pinot blancs from the Traverse City region. Skiing in Colorado? Grand Junction, on the western slope of the Rockies, produces delicious wines.

Every U.S. state has a commercial winery: Ask for their products on restaurant lists (if there are none available, the sommeliers will take note), and look for them in stores for your nightcap back at the hotel. Better yet, visit a winery wherever you happen to be.

Wednesday, 6 January 2010

Easy To Accomplish Wine Resolutions for 2010

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Easy To Accomplish Wine Resolutions for 2010

A year ago, we printed 20 easy-to-accomplish New Year's resolutions that would make your wine life more fun. For a neat look at how one reader accomplished most of them, check out cookingafterfive.wordpress.com, the blog of Nicole Gulotta of Los Angeles (click on the "Wine Resolutions for 2009" link). "The most enlightening has been No. 5: Take notes on a fine wine from beginning to end," Ms. Gulotta told us. "My husband and I enjoy wine, but had never sat down with a pen to take notes on what we were tasting at various points throughout the evening. It's amazing what 20 minutes and a bit of oxygen will do to a bottle of wine." It's time for a new list. Now, remember that these are simple, easy-to-do things, as opposed to, say, "Study for the Master of Wine exam and pass it" or "Campaign against the markup at your local restaurant." Ready?

1. Try wine from a different state. There is a commercial winery in every state now, but we'd guess most people haven't tasted wine from more than a handful (think about it and see if you can come up with more than six you've had).

2. Next time you are making a special meal, go to two good wine shops and ask them to match the main course with a wine in a certain price range. The idea isn't to ultimately pronounce one a winner and one a loser, but to see how different merchants answer the question—and how different the same dish can taste with two different, thoughtfully chosen wines.

3. Take a wine trip. Whether it's one night at a B&B up the interstate or a wine cruise in France, let wine itself be the focus of a trip. All over the world, wine regions are beautiful, the people are nice—and the wine will never taste as good back home (if you can even find it) as it does on your trip.

4. Truly engage a sommelier at a fine restaurant. Sometimes it seems to us that sommeliers only exist to tell rich businessmen (yes, men) that, you bet, that ridiculously expensive cult wine is fabulous and you are a genius to order it. But spend just a minute truly speaking to the sommelier and make it clear to him or her (increasingly her) that you especially like wines that are unusual and heartfelt. Many sommeliers enjoy talking wine with people who care about it, as opposed to its status value.

5. Do a little research on a wine before or after you drink it. These days, it's easier than ever to find winemaker notes on the specific wine you are tasting tonight. It doesn't really matter if you know the significance of head-pruning and punch-down and Nevers oak. It gives the wine a history, a story, like meeting someone and Googling them to find out where they really came from. Those notes are like the wine's biography, ever since it was just a gleam in its maker's eyes. It makes the wine more real—more human, you could say.

6. Go to a mass tasting. These days, there are large tastings all over the country. Some are at local wineries and focus on local wines, some are in restaurants and sponsored by wine regions and many are sponsored by local wine stores to get people in the store. By sampling a whole variety of wines (remember: tiny sips, pour out, drink water and eat), it's amazing how the special, well-made wines will stand out. Most will be good, but there will be just a handful that make you stop and notice. It's so exciting when that happens.

Thursday, 17 December 2009

A New Course for Dessert Wine

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BROWN wine in a glass is rarely a good sign. It indicates oxidation — spoilage by overexposure to air. If you’ve just poured a chardonnay or a riesling and the wine is brown, beware. You better have another bottle ready.

But this wine was Madeira, and in so many ways Madeira turns conventional notions of wine upside down.

It wasn’t precisely brown. At the center it was a sort of honeyed amber. Extending to the edges it brightened into a reddish-orange, like a fantasy sunset. Maybe I just imagined these shades, just as after I took a sip I thought I heard music, and saw skyrockets and rainbows as the flavors rose through my mouth.

Yet, what strikes me particularly about Madeira is how wonderful it can be with savory foods. This is certainly true of Madeiras from the drier end of the spectrum, those made from the sercial grape. But even sweeter Madeiras, like those made from the bual grape, offer the sort of controlled, structured sweetness that complements food but doesn’t overwhelm it.

Beyond a few exceptions, like Sauternes with foie gras, serving a sweet wine with a savory dish may strike many people as odd — unless they live in one of the great sweet-wine centers of the world. You might have to travel to Sauternes territory, southeast of Bordeaux, for a demonstration of how a good Sauternes can highlight and amplify the sweetness of, say, lobster.

