Overview To Sampling Wine
The fundamentals of tasting red wine are reasonably straightforward to find out. As soon as the basics are understood, the nuances and details can be enhanced over a lifetime. Like any kind of various other skill, More »
Red Wine Types
Red wine has a lot of different types, among which, the most popular include Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Moreover, More »
Slow Aging With Resveratrol Wine
Red wine has been proven to provide many health benefits, as noted through many clinical trials. The reason for this is the anti-oxidants found in it, as well as the red wine polyphenols, anthrocyanidins and Reseveratrol. Found in red wine and grapes, as well as other red fruits. Reseveratrol wine has been named the “Fountain of Youth”. It is a fat fighter, and has also been shown to help treat diabetes, heart problems and cancer.
Reseveratrol alone has proven to be about twenty to fifty times more effective an anti-oxidant when compared to Vitamin C. It acts as an anti-clotting agent that prevents the formation of blood clots. Blood clots are one major reason for heart attacks and strokes. It has also shown to help prevent some forms of cancer. Another benefit of Reseveratrol is that is helps increase the formation of dendrites in the brain.
One of the biggest advantages of taking Reseveratrol wine is that it is an anti-aging component, having shown to increase life span of middle-aged rice that were given low doses of the anti-oxidant. It was shown to have the same effects on their life span that a reduced calorie diet – with 20%-30% fewer calories – would have.
While Reseveratrol wine has many health benefits, red wine also contains alcohol, which is not recommended in large doses. Therefore, scientists have discovered a way of delivering the benefits of Reseveratrol wine through means other than red wine. You can now buy capsules that contain red wine polyphenols, grape seed extract and Reseveratrol and take these without worrying about the damage the alcohol in red wine would cause to your health.
One of the products available on the market that provides Reseveratrol wine to you in a capsule form is Pure ResV. This capsule is a great way to get all the benefits of Reseveratrol wine without having to drink massive amounts of red wine.
One of the advantages of Pure ResV is that it is very useful in losing weight. When you purchase a trial bottle you also receive a subscription to two weight loss information services, namely Insider Secrets and Comprehensive Weight Loss. By using Pure ResV and the information in conjunction, you can lose weight fast and keep it off. The subscriptions will also provide tips and tricks for making tasty meals and getting the most out of your workout.
Another advantage of Pure ResV is that along with weight loss, it will help you get healthy in a variety of ways. Your cardiac health will improve, and people will diabetes will be able to control their blood sugar levels easily. An additional advantage is that Pure ResV will help decrease the chances of you getting cancer.
Now you can get all the health benefits of Reseveratrol wine without any of the harmful effects of wine by using Pure Resv.
How to Spot Counterfeit Wines
“Keep clear of wine I tell you, white or red, especially Spanish wines which they provide and have on sale in Fish Street and Cheapside. That wine mysteriously finds its way to mix itself with others.” Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (14th Century).
Chaucer, evidently a suspicious man, would no doubt be amazed at the sophistication of counterfeit wine production in the 20th and 21st century. As in both the art and antique world, rogue elements have been attracted by fine wine’s high prices, so much so that wine counterfeit trading on the secondary fine wine market has risen to a worrying 5%, according to Wine Spectator magazine.
It’s important to note of course that counterfeit or fake wine can also cover doctored or illegally blended wines. For the purposes of this article we are concentrating on the particular band of black marketers who devote themselves to the manufacturing, distribution and selling of fraudulent fine wines.
So how do you spot a counterfeit bottle?
LABEL
Many leading estates have their wine labels posted on their website. Failing this you can search for the wine label via Google Images (take care to ensure the website you end up on is reputable). Benchmark the website label with your own. In the case of a bottle in your possession, remember if a wine is old, a perfect label is often a worrying sign…
CORK
Does the cork look unusually young? Corks, like bodies, become brittle with age. If your bottle purports to be 15/20 years old, does the cork look of a similar age? (to complicate matters slightly, wine collectors can, and do, recork wines occasionally).
