Wines, Vines and Tattoos !!

Recent "research" conducted outside bars in France, suggests that tattooed individuals drink more!  How unscientific can you get? And if you have seven or more tattoos you fall into the high risk category and may even be violent. 
This type of research is not really useful and leaves many questions unanswered. For instance are these beer drinkers or do they have a preference for hard liquor? And were there any wine connoisseurs involved?                      

Apparently Amy Jade Winehouse ( Yes Winehouse is her name ) liked her wines and her tattoos

Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011)) was an English singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic mix of various musical genres including R&B, soul, jazz, rock & roll, and ska. Winehouse was best known for her soulful, powerful contralto vocals.

And how about Jennifer? Looks like a happy mix of tattoos and a good full bodied red wine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 But Jennifer that is not how you hold a glass of good wine. Your finger prints will be all over that glass and if that was a white wine you would be warming it up pretty fast. 

Recently attended a birthday party of a good friend of mine. Great food, good friends and yes the beautiful hostess shows how to hold a glass correctly.

 So I would like to make a suggestion to the French researchers. Go to Paris and talk to Olivier Magny owner of the very successful  O Chateau.

 

   

Olivier and his staff have just celebrated their first anniversary and have become the hot spot wine bar in Paris. I wonder how many of his patrons have tattoos and is there a difference between someone just liking a glass of wine and a connoisseur? I am just being inquisitive for the sake of research. 

   Be sure to click on the wine label and discover a new grape variety!                                                                          

Dieting?... Check Your New Wine Label!

 Once again wine label requirements are under attack. This time it is the US and Australia. I did a post in January last year when Brussels was rattling its chains. Here is the link to that entry.

http://wwpress.blogspot.com/2010/01/wine-labels-under-attack-by-brussels.html

 It seems bureaucrats everywhere feel they must protect the dumb public by forcing wineries to print the number of calories in their wines on their wine labels. This would change of course with each vintage and thus creating additional costs for the wineries.
Australia is moving ahead on this requirement 
Now the US is also considering label changes. Now I ask you would anyone seriously look at a back label and do calorie comparisons between two or three wines?
'Look at this one  dear, it has 20 calories less than the one you are looking at'. 
When you buy your bacon do you for one minute think that it is not high in calories, but you better check all the bacon labels to see if you can shave off a few calories? How utterly ridiculous. 
We buy wines because we thoroughly enjoy them and we know they are good for our health.
How about equal opportunities and allow statements of wine being good for your health to be displayed as well?
Latest research has just discovered that red wine contains chemicals used in the treatment of diabetes.
Doctors are loath to tell patients that wine maybe good for their health for fear of turning their patients into alcoholics. But the use of wine in treating various ailments has been with us for centuries. 
I am in possession of a book called 'Healing Wines' by Manfred Kohnlechner  tracing the use of wines in medicine from antiquity to modern times. Fascinating reading. It was published and printed by Autumn Press in 1981, so its not likely too many copies are still around. But Roger Corder's The Red Wine Diet is readily available. It is a well written and thoroughly researched book. Decanter states " Quite possibly the most useful wine book published this year"
Roger's opening sentence in the first chapter is as follows:  "Wine drinkers generally are healthier and often live longer than people who don't drink wine on a regular basis"
I say Amen to that and raise my glass in a toast to all you wine lovers out there!!

Chinese Wine Made in Australia...!

Before I delve into today's topic, just a quick update on my last post. It seems that Brussel's concern about labeling is not impressing European consumers. In a report just released by the European Food Information Council and published in the Journal of Public Health, it states that only 16.8% of consumers looked at nutritional information on labels. Say no more.
We all know that the Australian wine industry is going through a bit of a hard time and we also know that there is a potentially sizable market in China, but is selling out to the Chinese the answer? Doing business in and with China runs into many governmental snags. It is after all a communist regime running the show. Good for Google for taking a stand. Google stated that hackers had tried to infiltrate its software coding and e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Of course the Chinese immediately condemned the US and Google.
China has a "one child" policy whereby only one child per family is allowed to be born. Forced sterilizations and abortions, especially of baby girls, are not uncommon. Boys are favored over girls. Now there is a problem in the making. Women in the wonderful world of wine are becoming increasingly more important. Starting with some outstanding women wine makers, sommeliers and above all consumers. Maybe that trend will not be possible in China. There won't be enough women around.
Meanwhile back in Australia.... It seems that Chinese communism with a small 'c' is embracing Capitalism with a big 'C'. Chinese companies loaded with cash from state owned banks are on a buying spree in Australia.
Australia pioneered the cute and cuddly critter labels. Look no further than the very successful Yellow Tail with the Wallaby on its label. So can we expect to see the Koala bear replaced by the Panda bear? Click on the pics to get a closer look at these two famous icon bears from both countries. Good luck and best wishes to our Aussie friends!

