Wine - What not to drink

From Sainsbury's: SO Organic Chardonnay 2008 Vin de Pays d'Oc (£4.99; 13% abv) tastes as if it's been made by ­numbers ­using a duff calculator. A couple of horrendous sauv­ignon blancs – Sainsbury's Chilean ­Sauvignon Blanc 2009 (£3.22; 13% abv) and Sainsbury's Sauvignon Blanc 2008 Vin de Pays d'Oc (£4.39; 12.5% abv): yes, they're cheap, but that's no excuse for undrinkability.

Chartreuse de Bonpas Réserve 2008 (£8.99; 13% abv) is a red blend that's very disappointing for the price. Sainsbury's Argentinian Pinot Noir 2009 (£4.99; 14% abv) is turgid, while Taste The Difference McLaren Vale Shiraz Grenache 2008 (£7.99; 14.5% abv) tastes like an extra­terrestrial ­attempt to recreate Earth wine. I could go on, but it hardly seems fair to dwell so long in one place.So I'll move on to Tesco.

Bad claret reminds me of a cardboard box that's spent the past year in the porch with dirty shoes sat on it – if you want to know what I mean, try Tesco Vintage Claret 2007 (£5.99; 12% abv). Storks Tower ­Tempranillo Shiraz Rosé 2008 (£6.12; 12.5% abv) is flabby and ­apathetic. Then there are wines that fail to live up to their price tag. Tesco Finest Hermitage 2005 (£22.47; 13% abv) is OK, but a £22 wine should not be OK.

Ditto La Chaudouillonne Sancerre 2007 (£14.29; 12.5% abv). And The Reach Sauv­ignon Blanc 2008 (£8.47; 12.5% abv), which is like drinking dementors.Nothing tried at Waitrose is quite as horrifying, though that said, only ­patriotism would ­make me part with £10.99 for Bookers Vineyard Pinot Noir 2006 (12% abv). And the very modern Bodegas Chivite Gran Feudo 2005 (£11.95; 13.5% abv) is what I ­imagine it's like having dinner with Rupert Penry-Jones – a friend who interviewed him said he was lovely, apart from the conversation.There are a few splutterers at Marks & Spencer, too. Old Man Creek ­Chardonnay 2008 (£4.99; 13% abv) for one. My notes say M&S's new Chilean Red 2009 (£3.99; 12.5% abv) "smells awful" and that the Argentine Balbi Syrah-­Viognier 2009 (£6.99; 13.5% abv) "ticks boxes, but is unsatisfying and a bit plasticky".Asda, meanwhile, has some real teeth-gritters. I have space for two: a hideous South African, Nederburg Winemasters Reserve ­Sauvignon Blanc 2009 (£6.48; 13.5% abv), and M de ­Murviedro Rosé 2008 (£5.48; 13% abv) which is like boiled sweets and alcohol.

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Host a BYOB malbec tasting

Malbec from Argentina is arguably the best value in wine today. While other countries produce plenty of good-value wines, Argentina's malbecs offer unusual complexity at prices that don't break the bank.

Even a $10 bottle can have you searching the glass for hints of mocha, berries, lavender or spice. Market forces bear much of the credit for this.

The dollar has remained strong against the Argentine peso even as European wines increase in price because of the euro's rise. Vineyard land and labor in Mendoza are much cheaper than in California. These factors keep prices for malbec low even as quality continues to improve.

To be sure, expensive malbecs can run into the triple digits. But to get a sense of what malbec has to offer, you really don't need to spend more than $15 or $20, and it is possible to stay close to $10.

Here's a fun way to explore malbec: Recruit some friends for an evening of wine tasting and geeky discussion about aromas and nuances. Have each friend contribute a bottle or two of wine, to help spread the cost and the fun. Concealing the labels is optional; if you do, make sure the bottles are clearly numbered. Take notes and go back to the wines from time to time as the evening wears on to see if they have changed.

The following wines would make an excellent lineup, but feel free to substitute others according to what's available at your favorite stores. That's what the fun is all about.

With each wine, look first for malbec's signature: deep purple color, aromas and flavors of blueberries and cherries, and a soft texture with tannins that seem to disappear rather than dominate the finish. Then look for the nuances that come from different vineyard sites or the winemaker's decisions before, during and after harvest.

Start with the Trapiche 2008 ($9). Note its fresh, grassy aromas, signaling little or no oak, with some musky, evening scent over the blueberry fruit flavors. On the palate, the wine is a bit heavy and slightly unbalanced but a delicious mouthful nonetheless.

Compare this with the Alamos 2008, which is an archetypal malbec: correct and . . . well, fine. Nothing wrong with it, but not very exciting, either. (This label has been spoiled by success, with its price creeping up to $13, though it is often on sale for less than $10).

Malbec's enticing aromas come into play with the High Note 2008 ($12). When first opened, this wine is very floral, with hints of lavender and violets along with clove and other spices. It seems to lack the low notes -- some flesh and heft on the palate -- but these fill in after about 30 minutes. This wine keeps getting better in the glass.

Aromas also dominate the Mapema 2006 ($20), with herbal scents of rosemary and sage yielding to meat and woodsy notes of tree bark and damp leaves. It is rich and lively, showing differently with every sip, suggesting it is going through its adolescence right now and hasn't quite figured out what it wants to be when it matures. It will be worth visiting again in a few years. (Local distributors are now carrying the 2007.)