CAPSULES/FOILS
Capsules can be lead, wax aluminium, or plastic. Make sure your capsule is of a type (and colour) that the wine estate or Chateau uses (or used).
BOTTLE SHAPE
Look at the wine estate’s website again. Does the shape of your bottle concur with the bottle shape on the website? This is a crude method, but remember that fine wines are generally found in Burgundy (sloping shoulder) or Bordeaux (angular shoulder) shaped bottles.
Finally, make sure you buy from established, reputable sources.
Homes With Wine Cellars
If you’re going to talk about luxury homes in the Los Angeles area, one thing you have to consider is that many homes of the rich and famous will probably have a wine cellar of some sort. For many, it’s nothing more than a status symbol. For others, it’s a necessity if they’re either going to be doing a lot of entertaining, or just love wines of all styles and vintages.
Many people don’t understand what the purpose of a wine cellar is, or why it’s such a big deal. People who are connoisseurs of wine have an understanding of what keeps a wine good over the course of time. For instance, these items seem to be important for keeping a wine at peak condition over time:
Keeping wine in the dark most of the time
Keeping a consistent temperature, especially in the Los Angeles area where the weather is a bit warmer than normal; wines like to be kept cooler, around 70 degrees Fahrenheit
Little movement, as wines don’t like being jostled too often
Good humidity to keep the corks from drying out so they don’t shrink, as their purpose is to allow wines to breathe some, but not get contaminated by outside air
Keeping the air still, as this also can dry corks
If you’re going to collect a lot of wines, having them all in one place for convenience and safety
Of course, after those factors, all bets are off as to how they’re created. Some builders only use wood; others only use stone or brick. Some avant garde builders of wine cellars will use metals that actually look like coolers. In an expensive home, homes will usually be built with a wine cellar, though one can be added later; it costs more to install a wine cellar after the fact.
Los Angeles is truly a unique place when it comes to wine cellars. Even the mayor’s mansion has a wine cellar; that’s unheard of in most places around the country. In today’s world, where most celebrities will buy homes that already have this feature rather than build a home, the house of former television producer Aaron Spelling stands out not only because of its massive size, but because it also has a wine tasting room.
Another wonderful house that was formerly owned by both Kirstie Alley and Katey Segal, once again on the market for around $ 9.3 million dollars, has a large wine cellar also, with a lighted arch that can highlight the favorite wine of the owner at the time.
And the home of actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, which they paid $ 16 million for, came with a brick wine cellar, which they had to wait to use since, when they purchased it, Jennifer was pregnant.
Wine cellars in the homes of the rich and famous don’t conform to the same look or style either. Some have wines stacked on top of each other. Some have them facing each other, or side by side. Some have they spiraling either up or down, covering the equivalent of two stories. Some figure out ways to compact the space, while others want the space to be as large as their living rooms might be. And, because they have the money to pay for it, many will order customize wine cellars from Italy and France and have them installed in space set aside just for them.
No matter what, if you’re looking for a home in Los Angeles and have the money to spend, you’ll easily be able to find a home with a stylish wine cellar.
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Yeast – Nature’s Wine Maker
As much pride as our world-famous wineries claim to have in their century-old establishments, the majority of the burden of wine making actually falls to a single-celled organism: yeast. In fact, much of the art of wine making is actually the art of feeding and nurturing the yeast. A famous quote from Dr. Roger Boulton from the University of California illustrates: “Ninety percent of wine making has nothing to do with the winemaker. All a winemaker is doing is preventing spoilage, introducing some unique style to the wine and bottling it.”
So what is yeast, and what is it doing? Yeast is a single-celled organism, a strain of fungus. It moves freely in the environment and when it finds nutrition it replicates quickly to form a colony. The earliest known usage of yeast was in ancient Egypt, where it was often used for bread making. In fact, anyone who has ever had to culture yeast for bread making will understand much of what it takes to be a winemaker.
There are many different kinds of yeast, and the ones generally helpful for wine making are of the genus Saccharomyces (Sakchar meaning sugar and Myces meaning fungus), of which there are over a dozen to pick from, each which adds different characteristics to wine. The yeasts of this genus consume the natural sugar found in fruit juice and transform it into almost equal parts of carbon dioxide and alcohol.And there’s the rub: without yeast, it’s just grape juice.
