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An organic wine from Chile has oenophiles in San Francisco turning up their noses. But there’s nothing wrong with the wine. It’s the name that bothers them: Palin Syrah. The wine from a boutique vineyard in Chile was once a strong seller, but now it’s an outcast in the City by the Bay because its name comes way too close to a certain governor from the state of Alaska, says Celine Guillou, co-owner of the Yield Wine Bar. Palin Syrah — pronounced Pay-LEEN — takes its name from a ball used in a Chilean-style hockey game, and it has been...

An organic wine from Chile has oenophiles in San Francisco turning up their noses. But there’s nothing wrong with the wine. It’s the name that bothers them: Palin Syrah. The wine from a boutique vineyard in Chile was once a strong seller, but now it’s an outcast in the City by the Bay because its name comes way too close to a certain governor from the state of Alaska, says Celine Guillou, co-owner of the Yield Wine Bar. Palin Syrah — pronounced Pay-LEEN — takes its name from a ball used in a Chilean-style hockey game, and it has been...

A wine's quality has little to do with terroir. The champagne producer Johann-Joseph Krug (1800-1866) said “a good wine comes from a good grape, good vats, a good cellar, and a gentleman who is able to co-ordinate the various ingredients”. “Terroir” did not come into it. Nor did the down-to-earth German emigré make any mention of “old world”. Today the evidence is clear that he was right. Witness the frenzy of France’s winemakers in their attempts to hold on to market share against the determined assaults of the New World. Terroir and its associated mystique are at best exaggerations. The...

As of this moment, the state of affairs between Israel and the Arabs is discouraging from the Israeli standpoint and encouraging from the Arab point of view. Everything appears to have been reversed: If in the past Israel relied on its wiles and the Arabs fell for its ruses, now the relationship has been turned upside down, as so often happens in life. Again and again, we encounter this reversal of roles. Once, unable to deal with the superiority of Israel's cunning, the Arabs were sustained by delusions or waited for miracles. Now the situation is topsy-turvy: The Arabs rely...

A vintner is alleging that the man who wants to open a retail wine store on North Santa Cruz Avenue in Los Gatos told him "God will punish" him if he spoke out against the application. Entrepreneur Rahul Ravulapati, who owns a winery in Livermore, says he never threatened anyone and accused the vintner, Fred Faltersack, and other Los Gatos wine makers of discrimination. "These people are blackmailing me," Ravulapati said after the July 9 planning commission meeting, where commissioners unanimously recommended against approving the permit. The dispute started last month when Ravulapati called local vintners to ask if they...

Rosé, long dismissed by purists as uncultured plonk, has overtaken white wine in volume of sales in France, buoyed by a fashion for pink. While much of France's wine growers battle lower consumption and persistent overproduction, pink wine - which comes into its own in the summer heat - is enjoying la vie en rose as never before. It is estimated that more than one in five bottles of wine sold in France is a rosé, with the gains coming from falling red sales. A hot summer could push the amount of rosé drunk to more than half of all...

The Bordeaux region's St Emilion wines have been stripped of their top classifications by a French court, which has ruled that "grand cru classés" labels should be taken off bottles. The ruling follows a year-long legal fight by four wine makers whose wines were demoted in 2006. They argued that the system used to rank wines after a tasting was "partial". "It's an aberration to condemn the classification over so little," said Nicolas Thienpont, owner of Chateau Pavie-Macquin, recently awarded the second highest rank of St Emilion premier grand cru classé. "All those who have worked so hard to move...

Two wine presses found in Egypt were likely part of the area's earliest winery, producing holy wine for export to Christians abroad, archaeologists say. Egyptian archaeologists discovered the two presses with large crosses carved across them near St. Catherine's Monastery, a sixth-century A.D. complex near Mount Sinai on the Sinai Peninsula. (See a map of the area.) More presses are likely to be found in the area, which was probably an ancient wine-industry hub, according to Tarek El-Naggar, director for southern Sinai at Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. Weeks after discovering the first wine press, excavators unearthed a nearly identical...