Wine then, now and in ......the future!

As 2007 draws to a close and we are near 2008, I thought that I would do my final entry for this year with an "out with the old and in with the new"approach. In my September 26 post, I asked the question "I wonder what it would have been like to buy a good bottle of wine 300 years ago?" Peter May, the founder of The Pinotage Club left an interesting comment. I followed up on that with Simon Berry of the Berry Bros.&Rud Limited, the oldest wine shop in the world fame. I left his reply as a comment on the same post. So have a look at that post and the comments since it is relevant to this current blog entry.
If glass bottles were rare 300 years ago, will wine bottles made of glass become rare again?
The "green" theme and carbon "foot prints" has vintners considering the plastic bottle alternative but at least one Bordeaux wine producer may be heading that way because of a shortage of glass bottles. Castel is considering PET bottles.
The French Wine & Spirits company, Boisset, is in the forefront of alternative packaging. Following up on the success of the French Rabbit in a tetra pack, their recently released Yellow Jersey series in Ontario, will soon be a familiar wine in PET bottles in North America. Check out the "Boisset shakes things up with alternative packaging" at Boisset America's site.
So is it time to start collecting corks before they disappear? Soon you may be able to sell your cork collection on eBay. I have had a head start. Did not know what to do with them all, so I covered one wall in my wine cellar with some of them. No snobbery there, the best mingle with
the every day types. Along with that are you saving your wine labels? Will they become a collectors item? I have some wonderful labels from a few memorable wines but if you want to see some funky, fun labels head over to Peter May's unusual collection of wine labels.
So what may we expect in 2008? A continued surge in interest in all things wine. Consumption of wine, whether for health reasons or for the pure pleasure of enjoying it, will increase. And marketing will be at the forefront. Now that the EU has come to some sort of watered down agreement, expect to see a major push in attempts to regain sales dominance in world markets for European wines. Speaking of marketing and world dominance, watch Constellation Brands to become involved in the EU wine scene. Having sensed US consumers thirsting for better quality wines and their acquisition of Fortune Brands, I am sure the renewed interest in French, Italian and Spanish wines will see them looking at European wineries for future expansions.
Watch also for continued research into the healthful benefits of wine consumption and its antioxidant effects. Sadly, the antioxidant band wagon will lead to unscrupulous exploitation as well. But the fruit of the vine and its grape-seed extracts will bring us many joyful benefits in 2008. I love my red wine and I love a good steak and soon I might be enjoying a well preserved steak with that special "bottle", be it in real glass or otherwise.
So here is my wish for all of you. May Peace and Joy, Happiness and Health be yours during this Christmas season and throughout the New Year!

What's in a Name (Wine Label)??

As you will notice, I have added "DogPile" in my sidebar. It is a handy little search engine bringing all the best search engines like Google, Ask,
Yahoo!search and MSN search, together in a nice little pile. Give it a try.
I am sure you have noticed that I like to keep up on the benefits of drinking wine. Before it was generally known that drinking red wine is good for you, I was merrily drinking wines and even putting up with the side effects of partaking of too much of a good thing. Now I can look back on that and think that I was actually doing myself some good. So type in "Red Wine Benefits" into the DogPile Search engine and watch a few items come up.

And soon France will be sporting some new labels. Hurting from reduced consumption at home and slumping sales abroad caused by competition from New World wines French vintners will be able to present their wines with a new "Vignobles de France" label. Ooh la la! If you can't beat them , join them. You can't please them all though. Vintners in the Languedoc-Roussilon region aren't too thrilled with this new development. After all they have been promoting their single varietal wines for some time now on the export markets and were already producing "vins de cepage" wines. Fortant, The pioneer brand of French varietal wine was the leader and has been producing varietal labeled wines since the 1980's.

Just to help the French out a little I have produced a label for them as shown above. Or how about that Fat Bastard? Be sure to visit Peter Mays' site to get a look at over 200 unusual labels, including the above Fat Bastard Chardonnay. Is it time for the French to put out a "Skinny Bastard" wine?

In New Zealand they are rejoicing over a new wine label agreement. Members of the World Wine Trade Group (WWTG) signed an agreement on wine Labels. The agreement establishes rules for the what may be allowed on labels regarding product name, country of origin and alcohol content. A small victory for Canada as well, in that to be able to use the term icewine on the label, the grapes must be frozen on the vine.

Meanwhile back on the ranch in the good old USA a new labeling requirement has vintners alarmed and questioning its sanity. A new federal proposal would see redesigned labels to warn consumers who are allergic to certain foods. For a take on one person's enlightened opinion on that, go to this site.

So many good things to put on a wine label, why not simply lump all the negative requirements under "Consumer Beware" with a federal website address where you can go and spend a half hour or so reading all the terrible things that can happen to you when you partake of the "Fruit of the Vine"