So then, if wine making is an art, then its primary tool is the ability to control yeast. Fresh pressed grape juice will typically already have dozens of different kinds of yeasts, as well as a number of other microbial invaders. If you left the juice as is, it would develop into wine on its own, though it would likely be over-alcoholic and undrinkable. To create a truly great wine, the winemaker must have a specific yeast in mind, introduce it at the right time, feed it and nurture it, and allowing it to die and be cleaned whilst preserving the fruits of its labor. This involves a rigorous control over temperature, humidity, and quality of fruit.
Over the many centuries since wine makers have bottled their products, they have been returning the old skins and seeds of crushed grapes (the pomace) to the vineyards to be used in fertilization. The grape skins are breeding grounds for yeast, and by returning yeast-rich pomace to the vines, vineyards have managed to subtly alter the natural yeasts that occur in their fields. Over time, the selected strain of yeast begins to dominate so rigidly that a winemaker can simply encourage spontaneous fermentation. Those making homemade wines don’t have this luxury, and even established vineyards may be centuries away from such a yeast domination.
So despite the vigilant claims of expert wine makers across the world, it’s obvious that the real master winemaker is yeast.
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Instructions For Wine Making
Making home-made wine is a wonderful and easy way to profit from your home grown grapes and all the work you put into growing them. The basic steps for wine making are:
Picking the grapes
Crushing the grapes
Fermenting the juices
Clarifying and bottling the liquid
Aging the wine
For white wine you use white grapes and for red wine you use red or black grapes. However, you can make white wine from red grapes if you first remove the skin. You might also need to remove the seeds and stems. Each component of the grape, including the stems and the skins, contribute to the aroma and flavor of the finished wine.
Materials:
To make one standard bottle of wine (75cl) you will want about two pounds of grapes. Ten pounds of grapes will yield a gallon of wine. In addition to the grapes you will need a few accessories for making your wine. Visit your local wine-making supply store to find the items or look on the Internet for suppliers. Here is a list of the essential items.
Grapes
Large vat for crushing grapes
Hand masher (or use your hands)
Bottles, corks
Campden tablets
Wine Yeast
Barrel fitted with an airlock
Syphon and carboy (clean and sterilized)
Hydrometer (To measure the specific gravity)
A wine-making kit is the easiest way to get started, and as you progress you might enjoy upgrading your tools as you gain experience in using them. You don’t have to crush the grapes by treading on them. This is a good way to do large productions, but for small productions, mashing them by using a hand-masher (or your hands) will do just as well. Don’t fill the vat too full because the grapes will foam and froth as they ferment. When the grapes are mashed, leave them for a day or two before beginning the fermentation. Campden tablets are used to prevent wild yeast from growing during this stage.
Proper wine yeast should be used, not bread yeast, because the flavor is quite different. Stir in the yeast by hand, cover the vat and leave the wine to ferment for about a week. At the end of the week you can strain the wine. The bubbling and boiling effect should have subsided before you strain the wine and throw away the pulp. Pour the liquid into a barrel with an airlock so that carbon dioxide, which forms as the wine ferments, can escape. The wine should be protected from exposure to the air at this stage or it will oxidize and won’t be good for drinking.
Over the next two to three years, sediment will fall to the bottom of the barrel and the liquid will turn clear. After about three weeks the wine is ready to “rack” or siphon into the carboy to remove the clear wine from the sediment. The carboy should be sterilized to prohibit the growth of bacteria. Siphon the wine every couple of months as the wine ages. When you notice there is no fresh sediment, and the liquid is perfectly clear, the wine is ready for bottling. Another test is to check the specific gravity with a hydrometer. It should be below 1.000.
As you can see winemaking is quite easy. Making truly fine wine, however, is an art as well as a science. Aging your wine a few more months in the bottle will improve the flavor, but once it is bottled, you can basically begin drinking it.