I have hang over of Biblical proportions. As in my head is splitting like the Red Sea. Fire and brimstone are flying from me like the wrath of an Angy God. I believe the Germans caused this by immigrating to Texas and brewing a concoction known as "Shiner Bock." Anyone have any suggestions?

Red wine may be much more potent than was thought in extending human lifespan, researchers say in a new report that is likely to give impetus to the rapidly growing search for longevity drugs. The study is based on dosing mice with resveratrol, an ingredient of some red wines. Some scientists are already taking resveratrol in capsule form, but others believe it is far too early to take the drug, especially using wine as its source, until there is better data on its safety and effectiveness. The report is part of a new wave of interest in drugs that may...

The other night, I was having dinner with some friends in a fairly decent restaurant and was at the very peak of my form as a wit and raconteur. But just as, with infinite and exquisite tantalizations, I was approaching my punch line, the most incredible thing happened. A waiter appeared from nowhere, leaned right over my shoulder and into the middle of the conversation, seized my knife and fork, and started to cut up my food for me. Not content with this bizarre behavior, and without so much as a by-your-leave, he proceeded to distribute pieces of my entree...

BORDEAUX, Burgundy… Xinjiang. The world's wine map may have to be significantly re-drawn with figures showing more than a glass is being raised to China. Such is the pace of wine consumption in China that last year the country produced more than 700 million bottles with new statistics showing that production will outstrip Australia's by 2009. Supermarket chain Morrisons has already added two wines ADVERTISEMENT from the north-west of China to its portfolio, while London fine wine merchants Berry Brothers & Rudd (BBR) has predicted that, by 2058, China will have all the essential ingredients to make fine wine to...

Daily Glass Of Wine Could Improve Liver HealthFor individuals who reported drinking up to one glass of wine per day, as compared to no alcohol consumption, the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease was cut in half, according to a new study. (Credit: iStockphoto)ScienceDaily (May 22, 2008) — Researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine are challenging conventional thinking with a study showing that modest wine consumption, defined as one glass a day, may not only be safe for the liver, but may actually decrease the prevalence of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). The study, which appears in the...

BERKELEY, Calif. - A winery spokeswoman says California winemaking patriarch Robert Mondavi has died. He was 94. Robert Mondavi Winery spokeswoman Mia Malm says Mondavi died peacefully at his home in Yountville on Friday. After being ousted from a family-run venture with his younger brother, Mondavi started his own winery in 1966 at the age of 52. He built the winery into a thriving business using innovations such as cold fermentation and stainless steel tanks. But the winery struggled from rising competition among other things in the mid-1990s and the company was bought out for $1.3 billion in 2004. Mondavi...

Robert G. Mondavi — the 94-year-old Napa Valley visionary who put California wine on dinner tables around the world — died Friday morning. Mondavi is widely credited with being the driving force behind Napa Valley’s propulsion to the top of the wine world, a place where great grapes are grown and wines made, and where the industry thrives. Prior to Mondavi launching his own winery and brand in 1966, American wines were considered cheap imitations of those produced in Bordeaux, Burgundy and other long-established winegrowing regions of the world. Aware of the potential of the local sun-splashed terroir, vintner Mondavi...

Mounting Evidence Shows Red Wine Antioxidant Kills CancerA natural antioxidant found in grape skins and red wine can help destroy pancreatic cancer cells. (Credit: iStockphoto) ScienceDaily (Mar. 27, 2008) — Rochester researchers showed for the first time that a natural antioxidant found in grape skins and red wine can help destroy pancreatic cancer cells by reaching to the cell's core energy source, or mitochondria, and crippling its function. The new study also showed that when the pancreatic cancer cells were doubly assaulted -- pre-treated with the antioxidant, resveratrol, and irradiated -- the combination induced a type of cell death called...

Rochester researchers showed for the first time that a natural antioxidant found in grape skins and red wine can help destroy pancreatic cancer cells by reaching to the cell's core energy source, or mitochondria, and crippling its function. The study is published in the March edition of the journal, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. The study also showed that when the pancreatic cancer cells were doubly assaulted -- pre-treated with the antioxidant, resveratrol, and irradiated -- the combination induced a type of cell death called apoptosis, an important goal of cancer therapy. The research has many implications for patients,...