The Finca el Origen Reserva 2007 ($10) shares those herbal qualities yet remains rooted in malbec's berry flavors. This wine's lightness sets it apart. It is almost European in style.

In contrast, the Valentin Bianchi "Elsa" 2008 ($9) is more New World, focused and intense. You may need to coax out its aromas of black olive, cherry and blueberry, but you'll be impressed with its concentration and structure, even though the tannins seem to vanish on the finish. Like any good wine, it leaves you wanting more.

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Record prices for wine at Hongkong auction

A wine auction organized by Sotheby in Hong Kong on Saturday exceeded all expectations, reports Bloomberg. Rich wine lovers bid for ten hours on 800 lots and eventually spent HK$52.9 million (4.81 million euros), against Sotheby’s estimate of HK$40 million.

Not included in those amounts are the auction charges. It seems the economic crisis is forgotten at least in Asia. According to Bloomberg one of the reasons for the higher than expected revenue is the fear of inflation in China. Rich Chinese are trying to secure their wealth by converting some of their cash position into valuable assets such as fine wines.

Some wines fetched remarkable prices. An imperial (6-liter bottle) of 1982 Chateau Lafite Rothschild fetched HK$363,600 (33,000 euros) or more than twice the estimated value. A Swiss dealer currently sells a 6-liter bottle of Lafitte for 12,468 euros (VAT and shipping not included).

But buyers must beware: there is much fake Lafite 1982 in circulation. But this cru has an almost mythical reputation with Chinese buyers. Two magnums of Petrus 1982 fetched HK$435,000 (39,576 euros), more than three times the estimated value of HK$130,000. Petrus 1982 has a much lesser reputation than Lafite. In his most recent tasting note Parker says that the wine tastes like water and is herbaceous. He nevertheless still awards 93 points.

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Tips for seeking out a great B.C. wine

Here's the scoop: In the wild and wacky world of B.C. wine, beer and liquor labeling, the race for gold is already well under way.

And the Hired Belly is now thinking that maybe the Cellared in Canada debacle is a mere drop in the ocean (so to speak) of what awaits unsuspecting Olympic visitors.

(We should note that as far as "C in C" goes, not only has Vincor applied itself to ensure that all Esprit wines are now labelled VQA; and that the official sponsor expects to contribute some $1.5 million the Canadian Olympic Team and VANOC come Games time.)

However, the real question is: When it comes to what's in the bottle (beer or wine) how many visitors will wind up paying too much for something that isn't what they think it might be?

These days, with the number of new wineries real and imagined popping up on the radar it's hard enough for locals to keep track -- let alone unwary visitors.

No. We're not going to single out the suspects but here are a couple of suggestions you might pass on to anyone asking, "Just what should I be buying that's worthy and emblematic of BC?"

First of all, look for transparency, preferably a wine from a long established winery -- and ideally with a note on the label or back as to, specifically, where the grapes originate. If it shows a winemaker's or vintage comments -- even better.

Secondly, favour true estate wineries over less obvious catchy brands. It's a fundamental failing in our standards that we continue to allow wineries to use the term "estate

when they don't own even a row of vines.

Above all, be leery of overhyped, "cachet" wines in glorious packaging that promise the earth, moon and stars, and everything in between. And, when in doubt, don't hesitate to talk to a knowledgeable store consultant.

Two words: when it comes to liquid souvenirs: Caveat Emptor -- buyer beware!

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Speaking of pioneers and dedication, and people here for the long run, winemaker Howard Soon was in Vancouver last week to celebrate the naming of Sandhill as Wine Access Magazine's Canadian Winery of the Year.

In our mind, the award couldn't have gone to a more deserving winery -- though Howard is quick to note it's thanks to "the support of our outstanding grape growers who have embraced Sandhill's single vineyard philosophy, and played a key role in our success."

Indeed, the first folks we met heading into the event speak volumes for Soon's very grounded philosophy and vision for the company that he spearheaded 12 years ago, with the aid of grape guru Richard Cleave, and others.

Walking our way were long-time Penticton growers Rod and Marjorie King, whose King Family Vineyards (owned with Rod's brother Don) have been a linchpin in the evolution of success stories such as Sandhill Pinot Gris -- surely one of the best examples of B.C. Pinot Gris, that delivers consistent quality and value at its price point.

(Think hints of tropical and stone fruit with a gentle streak of juicy acidity that makes it a shoo-in for lightly sauced seafood. BCLS $17.99.)

No wonder Soon was sure to bring them to Vancouver to help celebrate his moment in the sun.

It's also worth noting that of all the majors, Calona Vineyards was the first to seriously address the issue of 'bottled' and 'cellared' in Canada wines ...

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Wine On Ice 2010 Is On

It's a wine lover's paradise -- hundreds of wines under one roof, waiting to quench your palette.
The 9th Annual Wine on Ice, presented by WENY-TV and the Williams Auto Group is on.
This weekend, 65 wineries and vendors are converging on downtown Elmira giving visitors a taste of Finger Lakes.

“It’s cool to check out different wines without worrying about buying a whole bottle. Just check it out and see what you like,” said Melissa Schoonover of Elmira.

Schoonover is a Wine on Ice veteran. She comes to first arena every year to try to find the perfect wine.

