Wine & health

As far back as 450 BC, physicians have recommended wine to combat fever, disinfect wounds and provide nutritional supplements. But Greek science also taught that the stars moved on heavenly spheres, so one has to be careful. Has anything been learned since?

Fortunately, many studies since have provided ample evidence of the truth of Hippocrates early observations. Since the 1970s many studies have concluded that moderate intake of red wine does indeed have salutary health effects, though the exact reasons are still debated.

Wine is a mild natural tranquilizer, serving to reduce anxiety and tension.Wine provides the body with energy, with substances that aid digestion, and with small amounts of minerals and vitamins. It can also stimulate the appetite.

Red wine consumption helps prevent coronary disease and possibly some forms of cancer due to a class of compounds known as catechins (flavanoids). Like resveratrol, which aids grapes in fighting fungal infections, they act as anti-oxidants and anti-coagulants. Free radicals, i.e. ionized oxygen atoms in the blood, are known to cause cellular damage. Anti-oxidants remove free radicals.

Wine Information-Australian wine region

Wine Information-Australian wine region: "Australia's wine efforts date back to the mid-19th century, but the industry languished until about 30 years ago. Since then, the country has grown to be a world producer with a variety of highly regarded whites and reds.

With climate regions similar to California, it's not surprising that much of the product would mirror the popular varieties of that state. But the Australian's — true to their iconoclastic heritage — add several distinctive varieties of their own."

Wine Information-Wine & Food

Wine Information-Wine & Food: "Portugal has a very old tradition of serving fruity sweets with a fine Port. And many robust cheeses are made even more delectable when paired with a swirl of a good Gewürztraminer.

When preparing that creamy soup experiment with a Chardonnay with its overtones of pear or apple. Or, for those so inclined, the more vegetal hints of a Sauvignon Blanc will reinforce the dish.

For the adventurous, a cheese platter such as a young Camembert, or a Pecorino, those made from sheep's milk — combine in an interesting way with a fine Pinot Noir.

But while considering your choices for pairing the right wine with your dish (or vice-versa for the true wine lover!), consider other factors.

Consider pairing wine with the person. Some individuals simply don't care for the heaviness of a port, or the robustness of a red, preferring the dry, more delicate whites."

Home winemaking made easy

Home winemaking made easy: "If you're like most wine lovers, you've fantasized about making your own wine. At the winery inside your head, you live among picturesque vineyards and spend peaceful hours crafting marvelous wines that inspire praise from friends and wine critics alike.

Then reality sets in. You can't keep a Chia Pet alive, let alone 50 acres of grapevines; you barely passed high school chemistry and the thought of spending 12-hour days hosing down tanks is about as enticing as dropping a wine barrel on your foot.

The good news is you don't need a green thumb, an enology degree or a penchant for tedious manual labor to become a winemaker: All you need, according to one Bay Area company, is a WinePod."

Wine Information-Wine Storing

Wine Information-Wine Storing: Storing wine at around 70 percent humidity is important to keep corks properly moistened — too low humidity dries them out, but higher humidity encourages growth of mold and mildew which injures racks, casks and spoils cork tops.

Even more importantly, proper temperature keeps corks from shrinking when too cold and wine from aging too quickly when too warm. In a cellar of 25 percent whites, 75 percent reds, 45-55F (7C-13C) is preferred. Some areas are blessed with natural conditions in this range, but most will need some kind of refrigeration unit. For smaller collections, wine cabinets can be purchased.

Almost as important as the actual temperature is the rate of change. A ten degree change over a season is harmless, but frequent and rapid changes can severely damage wine, even when stored within the desired range.

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Wine tasting

Wine 101
By Bob Enslein

Tasting wine is often a daunting process. One of the easiest things to do is decide whether you like a wine or not. One of the hardest things to do is to describe it. We have all been out to dinner, or been to a wine tasting, and had someone run through a litany of descriptors that made us look down into the glass and think to ourselves, “How did they see all that?” The key is to break it down into simple categories, and learn how to describe what it is we taste. This creates the building blocks to learn and describe more.

In tasting wine, put things on a scale. Upon first taste, let’s think about the intensity of the wine. Does it grab you, like a raw onion, or a bite of a Granny Smith apple? Or is it more subtle and subdued? Put it on a scale of one to ten, and use that as a descriptor. It the wine is very intense, and grabs you right away, that is towards the higher end of the spectrum, and if it is more subdued, or not very intense, that is on the bottom part of the spectrum.

Now let’s think about the acidity of the wine. Is the wine acidic, or is it sweet? This attribute will generally fall somewhere in a range. To take whites for example, if we look at two whites, and one is a sauvignon blanc and the other is a California chardonnay, often times the sauvignon blanc will be more crisp and acidic, and the chardonnay will display more sweetness. Where is the wine you are tasting fall on that spectrum. By thinking about it this way, you can describe an attribute. For example: “This is a very acidic, crisp wine.”

In the same vein, ask yourself whether the wine is dry or sweet. If it is overly dry, you might have a mouth feel that you need a drink of a glass water. If it is overly fruity, it might taste too sweet. Try to put this attribute on a spectrum. Sweetness needs to be described in two ways: Versus dryness, and versus acidity.

Now let’s think about the body of the wine. To best think about the body of a wine, let’s make a comparison to milk. If you took 3 glasses, and in one glass poured skim, one glass poured whole milk and in the third poured heavy cream, you would have noticed varying degrees of consistency and weight to the three different glasses. The skim milk is the thinnest, with almost a tinge of wateriness, while the heavy cream is thick and dense. The whole milk falls between the two, not as think as the skim milk, but not as heavy as the cream. Think of wine along those same lines. Is the wine light-bodied, medium-bodied or full-bodied? This is a really useful descriptor of a wine.

Next, let’s look at oakiness. Does the wine have no oakiness or wood in the taste, or does it feel as if you just licked a two-by-four? Generally, you do not want a wine that is at either major extreme, unless you like to lick plywood. But I will doubt that and move on, as this is a pretty straightforward attribute.

Tannins are the lifelines of the wine. Tannins come from the skins and stems of the grapes, and on taste, can often have a drying feeling. I feel it is well described by asking yourself this question when you taste a wine: Does it feel like I just clapped out two erasers and have the feeling of all that chalk dust in my mouth? If the answer is yes, than you are getting a lot of tannins. A lot of tannins can often mean that the wine is “shut down” or “too young” and is hard to get a sense of what is really there, as it is overpowered by the tannins. Again, having some balance in this attribute is often a good thing. Too few tannins can often mean that wine lacks structure or an ability to last for the long haul.

The last thing to focus on is complexity. How many flavors do you get when you drink the wine? The way I like to describe it like making salsa. If I put a bunch of chopped-up tomatoes in a bowl, that is 1 flavor (pretty simple structure). If onions are added, another flavor (and certainly a level of intensity!) is added. If I add peppers, cilantro and salt, I have added 3 more flavors, and a great deal more complexity. So ask yourself: how many things can I identify in the taste of this wine? If you can only pick out one flavor, than it is a simple, straightforward wine. If you can pick out five or six, than it is a complex wine.

So taking all of these tools, and thinking about all of this on a spectrum can you help you describe what you are taste in the wine. Once you are able to more understand your palette and tastes, you can focus in on the attributes that give you the most pleasure out of drinking wines.

Robert E. Enslein, Jr., is Managing Partner of Relativity Vineyards, a vineyard based in Napa Valley, California. Relativity produces high end Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay wines. Learn more at http://www.relativityvineyards.com

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