LONDON - His schnoz is not to be sniffed at. The nose of leading European winemaker and taster Ilja Gort has been insured for euro5 million ($8 million), Lloyd's of London said Tuesday. He took out the policy after hearing about a man who lost his sense of smell in a car accident. "I thought it must be a horror to lose your smell," Gort said. "It would mean that you cannot taste wine anymore. Tasting wine is something you do with your nose, not your mouth." Gort, 47, said his nose is essential for him to produce top quality...

NASHVILLE - Prospects for passage of legislation allowing Tennesseans to buy wine over the Internet may have diminished because of an organized attack from a group that is apparently sponsored by wine and liquor wholesalers opposing the bill. Using a Web site, direct mail and faxes, Tennesseans Against Teen Drinking has prompted a flood of e-mails and calls to legislators from citizens whom legislation sponsors say are being misled and misinformed. The Web site, www.stopteendrinkingtn.org, includes statements attacking both Internet wine sales legislation and a bill allowing the sale of wine in grocery stores. It also allows viewers to automatically...

[...SNIP...] He [Tim Hanni] argues that no one has a palate superior to anyone else's, and that there's nothing wrong with liking wines many experts consider tacky, like White Zinfandel. He also thinks traditional tasting notes comparing wine to berries or chocolate are useless in helping most consumers find wines they enjoy. Instead, he has developed new systems that help customers choose wines based on factors like how they take their coffee and cocktails -- and how many taste buds they have.

We are an hour from Beijing. The motorway is all but deserted and, apart from far-off hills and snowy mountains, the surrounding countryside is flat and nondescript. The occasional dreary town flashes past, its tower blocks lit by the last of the day's feeble, wintry sun. Suddenly, I spot a pair of jaunty-looking turrets peeking from behind some trees. We round the corner and there, in all its remarkable Loire Valley-like glory stands Château Changyu. Beside me, Austrian winemaker Lenz Moser, with whom I'm travelling, gives a whistle of astonishment. "I've seen photos of this place," he whispers, "but I...

STANFORD, California (Reuters) - The more wine costs, the more people enjoy it, regardless of how it tastes, a study by California researchers has found. Researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the California Institute of Technology found that because people expect wines that cost more to be of higher quality, they trick themselves into believing the wines provide a more pleasurable experience than less expensive ones. Their study, published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says that expectations of quality trigger activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, the part of the brain...

Super-wine might boost lifespan 07 January 2008 From New Scientist Would you drink wine made from genetically engineered grapes if it had extra benefits? Such wine could be on the menu, thanks to a grape variety six times richer than normal in resveratrol, the compound in red wine associated with increased longevity, decreased heart disease and a host of other benefits. Yuejin Wang and colleagues at the Northwest Agricultural and Forestry University in Yangling, Shaanxi province, China, made the supervine by equipping it with an extra gene from a wild Chinese vine. Vitus pseudoreticulata has an unusual variant of the...

<p>A BREWERY executive was on the verge of tears when he had to smash two bottles of Australia's best known wine, worth $3000, at the airport.</p> <p>Neil Grant, the southern region general manager with Fosters Australia, ran foul of the tough security rules at Melbourne's Tullmarine Airport as he was about to board an Emirates flight to the UK.</p>

ALBANY — Two large shipments of beer were stolen during the holiday period, police officials say. Both Dougherty County and Albany police filed theft reports in reference to large amounts of beer being stolen sometime between Dec. 21 and Thursday, reports show. The largest theft of the two was reported in the county, where a man told police that someone stole a 53-foot-long trailer loaded with more than 2,300 cases of beer. According to reports filed with Dougherty County police, Loren Lentz said that sometime between Dec. 21 and Thursday a 2004 Hyundai semi-trailer was taken from the 600 block...