But it's not just wine or the vendors or the music, it's the people that make wine on ice the tradition that it is.

“Meeting the people, getting out there and talking to the people. Pouring wine for someone and having them end up loving it is a lot of fun,” said Lindsay Colegrove on Red Newt Cellars.
Colegrove says educating the locals is part of the reason Red Newt comes back to Wine on Ice year after year.

“I think a lot of people in Elmira don't even know there are wineries, on the other hand, there are some people who live at the wineries,” said Colegrove.

But you don't have to be from Elmira, or even like wine to have a good time.
There's plenty to munch on too.

“Chocolate and wine just make a great pair,” said Lacey Kennedy of Highland Chocolates.
Kennedy says chocolate-covered handcuffs are selling fast.

Wine on Ice continues Saturday. The evening session is already SOLD OUT, and tickets for the afternoon session are limited.

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Keeping Oz wine on top

With the Australian trade tasting less than two weeks away, OLN teamed up with the name behind award-winning brand McGuigan, Australian Vintage, to host a round table on the future of Australian wine. Ten industry experts came together to discuss the direction Australian wine should take in the UK.

Rosie Davenport, OLN: How do consumers perceive Australian wine? Paul Schaafsma, Australian Vintage: I think what Australia has always tried to do is deliver what customers want – if you go back and ask why we became relevant and so big so quickly, it’s because we delivered quality, consistency, flavour and trust.

Dan Jago, Tesco: If you went up to someone in a Tesco and asked them what Australian wine meant to them they would say Jacob’s Creek. Jamie Hutchinson, the Sampler: We sell on regionality, personality and value for money but not on a price-point basis. A lot of consumers of fine wine – which is a small part of the market – are moving away from Australia because they say it’s lacking in personality and elegance.

I think there may be a return to that elegance, and a large number of producers who produce great wines in Australia, but the marketing message has made selling it at the top end more difficult rather than easier.

Buttery Chardonnays aren’t what you usually find now and a 14% big Cabernet Shiraz isn’t something my customers want to taste or buy. It’s about how Australia can provide something that is different to other wines.

Neil Bruce, Waverley TBS: There are some fairly mixed messages going out to consumers. I think the perception of brand Australia is a pretty muddled one.

RD: What are the main challenges for the Australian category?

PS: Australia has gone through a torrid time with oversupply and drought, and now the exchange rate, but given its size and infrastructure, we can’t ignore the commercial wine side of the business.

The wine community in Australia is always talking about up selling. It has this perception there’s a larger audience that will spend more. We know people are spending between £4-£8 – let’s get them excited in an offering that’s going to keep them interested in Australia.

We have to look at things such as lightweighting glass to reduce packaging weight.

Christopher Carson, GIV: You don’t build on dodgy foundations. The simple fact is there are so many problems in Australia relating to overproduction and problems with water – which is going to get extremely expensive and in short supply – and that’s going to knock the industry.

You need to get some of the stuff back at base sorted out and start uniting the industry. It’s sadly fragmented. The whole of Australia needs to be content – the volume, mid-range and the premium bit. I see more time being spent on regionality and actually walking away from the fundamental problem. This issue of over-­production isn’t being addressed – the amount of extra juice sitting there, which will still be there after the next vintage, will mean problems in Australia for another two or three years.

PS: There has been some significant rationalisation in terms of growers walking away – we’ve been talking to them over the past couple of years about the fact we couldn’t take all their wines. Other large companies have also been talking to growers and we will see a significant reduction in vineyards. I think we’ll be looking at pulling apart wineries and reducing the amount of facilities. If we leave them, people will come in, buy them for nothing, come into the industry and undercut. The cycle would continue.

DJ: If the Australian wine industry believes by restricting availability it’ll be able to get its prices up, they’ve got another thing coming. You can’t sell anything unless you’ve established a consumer need and a reason why they should pay for it. This is the challenge: how do we make Australia great, so when prices do go up consumers are confident to stay with it.

CC: There used to be a steering group for the Australian Wine Bureau in London that not only had the larger companies on it, but medium-sized and smaller ones. It was a very balanced approach and it recognised that the big engine-room producers are going to be the ones which can turn the ship. The big players can change trends. Maybe you’re not getting the really senior people coming along you might want, and it’s very difficult to get that strong influence to relay back to Australia.

Some of those values got lost and now we are seeing the small wine companies having much more influence on the way Wine Australia is directed. The paymasters are the big boys.

The hand on the tiller of the UK, Ireland and European marketing strategy has got to be much more of a UK hand, not an Australian hand. The Australian hand is oriented far too much on production issues and not about the consumer.

Lisa McGovern, Wine Australia: Apart from Australian Vintage all the major players are members of Wine Australia. Those companies are fully supportive of the mainstream and fine-wine programme activities.

I’ve been in the job for nine months and I feel I have galvanised things. Paul Schaafsma and I are still talking about moving forward and I’d like him to feel there is relevance in the Wine Australia programme for his brands.

Australia in 2010 isn’t the Australia it was in 2000. I wouldn’t have taken the

job if I didn’t think there was a fantastic opportunity for the category but it has to do so for everyone and that’s a challenge.

I’m not interested in supporting price-driven promotions because that’s the role of the brand owners in my opinion.

Angela Mount, industry consultant: My frustration over the years at Somerfield was there were budgets available for generic promotions, such as Australia Month one year, but by the next the strategy changed. All that money was invested in either the independents or flying sommeliers to X,Y and Z.

