by Cat on September 3, 2010
Just when you feel like the benefits of a glass or two of wine may outweigh the risks (except for pregnant women), along comes more conflicting advice for women.
Several studies have shown that alcohol consumption is a risk factor for breast cancer. Two new studies add to the debate.
One large study found that drinking is not a risk factor for the most common form of breast cancer–ductal carcinoma which makes up about 70% of all breast cancer cases. However alcohol consumption heightens the risk of a less common form, lobular carcinoma found in 10-15% of cases.
An international study found that women with a specific genetic risk for breast cancer, the BRCA1 mutation, may actually reduce the risk with moderate wine consumption.
For much more on the methodology of the studies and details on findings, follow this link.
by Cat on September 2, 2010
“With most wine-by-the-glass programs, restaurants try to recoup the price they paid for the bottle on the first glass they sell. Try to order a half-bottle instead. The virtue of ordering wine by the glass is that the restaurant should allow you a complimentary taste.” Alan Richman writing in GQ.com
For the rest of Richman’s 15 Tips for Ordering Wine in A Restaurant, click here.
by Cat on September 1, 2010
September is wine month in California, the top wine producing state in America. California has more than 4,600 grape growers and 3,000 bonded wineries, which produce approximately 90 percent of the wine in the United States.
For the month of September, Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation that encourages consumers to take advantage of California Wine Month events — such as taking a tour or enrolling in a class — and become more familiar with this rich and unique part of the California culture. To find out what is being offered by various wineries and other resources, click here.
California offers an immense range of choices for wine drinkers, because of diverse growing regions, soils, climates, winemaking styles and people. Winegrapes are grown in 48 of the state’s 58 counties, and there are 110 American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) In California. The wine industry supports 820,000 jobs across the nation, 330,000 of them in California.
An important part of this culture, Governor Schwarzenegger mentions, is the California wine community’s long term commitment to promoting socially and environmentally responsible farming practices, something that is of interest to more and more consumers. California has a widely adopted sustainable winegrowing and winemaking program, and all of the regions hosting California Wine Month events participate in it.
California Wine Month was created and is coordinated by the Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers.
by Cat on August 31, 2010
If you think you spend too much on wine, take heart. You don’t spend as much as this guy. One customer laid out $107,000 on eight bottles of wine in a fine wine store at Dubai Airport. That’s an average of $13,375 per bottle!
The purchase included bottles of 1947 and 1961 Château Pétrus, as well as a magnum of the 1959 vintage.
by Cat on August 31, 2010
California is responsible for 90% of the wine production in the US, but the wine scene in Michigan is growing. Michigan has 75 wineries that contribute in excess of $300 million to the state economy, according to the Michigan Grape & Wine Industry Council.
And if you want to make a trek to a corner of the state called Old Mission Peninsula, you’ll find unblemished beauty on an 18-mile-long slice of paradise, with rocky coastlines and peaceful, rural atmosphere and soon to be eight wineries. You won’t be alone, though. Some 35,000-45,000 folks travel the rural two lane road to taste at these wineries.
It’s a prime growing area for Rieslings and it has produced some prize winners: Chateau Grand Traverse’s 2008 Lot 49 Riesling was Best of Class at the Los Angeles International Wine Competition and Best of Class/Silver in the London International Wine & Spirits Competition.
For more on this story and details on the wineries, follow this link.
by Cat on August 29, 2010
Maryland has joined the ranks of states who think that asking people to spend a little more on alcohol would save a lot of lives. Florida also has a sin tax proposal on the table.
The Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative Education Fund has proposed taxing alcohol to the tune of an additional dime a drink. They expect that small tax increase to make a big difference.
According to a study completed last year by Professors David Jernigan and Hugh Waters of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public, this could prevent 15,000 cases of alcohol abuse, stop nearly 400 acts of violence against women and children, and reduce state health care costs by $249 million dollars a year. As the Hopkins study explains, alcohol abuse costs Maryland about $5.2 billion annually, but a dime a drink alcohol tax increase would save lives.