Earlier this year at Luc Salsedo, a charming little restaurant in the old city of Nice, our glasses of excellent Crozes-Hermitage 2004 were still about half full. Christine Salsedo, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Luc, the chef, suggested cheese. The selection included a St.-Marcellin, one of my favorites. “Do you have any white wines by the glass?” I asked, and ordered a Château Trians, a Coteaux Varois, from the region. Christine Salsedo seemed somewhat surprised. “Most of the time people drink red with cheese,” she said. “We’re French, so we definitely prefer red.” Ever since I was taught,...

Sandia researcher Ted Borek used gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to analyze vapors produced by mild heating of pot samples. (Photo by Randy Montoya) The belief among some archeologists that Europeans introduced alcohol to the Indians of the American Southwest may be faulty. Ancient and modern pot sherds collected by New Mexico state archeologist Glenna Dean, in conjunction with analyses by Sandia National Laboratories researcher Ted Borek, open the possibility that food or beverages made from fermenting corn were consumed by native inhabitants centuries before the Spanish arrived. Dean, researching through her small business Archeobotanical Services, says, “There’s been...

In bars, restaurants and homes across Sweden champagne is flowing in abundance as Swedes enjoy a seemingly endless thirst for the bubbly beverage, spurred by a gastronomic "revolution" and a rosy economy. Champagne sales at stores run by the alcohol distribution monopoly Systembolaget are expected to hit an all-time high of one million bottles this year, excluding sales in bars and restaurants. That figure can be compared to 738,000 bottles sold last year and 287,000 a decade ago. "Drinking champagne is usual now and it's common not only at the weekend or to celebrate a special event, it's an everyday...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Adding to evidence that a little wine can do a heart good, a new study suggests that women who drink moderate amounts may have less inflammation in their blood vessels. Spanish researchers found that after four weeks of drinking two glasses of wine per day, women showed lower levels of certain inflammatory substances in their blood. The findings, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest a mechanism by which wine -- particularly red wine -- may protect the heart. Numerous studies have found that wine drinkers tend to have lower rates of heart...

It seems as if Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius has ruined any possible shot at a career in comedy. Last Tuesday she was attending a fundraiser in Washington state for fellow Democratic governor, Chris Gregoire. Gregoire praised her state's well-known wines. Sebelius cracked an attempt at a feeble joke when she said, "You should be thankful we don't make wine in Kansas," Sebelius said. "If you ever see Kansas wine, don't drink it." Obviously, this joke did not set will with Kansas winemakers, and I can certainly understand why. From 49 News: Holton wine makers Ray and Becky Campbell say they're...

Low doses of freeze-dried grape powder inhibit genes linked to the development of sporadic colorectal cancer, University of California, Irvine cancer researchers found. The study suggests that a diet rich in grapes may help prevent the third most common form of cancer, one that kills more than a half a million people worldwide each year. Around 7 percent of all Americans develop colon cancer during their lifetimes. Led by Dr. Randall Holcombe, director of clinical research at the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at UC Irvine, the study followed up on previous in vitro studies showing that resveratrol, a...

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - The effects are all too familiar: a fancy dinner, some fine wine and then, a few hours later, a racing heart and a pounding headache. But a device developed by University of California, Berkeley, researchers could help avoid the dreaded "red wine headache." Chemists working with NASA-funded technology designed to find life on Mars have created a device they say can easily detect chemicals that many scientists believe can turn wine and other beloved indulgences into ingredients for agony. The chemicals, called biogenic amines, occur naturally in a wide variety of aged, pickled and fermented foods...

Research in the FASEB Journal lays the groundwork for safe, new cancer therapy The next cancer drug might come straight from the grocery store, according to new research published in the November 2007 issue of The FASEB Journal. In the study, French scientists describe how high and low doses of polyphenols have different effects. Most notably, they found that very high doses of antioxidant polyphenols shut down and prevent cancerous tumors by cutting off the formation of new blood vessels needed for tumor growth. Polyphenols are commonly found in red wine, fruits, vegetables, and green tea. At relatively low doses,...