My question is how much of those funds are going back into mainstream retail, the main gatekeeper to the large proportion of consumers buying Australian wine. That’s the only way we can get that brand message across – by directly doing something in the mainstream environment.

DJ: As a large commercial organisation we have a responsibility to meet profit targets. We require the best bidder to come forward and if Australia doesn’t do it, someone else will.

We’re not philanthropists. Our job is to deliver what the consumer needs at the best possible price.

RD: Is the regionality campaign the right generic message?

JH: I think it’s very difficult to spread the message of regionality cost-effectively across the small number of people who are going to be interested – it’s more a case of a hand sale or individual promotion. My concern is if you take a step back into marketing Australia as a whole you may well fix some problems with the commercial [branded] side, but you may damage the premium side.

NB: Sadly, regionality in an Australian context is a bit like South African bio­diversity – I think it’s flogging a bit of a dead horse. I cared passionately about regionality when the shoots were starting to emerge but then they got squished and flattened by the mass amount of discounting happening after the good years.

LMc: I think you can use regionality as a tool to communicate how styles are evolving. It doesn’t mean we stand up and talk about 62 geographical indicators. It provides a platform so you can say: “Look at Chardonnay and how it performs in Adelaide Hills, in Margaret River.” Fine- wine consumers are interested to know the difference between those so they can make a confident decision about the wine they like.

Allan Cheesman, industry consultant: I don’t think you should turn away from regionality in Australia. Chile has done it with Leyda, San Antonio, Casablanca, Bío-Bío and South Africa is beginning to do it with Darling and Elgin. It’s another point of difference to stop the New World from being homogenised.

DJ: Once consumers have moved to a level where they are prepared to spend between £8-£15 a bottle they are going to find out a bit more about it themselves, be more discerning and selective. They’re going to know that if something is £4 or £5 in a supermarket it’s unlikely it’ll be something they are looking for if they have a high disposable income to spend on wine.

JH: Originally the message for Australia was you could get richer, well-made wine at a price point you couldn’t get anywhere else. The problem is you can get that from a large number of other places, so how do you change the message so it’s going to enable both the commercial and premium sectors to continue?

RD: What other approaches could work?

LMc: Currently there is an initiative called the Wine Restructuring agenda, which is a collaborative initiative between the winemakers federation, the AWB and grape growers. That’s a series of seminars that are going to take place this month in Australia addressing the issue of oversupply. It’s going to clearly put the extent of the problem on the table and advise growers and winemakers they need very robust business plans and long-term strategies of what they are doing with their production to stay in business.

PS: I would love to put my hand up for an Australian promotion going through Tesco or any of the supermarkets that co-ordinated a group of like-minded suppliers. It would be interesting for the large companies which sell in the commercial £4-£8 price band to work together under some common banner.

The generic body can’t keep the boutique winegrowers and the larger companies happy because you’re talking to a different audience. There’s enough camaraderie in the wine industry in Australia for people to work together.

It would be interesting to have a generic campaign in the off-trade focusing on the stylistic evolution and wine being fun.

Laura Jewell, Spar: You’ve got the group of families that got together [under Australia’s First Families of wine banner, including McWilliams, Brown Brothers and D’Arenberg]. That’s a slightly different level but it’s competitive collaboration. It’ll be interesting to see what comes out of that – they’ve only just started.

You could get that on a bigger scale. If you look at New Zealand and see what it is doing in terms of overproduction on scale, winegrowers are working together to try and contain overproduction for 2010 in order to protect some of the pricing.

AC: What we shouldn’t lose sight of is that Australia has a £1.1 billion turnover in the off-trade. Considering where it came from and where it sat in the 1980s and 1990s, it’s not doing too badly. The wine market is 140 million boxes, so there’s 60-odd million cases that aren’t covered by the multiples. The direct business and independent sector are growing tremendously and there are some good operations around the country and very good symbol and convenience formats.

I’m not sure how Wine Australia looks at those but there is a tremendous bread basket out there and the average bottle prices give good opportunities outside the multiples.

AM: What works are shelf barkers recommending wines – it could be Joe Bloggs, consumers don’t actually care who it’s by, as long as it has won a medal and someone in authority has written about it. That’s what is going to sell it. It’s that point of focus in a huge, often confusing, range.

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Made by monks for drunks: Why Buckfast wine is an unholy brew

Seldom has there been a greater contrast between the makers of a product and those who consume it. For while the Benedictine monks of Buckfast Abbey in Devon rise at 5.25am to begin a day of prayer, some of those who drink their famous fortified wine are in a police cell.

A documentary has revealed that Buckfast tonic wine - aka Buckie, Wreck the Hoose Juice, Commotion Lotion, and Liquid Speed - has played a part in more than 5,000 crimes in Strathclyde in the past three years. The bottle is also a popular weapon. As a result, the Right Rev Bob Gillies has said St Benedict would be 'very, very unhappy' with the monks who make it.

So just what exactly is this Devil's brew? A red wine-based aperitif, it is 15 per cent alcohol, costs just £5.49 and is largely drunk by the young and underprivileged. Born out of religious devotion, it is believed that the original French monks who settled in Buckfast Abbey in the 1880s brought the recipe - still used today - with them.