I would never have thought to drink an auslese riesling with roasted leg of lamb, as was suggested to me once in the Mosel region of Germany. I didn’t try it, but a good, sweet auslese, balanced by refreshing acidity, is a wonderful thing with lamb vindaloo — and, I imagine, with a mellow curried goat.

Chenin blanc is a grape that shares with riesling the remarkable ability to make wines ranging from bone dry to a vibrantly sweet. I would drink a demi-sec Vouvray with richer sorts of seafood or poultry dishes. And in vintages where botrytis, the noble rot, strikes the grapes, both chenins and rieslings become concentrated, making sweet, glowingly intense wines that can be gorgeous with strong cheeses. Full Post CLICK HERE

Thursday, 22 January 2009

Wine Tasting Party at Home

A home wine tasting party is a good way to get to know various wines that are available. You can also make these informal occasions great events in which you can have friends over and find out what they think about these wines. As there are so many different types of wines for you to choose from you will want to make your selections carefully.

As a home wine tasting party is informal in nature you should decide exactly what are the different foods that you will be serving to keep the party from disintegrating into a drinking party. As this home wine tasting party is to learn about the various wines that can be used for various meals and other occasions you should make sure that your guests are not overwhelmed with a lot of wines.

And since you primarily want a home wine tasting party to expand the knowledge of the wines and it’s always a good idea if everyone’s relaxed, you might want to let everyone mingle as they drink the wine. This way you can talk with amongst yourselves and gain an idea of what everyone thinks about the wines that have been offered. The best way to ensure that all the wines are tasted in your home wine tasting party will be to keep the wines in an easy to reach place.

A home wine tasting party is perhaps the best place for you and your friends to learn more about great wines. To ensure that everyone can enjoy themselves you should select about five or six different wines. These wines should be different brands and you should absolutely have some red wines and white wines. In addition you can choose to introduce a sweet wine or two for pairing with the dessert.

To make your home wine tasting party a success you will need to choose the wines and the atmosphere carefully. For instance if you have a garden and the day is sunny lay out a table and load some delicious French cheese and other finger foods that your guests can enjoy. Besides these finger foods, you should have a buffet style meal so that your guests can eat as they mingle and taste the wines.

You should also remember to have some forms on hand for those of your guests who might want to take down any notes on the wines that they taste. This is also a good practice to learn for the more formal wine tasting events that you or your guests might attend later.

There’s only now, one other thing that you need to top off a perfect home wine tasting party and that’s a relaxed evening at home with nothing more to think about than when you can do this all over again!

Monday, 19 January 2009

Form tasting Wine

Wines are wonderful accompaniments to food, good company, special occasions and events. For all of these the wines that you should drink should be very tasty. While the many wine experts will be able to say which wine should be drunk when and with what, the rest of us will just choose one that has been recommended or one that we recognize. This way of selecting your wine is quite alright but you may want to have form tasting wine selections on hand as well.

You are probably asking what type of wine is a form tasting wine and how does it taste. Well if you seem to be a little puzzled don’t worry about this as we will take a look into this. The various wine experts will tell you that the best way to appreciate good wines is to have a wine tasting party. At this party you can give your guest forms to fill out or even jot down notes.

These forms are the main ingredient in your form tasting wine event. Here what you need to do is to drink a glass of wine. Savor the aroma that you get before you drink the wine and see if you can still get the aroma while you taste the wine. With a good wine you should be able to feel the taste of the wine in the back of your throat.

Once you have finished savoring the wine you will need to make some notes on your experience with this form tasting wine. The notes should include the smell of the wine, and the taste as you first drink the wine. Next item that you will need to note is the feel of the wine as it slides down your throat. In other words can you still get the taste of the wine?

With a good form tasting wine you should be able to taste more than just the wine. The flavor of the cask where it was aged and the various fruits that have been added should also be present in the wine. As you note these sensations of this first form tasting wine, you will be able to develop an appreciation for the wine.

You will also need to rate the wine. This means that you should state if the wine tasted is good, really excellent or if you feel that another wine would have been better for the first form tasting wine experiment.

Once you have finished with your observations you will need to wash your mouth out with a good wine absorbing food-serving or with cheese. You are now ready to sample the next form tasting wine and note those impressions as well.

Choosing a Good Wine

Thursday, 18 March 2010

Study Shows Wine Actually Helps Women Lose Weight

Thursday, 14 January 2010

Wine trends for 2010, and the rest of the decade

Friday, 8 January 2010

Wine: Boost your knowledge with these five tips

Wine: Boost your knowledge with these five tips

Whether you are an experienced wine lover or a relative newcomer to the joys of the grape, there are many fun ways to improve your knowledge of wine. The best part? They all involve tasting.

Wednesday, 6 January 2010

Easy To Accomplish Wine Resolutions for 2010