Namibian vineyard defies odds to produce wine By Sebastien Berger in Neuras Last Updated: 1:52am BST 08/10/2007 If only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun, a winegrower might have to be British-born to plant a vineyard on the edge of the Namibian desert. A few miles from where the wind-whipped sands of the Namib stretch out to the Tsaris mountains lies probably the world's driest winery. As well as sunshine — available beyond abundance – grapes need water, but Neuras averages around 3in of rain a year, sometimes less than an inch. Even so Allan Walkden-Davis,...

ROME (AFP) — A prosecutor in Bolzano, northern Italy seized wine bottle labels on Wednesday bearing a portrait of Hitler and other Nazis from a winery near the Austrian border, the company said. The 20 labels from the "Der Fuehrer" line show Hitler raising the Nazi salute and his generals, including Hermann Goering, the Reich's economic minister, Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Gestapo, and Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy. The black and white labels are imprinted with the mottoes "Ein volk, ein Reich, ein Fuehrer" (one people, one empire, one Fuehrer) and "Sieg heil", a slogan proclaimed by Hitler as...

A convicted Scottish sex offender who ran up a 140,000 kronor bill at one of Stockholm's top restaurants has said he wants to serve his sentence in Sweden. John Cronin, from East Lothian in Scotland, is well known as a confidence trickster and sex offender in Britain and Ireland. Earlier in August, he ran up a huge bill at Stockholm's exclusive Operakällaren restaurant, which he refused to pay. Following his arrest, police found that he had also run up a big bill at Malmö's Hotel Savoy. Cronin's lawyer, Bengt H Nilsson, said he had no desire to serve his sentence...

ALLEN, Md. (AP) - This summer's drought has withered corn stalks and punished soybean plants across Maryland, but at least one crop is thriving in the hot, dry weather: grapes. Maryland vintners say this year's grape harvest could be the highest quality in five years. "Wineries across the state are telling me this is a great year, like none we have had in recent times," Kevin Atticks, executive director of the Maryland Wineries Association, told The (Salisbury) Daily Times. Atticks' group represents 27 licensed wineries. The grape harvest is now underway and lasts through October. -snip-

PARIS (AFP) - Scientists in France and Italy have deciphered the complete genetic code for the plant producing wine grapes, according to a study published Sunday. While the findings will do nothing to enhance the mystique of winemaking, they could pave the way for gene-based manipulations to boost flavour and improve resistance against disease. Dozens of researchers analyzing the Pinot Noir varietal of Vitis vinifera, the core species from which virtually all grape wine is made, found twice as many genes contributing to aroma than in other sequenced plants, suggesting that wine flavours could be traced to the genome level....

A British man ran up a bill of 139,435 kronor ($20,000) at one of Stockholm's top restaurants. When he refused to pay, the restaurant called the police. Fine by me, was the man's reaction. "He admits everything. He said he wants to go to jail," said Lars-Erik Baarsen of Stockholm Police. The 36-year-old, smartly-dressed Brit ordered scallops, entrecote and ice cream at Stockholm's exclusive Café Opera restaurant. The rest of the bill was made up of drinks of various kinds. The man was served bottle after bottle of expensive wine, although according to staff he drank no more than one...

SANTA ROSA, Calif.— The wine industry must quickly and dramatically change the way it does business if it hopes to survive the impacts of global warming. That was the stark message delivered recently by a Spanish wine expert who has studied the challenges climate change is already posing to winemakers in his country. “If business continues as usual, in 50 years who is going to give a damn about wine? That’s not going to be our biggest problem,” Pancho Campo, founder of the Wine Academy of Spain, told about 100 people who attended a seminar in Sonoma on climate change....

First impressions mean so much. Think about what you do before going out for dinner or drinks -- or both, with friends and family. Typically, most people make sure they are wearing clean clothes, their breath doesn't smell terrible and their hair is in some semblance of a style. Other people go above and beyond that, accessorizing with jewelry, taking time to actually style their hair, using cosmetics, polishing shoes, ironing their shirt or any other number of priming techniques. When people put so much time and effort into their appearance, it's interesting to think that they don't put much...