But research at Polmont offenders' institution in West Lothian reveals that more than 40 per cent of those who had consumed alcohol immediately before committing their crime had been drinking Buckfast. Scary stuff.

But sales of the drink - whose unofficial catchphrase is 'made by monks for drunks' - have soared to £37million in the past five years, with Scots spending more than £50,000 a day on it.
It seems some just can't resist the lure of a bottle of Buckie...

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Confused about wine? Books may help

Drinking wine is more fun than reading about it unless you have a book in one hand and a glass in the other. Wine can be complex or simple but several books can help clear any confusion. The global market for wine is similar to a waterbed -- when sales go down in one area, such as bottles costing over USD 30, they go up in another such as sales of USD 15 bottles.

For consumers looking for popular wines under USD 15, the latest edition of Robin Goldstein's and Alexis Herschkowitsch's "The Wine Trials for 2010" may help. Cooks eager to know which wine to serve with a particular dish, and who prefer books to apps and the Internet, can read "What to Drink with What you Eat" by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. Their coffee-table sized book also suggests the appropriate beers, spirits, coffee and tea for various meals.

But if learning about how wine in made, where it is produced, and the difference between Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris or Pinotage is of more interest, Kevin Zraly's "Windows on the World Complete Wine Course" can provide some answers.

Now in its 25th edition, Zraly said he wrote the book because when he started teaching at Windows, there were few books on wine. "Alexis Lichine had a book on French wines, as did Robert Parker. But there was no one book on wines of Spain or Italy or California. And everything seemed to be written not for the beginner, but for the expert. So I wound up doing it."

Other books can also be useful for the next visit to the wine store.

"Wine for Dummies," by Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan, contains some tips on vintages. Ewing-Mulligan, who founded and runs the International Wine Center in New York and is the U.S. director of the London-based Wine & Spirit Education Trust, demystifies what's in a bottle.

The married couple has also expanded the franchise with "French Wines for Dummies" and "Italian Wines for Dummies".

Karen MacNeil's "The Wine Bible" lives up to its title. The first 100 pages cover topics such as grapes, varietals, blends, the importance, or not, of oak, and basically how wine is made.

The rest of the 900 pages are filled with information about wine regions, recommendations and pictures of labels.

For wine lovers who want a bit more information, there is "World Atlas to Wine" by British wine experts Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson. A paperback edition is also available.

For more goal-oriented consumers, there is "1001 Wines You Must Taste Before You Die". The list includes Petrus and Chateau Lafite and also Canopy Malpaso and Borsao Tres Picos, both dry reds from Spain. Domaine de l'Ecu Muscadet from France, and Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare from California, are also on the list.

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Low-alcohol red wine cuts risk of breast, bowel cancers

When dining, wining may be the way to a cancer-free existence. But don’t take that as an excuse to glug away. The rider is that your drink of choice should be red wine, that too with low alcohol content.

According to researchers associated with the World Cancer Research Fund, red wine with 10 per cent alcohol instead of the normal 12-14 per cent could slash the risk of developing bowel or breast cancer by 7 per cent. What’s more, you can also beat other alcohol-related malignancies by making this switch.

Excess consumption of alcohol is associated not only with liver damage and cardiovascular disease but also with higher risk of liver, mouth and throat cancers. World Cancer Research Fund’s science programme manager Dr Rachel Thompson said being a teetotaller is the best way to beat cancer. “But we have to be realistic… If you drink quite a lot at the moment, the best advice is to reduce the number of drinks you have. But if people do not want to do this, switching to a lower alcohol alternative is still something positive they can do,” she said.

She said it’s hard to give up alcohol altogether but not too hard to switch to one with lower strength as that is a lifestyle change which is easy to stick to over the long term. And it can have a “real impact” on a person’s cancer risk, she said.

Scientists say one in every 25 deaths worldwide is due to excess consumption of alcohol.
However, red wine, when consumed in moderation, has beneficial effects on the heart as it contains polyphenols. Doctors recommend women stick to one small glass of red wine a day and men to two for a healthy heart.

A key component of Mediterranean diet, red wine prevents ageing, too. Studies have also found a link between certain types of red wines and lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Like all good things, wine too is best in small packages. Here’s your chance to raise a toast to a healthy life.

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Scientists cast doubt on anti-aging red wine drugs

Scientists have cast a shadow of doubt over drugs that might cheat the biology of ageing. Separate teams led by researchers at the drugs companies Amgen in Thousand Oaks, California, and Pfizer in Groton, Connecticut have questioned the claims made on compounds including resveratrol, a much-touted component of red wine that is believed to delay old age.

The Pfizer team, reported in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, that resveratrol and other compounds failed to work as expected when they conducted a series of new experiments, reports New Scientist. The Amgen team also concluded in Chemical Biology & Drug Design that resveratrol did not activate SIRT1, a protein implicated in ageing.

Matt Kaeberlein, University of Washington, Seattle, who was not involved in either study and has no link with any company developing anti-ageing drugs, said: "I think it's a setback because there's been a lot of optimism about these resveratrol-like compounds."

But the biochemist added that even if resveratrol and the Sirtris compounds did not slow ageing, they were far from being worthless. He added: "It may be that resveratrol-like compounds are going to be therapeutically useful in people."