To read the full study, follow this link.
To read more on the situation in Maryland, click here.
To read the story on Florida’s alcohol tax increase proposal, click here.
by Cat on August 28, 2010
Do you remember Mondavi Fumé Blanc? I do–it was one of the first “sophisticated” wines I drank after graduating from the early alco-pops of Mateus and Lancers. Only years later did I find out that I had been drinking Sauvignon Blanc, renamed by Mondavi because he couldn’t sell it as Sauvignon Blanc.
Fast forward many decades to my first trip to New Zealand and my “discovery” of Sauvignon Blanc. What delicious crisp acidity. What delightful citrus notes. How perfectly it matched my NZ green-lipped mussels or the lobster from the roadside stand. How perfectly it balanced the cheeses from the local cheese factories.
Now it looks like Sauvignon Blanc is the world’s go-to wine. It’s white, so it’s drinkable by those who get headaches from red wine. It’s not over-oaked like some Chardonnays. It’s relatively cheap and it’s now on almost all menus. And it comes from all over the world.
Lettie Teague, writing in The Wall Street Journal.com talks about a winetasting she did recently with 25 wines from all over the world, at prices ranging from $10 to $100 a bottle. There were Sauvignon Blancs from South Africa, California, Italy, New York, Chile and France.
Her group found the South African Sauvignon Blancs to be the biggest disappointments, the Chilean wines to be the cheapest and simplest and those from Italy and France had the most complex and diverse flavors. I’m not surprised that Old World wines were more nuanced, especially the Sancerres. The wines from New Zealand and California were far more straightforward and characteristic.
I don’t mind that my discovery of Sauvignon Blanc has been shared with so many folks across the world–it just means they’ll make more of it for me to enjoy and I plan to branch out to the Sancerre and also to try some of the Italian versions.
To read Lettie Teague’s article and specific Sauvignon Blanc recommendations, click here.
by Cat on August 27, 2010
How long to keep your wines is always a tough decision. You can go by generalities, like vintage ratings or what one source in my recent article said: wine under $12 should be drunk now and wine over $25 may benefit from aging.
For more specific aging timelines, you can look online to see if the winemaker has a chart or recommendations for your wine by vintage. You can check sources like CellarTracker.com and see what people are saying about particular wines and vintages. But it still feels like a crapshoot to me.
Now Paul Gregutt, writing in The Seattle Times, has some recommendations for wines from Washington and Oregon based on tasting those from his own cellar. Overall, the ones he has stashed are lasting longer than might have been expected. He says Washington’s “red wines in general, and Oregon’s pinots in particular, develop beautifully over a decade or more, provided that they were initially well-made and balanced.” He particularly cites Washington’s Merlots as good values that are ageworthy.
It’s good to hear that Northwest wines are aging well; sometimes they get lost in the flood of California juice.
To read all of Paul’s article, follow this link.
by Cat on August 26, 2010
I recently wrote about what appears to be the growing use of concrete tanks in the fermentation process in the US. I saw lots of it in Argentina and France, but didn’t see much beyond stainless steel or oak in winery tours on the West Coast.
But now a Sonoma business is giving the French cement tank makers a run for their money. The most popular French tanks for the US market from are rounded like an egg. Sonoma Cast Stone’s egg-shaped containers are lighter, larger and cheaper than their French cousin’s.
They are actually two eggs in one. Inside is traditional concrete, cast smooth with Portland cement, chlorine-free water and local sand and gravel. Tartaric acid treatments keep the basic pH of the concrete from affecting wine acidity. The outer egg is made of something they call EarthCrete, their own fiber-reinforced mix made from locally recycled concrete, porcelain and glass. Tanks are about 8 feet high and 5 feet wide, hold 500 gallons and weigh 3,900 pounds dry. They cost about $12,000, including shipping to wineries in Sonoma and Napa counties.
For more on this story, follow this link.
To reach Sonoma Stone, click here.