Newswise — Researchers have found that men who drink an average of four to seven glasses of red wine per week are only 52% as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as those who do not drink red wine, reports the June 2007 issue of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. In addition, red wine appears particularly protective against advanced or aggressive cancers. Researchers in Seattle collected information about many factors that might influence the risk of prostate cancer in men between ages 40 and 64, including alcohol consumption. At first the results for alcohol consumption seemed similar to the findings...

Creating wine is all about getting the balance right. You have to find the best location, with good soil, the right range of temperature, and rain at certain times of year. You must plant the right grapes. And then you must get lucky with the weather. So it is no wonder that winemakers are especially aware of the issue of climate change. Some studies have suggested that the wine map could be changed completely if global warming proceeds apace over the coming decades. In North America's most renowned wine-growing region, Napa Valley in California, current conditions are near-perfect. "You have...

French wine growers in crisis By Henry Samuel in Olonzac Last Updated: 2:25am BST 05/07/2007 As Richard Bourchet gazed across a dusty mass of gnarled, upturned vines in Olonzac, in the Corbières, south-western France, the European wine reform announced yesterday was far from his mind. Unable to pay his bills, 'vigneron' Richard Bourchet has been forced to destroy his vines in Olonzac, south-west France Only a few hours before these vines were neatly aligned and bearing the local carignan grapes but, unable to pay his bills, Mr Bourchet has uprooted several hectares that he has carefully tended for 25 years....

BRUSSELS, July 3 — Efforts to shore up the European wine industry by tearing out thousands of acres of vineyards and scrapping some subsidies have set the stage for a fierce debate Wednesday as Europeans contemplate the cost of their love affair with the grape. Vigorous competition from New World producers and complex regulations in Europe have helped create a vast amount of surplus wine, leading also to problems of quality and to increased spending to ease the surplus. To address those problems, the executive arm of the European Union has proposed overhauling the industry by reducing production, cutting subsidies...

It isn't exactly David slaying Goliath, but an equally unexpected victory has stunned the California wine industry. The cheapest wine in California just won top honors in one of the top wine competitions. When the national media catches-up, you will see this news elsewhere. "Two Buck Chuck" is the nickname for the extremely inexpensive wines sold exclusively in the Trader Joe's chain of grocery stores, which specialize in upscale foods at fairly downscale prices. Produced by Bronco Winery, part of the Franzia family's wine empire, Two Buck Chuck has roiled the domestic wine industry by putting out generally quite decent...

'Two-Buck Chuck' wins wine competition By: BRADLEY J. FIKES - Staff Writer Vin d'Expensive? Meritage Snooty? If that's the kind of name you were thinking would grace a winner of the California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition, get ready for a shock. Try "Two-Buck Chuck," more formally Charles Shaw, the brand beloved of bargain but palate-sensitive wine shoppers. It's sold by Bronco Wine Co. exclusively through Trader Joe's. Shaw's California Chardonnay took first place for Best Chardonnay from California. To some in the clubby California wine community, that must seem like a Michelin's Red Guide giving three stars to a...

California's premier Napa Valley wine region on Thursday became the first US terroir to have its name protected in the European Union. Napa Valley's official "Geographic Indication" was announced by European Commission agricultural attaché Jean-Marc Trarieux at the German consulate in San Francisco. "Europe does not have a monopoly on producing fine wines," Trarieux said. "Napa Valley has done an outstanding job." The Napa Valley Vintners Association petitioned the commission in 2005 to have the names "Napa" and "Napa Valley" recognized with GI status to provide the US wine country names legal protection against trademark infringement. In late January 2007...

MIKE BENZIGER'S DAY is packed, no time to spare, but as he kicks through the dirt at his family's biodynamic vineyard he can't resist stopping to grab a handful of the rich soil. "Smell that," he says. "Doesn't it smell like beets? This is great soil. It's alive. This is what it's all about." Soil this healthy, Mike says, doesn't just happen. It has been just more than a decade since the Benziger Family Winery in Glen Ellen decided it was tired of growing mediocre grapes, tired of working a chunk of pesticide-laden land so sterile that even the birds...