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California wine gets green standards

California wine's efforts to go green got a big push Wednesday when the industry unveiled a certification program for its sustainable practices. The wine industry has for years been pushing its green credentials by letting wineries evaluate their own progress on everything from less use of water to carpooling. Wineries were left to assess their own efforts under a sort of self-help quiz that offered a lengthy list of possible green efforts. But if you're a green winery by your own declaration, critics have asked, so what?

So it was a major leap forward for the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, which managed the self-assessments, to announce that wineries can now pay outside auditors to ensure that their efforts on everything from pesticide use to creating mission statements and recycling corks are up to snuff.

"It's a huge way of bringing everybody up on this thing," said Steve Smith, vice president of vineyard and grape management for Constellation Wines US and an alliance board member. What's the importance of certification? Foremost, it allows retailers and other industry members to evaluate whether wine companies meet green standards, which in turn can guide buying decisions. As large retailers like Wal-Mart are setting sustainability requirements for their suppliers, such efforts have real consequences for the bottom line.

Right now, at least, there won't be much to see in the supermarket aisle. "This is not a consumer-facing program," said Chris Savage, director of environmental affairs for E&J Gallo Winery, the state's largest wine producer, and chairman of the alliance's board of directors. "This is not about putting a label on the bottle yet."

But it will help provide some accountability. After taking the quiz, which assesses 227 practices, participants have to meet 58 prerequisites (view them here). Five are deal-killers, including not taking action on obvious sources of erosion and unchecked use of nitrogen on the soil.

For the remaining 53, companies must at least have a plan to make improvements within a year. A vineyard without disease monitoring must implement periodic testing; a winery without an energy audit must obtain one. Auditors have yet to be chosen, but the first should be selected next month.

Those goals are rather modest, with few specific metrics attached. Planners say that was intended to allow more companies to participate. As of 2008, 40 percent of the state's 523,000 acres of vineyard were being considered under the self-test, as were 115 million cases of wine, or 47.8 percent of the state total. However, that wine came from just 140 wineries, about 5 percent of more than 2,800 in California. About 1,500 wineries and vineyards total have taken the assessment so far.

Certification, then, should be relatively easy for most companies who opt in, including those using large-scale conventional farming.

"It really is not designed to be a high bar," said Allison Jordan, executive director of the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance. "It felt premature to say we're going to set these arbitrary thresholds."

Under the certification program, a company hires a third-party auditor — the list is still being developed — to perform an on-site visit in the first year. The following two years of audits can be performed online.

Seventeen companies volunteered for a trial run, a list dominated by such major industry players as Gallo, Diageo and Constellation but also including smaller properties like Cooper-Garrod in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Honig in Napa Valley.

"We're encouraged by it, we're excited, but we're cautious," said Mike Sangiacomo, a Carneros grower and board member of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, which with the Wine Institute co-founded the sustainable alliance. "We didn't want this thing too far out ahead, so the growers could do these things."

Still, the current standards are so modest that some in the industry wonder whether they will have a real impact, especially in selling to overseas markets, where strict sustainability certifications like EntWine Australia have been in use for years. Several other California efforts, notably the Lodi Rules program, are already ahead — both in specifics and in conducting outside audits.

A quick look at the baseline requirements reveals the potential for tougher standards. Requirements on water use are vague, requiring only an annual test of water quality for decision-making purposes and some basic water planning. Soil fumigation is allowed so long as there's testing to ensure a problem.

As planners acknowledge, the certification will need to evolve. In theory it might run the way that the U.S. Green Building Council runs its LEED program, with projects aiming for certain status — LEED Gold, LEED Platinum and so on, and a certain number of points required to reach each level. Currently the wine certification is far simpler: You're either in or out.

Some environmental pioneers in the industry are optimistic that the big-tent approach will help bring up overall standards. "You've got to be magnanimous," said John Williams of Frog's Leap Winery in Rutherford, an early adopter of organic practices.

But whether the wine efforts grow more teeth — and whether it will be enough for retailers and wine buyers will be seen in time. Jon Heckman of FiveWinds International, a consultancy that helped develop the green program, said it likely will have to become more rigorous within the next few years. "Fundamentally this program is about improving California," he said. "If you as a company trumpet yourself as sustainable when your performance is quite low, then it's up to the marketplace to call you out."

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Merlot - It's all in the micro-climates

Telling Mike Januik that his merlot reminds you of cabernet sauvignon won't exactly break the Washington winemaker's heart.

For Januik, who produces wine under his eponymous label and for Novelty Hill, believes what sets the merlots of the Columbia Valley region apart from others is their sense of place; these wines have a point of view.

"I think (consumers) think of merlots that are totally fruit forward, soft, without much mid-palate or finish," said Januik, who has been named one of the world's "masters of merlot" by Wine Enthusiast magazine. "Our wines have a lot of structure to them."

Back in the 1980s when the huge Columbia Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) was created, some Washington winemakers thought merlot would be their trump card in the wine game. It has been to a degree, but Columbia Valley is home to a number of well-known grape varieties.

Gary Werner, communications director for the Washington Wine Commission, said merlot, riesling, chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon run "neck to neck" in the Columbia Valley.

"Given the size of the region and its various microclimates, we can grow just about anything," he said. "We're not ones to hang our hat on just one (variety)."

The Columbia Valley is not the soggy Washington state we all picture in our minds. This region lies east of the Cascade mountains and, in Werner's words, "is as dry as a bone." The sun shines 300 days a year, the annual rainfall is only 6 to 10 inches, and the temperatures can fluctuate from winter chill to summer scorcher.

Early winemakers there were worried about the temperature at first. They planted cold-hardy whites like riesling, recalled Coman Dinn, director of winemaking at Hogue Cellars.

"Merlot was chosen primarily because it is an earlier ripening grape compared to cabernet," he said.

Winemakers began to realize how different climate zones were in the valley. Certain south-facing hillsides were warmer than others, meaning winemakers could plant cabernet and other more cold-sensitive varieties there.

These micro-climates are the reason there are eight sub-AVAs in the Columbia Valley wine region; each has its own characteristics that favor certain grape varieties.

But back to merlot. In the book "Washington Wines and Wineries: The Essential Guide," author Paul Gregutt wrote that Washington merlots "start where most others leave off, with ripe flavors of sweet cherries, and then reach well beyond simple and fruity, adding plush, packed, textured flavors."

What makes these merlots so good?

"It's our northerly location and our limited growing season," said Dinn. "It doesn't warm up here until late April. Once it warms up, it warms up fast and the days grow rapidly longer and the grapes catch up. By Oct. 15 the season is over. … This keeps our crop load modest. You need a modest crop load to show character and intensity."

Dinn said irrigation is used to control vine growth and berry size. Want more intensity? Go with a smaller grape. And get sunlight in on the grape clusters, he added, to develop color and flavor.
Januik points to another factor.

"We are one of the few areas where we grow the vines on their own roots," Januik said. "Nothing is grafted. That more than anything has had a big impact."

Last, Werner said the small scale of Washington's wine production plays a role.

"We have to pursue quality," he said. "To make our mark, we have to let the fruit speak for itself and don't do a whole lot with it."
Serve Columbia Valley merlot with grilled wild salmon, prime rib, roast duck, grilled New York strip steaks, roast beef.

Get a taste

2007 Cadaretta Merlot: A dark cherry color, with notes of chocolate and black cherry on the nose. Medium-bodied, with a deep cherry flavor, there's mouthwatering acidity and a nice tannic snap on the end. Good structure. Serve with roast leg of lamb, grilled steak.

2007 Seven Hills Merlot: The wine sports a plummy cherry color with a dash of cinnamon overlaying the fruit fragrance. Black cherry on the palate with touches of cocoa. Velvety mouthfeel. Serve with Chinese duck, roast pork loin with cherry glaze.

2006 Columbia Crest Reserve Merlot: A bright, cheerful wine with its berry flavor plushed with notes of cherry and black pepper. Very smooth. Serve with roast chicken, pate, macaroni and cheese.

You want that wine. But your store or area distributor may not choose to carry it. State law may prohibit you from ordering a wine online. What to do? Ask your wine retailer for a wine similar in flavor, style and price. Remember, too, prices vary.

By the numbers

11.4 million: Number of acres in the Columbia Valley AVA

36,400: Number of Columbia Valley acres in Washington planted with wine grapes

1984: Year the Columbia Valley AVA was created

8: Number of sub AVAs within Columbia Valley.

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Wine tasting, pies and blueberries

Back in November, Tidbits reported that Bangor Wine & Cheese Company was under new ownership. Eric and Christine Mihan purchased the Hammond Street business, revamped a few things, and have been open since mid-November. After a few months of learning the ropes, Bangor Wine & Cheese will host a grand opening celebration all weekend, Jan. 21-24. It will kick off with a wine tasting on from 6 to 8 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 21, with a big wine sale continuing through Sunday, Jan. 24. The tasting will feature wines by Wicked Wines, including a Chardonnay from the actual town of Chardonnay in Burgundy’s Maconnais region, as well as several robust reds perfect for hearty dinner fare. For more information, call 732-690-7737.

Easy as pie: I spy with my little eye … lots and lots of pie. Rockland will go seriously pie-eyed on Sunday, Jan. 24, with its sixth annual Pies on Parade Inn to Inn Pie Tour. Samples of more than 35 different pies at restaurants and inns throughout Rockland will be offered. And it’s not just your standard issue apple, blueberry or raspberry either (though those will be there).

There will be shepherds pie at the Waterworks Restaurant, pizza (technically a pie) at Brick’s and Cafe Miranda, sweet and savory Italian gallettes at Rustica Cucina Italiano, whoopie pies at Rockland Cafe, seafood pie at Amalfi on the Water, Cornish pastries at the Captain Lindsey, and the signature Key LimeRock Pie at LimeRock Inn. For a full list of venues and pies offered, visit www.historicinnsofrockland.com/pies.htm. Admission to all venues is $25, $10 for children, and proceeds benefit the Area Interfaith Outreach Food Pantry.

Getting ready for season:

Farmers market season remains a few months away, but while the roots and leaves lay dormant, farmers, bakers and foodcentric entrepreneurs plot what kinds of goodies they’ll offer to the public this spring, summer and fall. The second annual Maine Farmers’ Market Convention will be held Jan. 29-30 at the Hutchinson Center in Belfast, bringing together people from all stripes to talk about food, farming and how better to bring Maine-made products to the people. Speakers include Executive Director of New England Organic Farming Association Enid Wonnacott, marketing specialist Dick Dyer, Maine chef and foodie Cheryl Wixson, Waterville area community organizer Shannon Haines, Maine Farmland Trust director John Piotti and others from all over Maine. Registration for both days of the conference is $120, and includes meals. One day is $75. For more information and a full schedule of events, call 664-2424 ext. 4460.

Blueberry benefits:

As if their being delicious wasn’t enough, new studies just released have shown that besides their powerful antioxidant properties, blueberries also are helpful in boosting memory in older people with early memory problems. A daily drink of about 500 milliliters of blueberry juice was associated with improved learning and word list recall, as well as a suggestion of reduced depressive symptoms, according to findings published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The study is said to be the first human trial to assess the potential benefits of blueberries on brain function in older adults with increased risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s. Having a glass of blueberry juice once a day is a small, quite tasty price to pay for its beneficial properties. Drink up!

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Red Tape Tales - The wine butler

I own a micro-winery in Toronto called The Wine Butler. We import grape juice from around the world and make small batches of wine with our clients. We are a small, locally owned business producing over 100,000 bottles of wine every year.

Admittedly, our business is highly regulated because it involves alcohol. There are a lot of rules (that are made more confusing because they differ at the federal and provincial levels). We are not allowed to carry our customer's orders out to their cars.

Nor assist them physically in any way while they package their products. We are not allowed to offer perspective customers samples of our products, yet our competitors (ie. the LCBO) can. Underage children are not allowed in our facility with their Guardians, yet they are allowed on our competitor's premises. Some 10 to 15 minutes of paper work must be completed to satisfy government regulations to complete one order. We are not allowed to market the cost of our product per unit.

We are not allowed to take orders over the phone. Our customers must start orders by being physically present, a rule that is an incredible burden to our business, forcing us to start orders one at a time, which logistically presents countless challenges. In addition to which fact, means twice as many cars visiting our store (environmentally wasteful and not carbon friendly). Recently new laws regulating phone marketing and email have been legislated by other levels of government, making cold calling or contacting perspective customers unwieldy and confusing.

There are guidelines for what we can advertise -- and they are sanitized to a level of being more or less useless. It is suggested we can market our business, with approval of marketing creative by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission.

Notwithstanding all of these challenges, my little business is growing and thriving. My opinion is that less regulation and a common sense revolution for business would help cut Canada's deficit, spur industry, and ensure Canada's competitiveness on a world scale.

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Labels influence wine buying

The proof might well be in the pudding or, in this case, in the drinking but there is no doubt that our choice of the wines we consume is influenced as much by the labels on the bottles as our expectation of what's inside.

If it's a bottle with a label that makes it stand out from the crowd; a label that's attractive, elegant, unusual, colourful or in some other way appealing then we are more likely to pluck the bottle from the shelf.

Especially if we are one of the younger drinkers who, overseas studies show, are turned off by stuffy labels. Or one of the women who buy most of the wine that is sold in supermarkets. Hence the success of New World wines in general, especially those made by producers who have adopted more attractive and colourful label designs, and the switch by some in the so-called Old (and stuffy) World from chateaux to chic.

But it's only the look – the cosmetics – that have changed. The labels, front and back, are still required by law to contain all the information the consumer needs to know to evaluate the wine before buying it, including the country of origin, quality, type of wine, alcoholic degree, producer, bottler, or importer, the allergens contained and, in some cases, other details.

Not that everyone bothers even to look. Instead they buy on sight wines like some of those from New Zealand with labels that have caught my eye for one reason or another. And all of them, incidentally, wines that are well worth plucking from the shelves on sight.

Just offhand it is difficult to think of a more colourful label than that on the new ant moore range of wines, launched by an Australian go-getter of the same name who came here in 2002 to make Isabel Estate's wines in Marlborough, and a name for himself.

Having already launched the Catalina Sounds and Crowded House brands, now this signature brand with a mass of multi-coloured vines on the label, he has just purchased the Central Otago Vinter's Winery in Cromwell, one of the country's biggest pinot noir processors.

He says it fits in perfectly with his group's Marlborough operation and the growth of its labels here and in Australia.

For a taste of ant moore, try first the classy varietal (pears and florals) 2009 Marlborough Pinot Gris ($21.99), which has already collected a couple of gongs. Also available is a 2009 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ($21.99) and a well-priced 2008 Central Otago Pinot Noir ($29.99).

A more muted and sedate, but another colourful label that has always appealed to me is Riverby Estate's. The centrepiece, a rainbow trout, is a reminder that where the grapes now grow was once the bed of the Opawa river in Marlborough, home to the fish. Look for either of the good value Riverby Rieslings or the outstanding 2008 Noble Riesling, a steal at $25 (375ml).

Different, and eye-catching as a result, is the vertical black and white label on Sacred Hill's new Halo range of six premium varietals from Marlborough and Hawke's Bay, which all have a recommended retail price of $25.90. Among the lineup is a savoury, well peppered 2008 Hawke's Bay syrah and an elegant stonefruit-driven 2008 Hawke's Bay chardonnay from a team which makes them with a touch of class.

My favourite label, however, is Julicher Estate. It is simple. It is elegant. Imagine the bottle, swathed in a white napkin, being presented for inspection at a restaurant table by the sommelier.

If you see the stylised gold "J" on black on the wineshop shelf, and you will, then reach for the stunning 2008 Martinborough Pinot Noir (about $39), wine of the show at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards. You will not be disappointed by the contents, or by style with which the bottle graces the table.

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