1. Feed your head
Wine could preserve your memory. When researchers gave memory quizzes to women in their 70s, those who drank one drink or more every day scored much better than those who drank less or not at all. Wine helps prevent clots and reduce blood vessel inflammation, both of which have been linked to cognitive decline and heart disease, explains Tedd Goldfinger, DO, of the University of Arizona School of Medicine. Alcohol also seems to raise HDL, the so-called good cholesterol, which helps unclog your arteries.

2. Keep the scale in your corner                                                                                                                   Studies find that people who drink wine daily have lower body mass than those who indulge occasionally; moderate wine drinkers have narrower waists and less abdominal fat than people who drink liquor. Alcohol may encourage your body to burn extra calories for as long as 90 minutes after you down a glass. Beer seems to have a similar effect.

3. Boost your body’s defenses
In one British study, those who drank roughly a glass of wine a day reduced by 11% their risk of infection by Helicobacter pylori bacteria, a major cause of gastritis, ulcers, and stomach cancers. As little as half a glass may also guard against food poisoning caused by germs like salmonella when people are exposed to contaminated food, according to a Spanish study.

4. Guard against ovarian woes
When Australian researchers recently compared women with ovarian cancer to cancer-free women, they found that roughly one glass of wine a day seemed to reduce the risk of the disease by as much as 50 percent. Earlier research at the University of Hawaii produced similar findings. Experts suspect this may be due to antioxidants or phytoestrogens, which have high anticancer properties and are prevalent in wine. And in a recent University of Michigan study, a red wine compound helped kill ovarian cancer cells in a test tube.

5. Build better bones
On average, women who drink moderately seem to have higher bone mass than abstainers. Alcohol appears to boost estrogen levels; the hormone seems to slow the body’s destruction of old bone more than it slows the production of new bone.

6. Prevent blood-sugar trouble
Premenopausal women who drink one or two glasses of wine a day are 40 percent less likely than women who don’t drink to develop type 2 diabetes, according to a 10-year study by Harvard Medical School. While the reasons aren’t clear, wine seems to reduce insulin resistance in diabetic patients.

By: Health.com

Rule 1: Drink what ever wine is you like the best. Now this sounds quite obvious, doesn’t it? You would be surprised the amount of times wine drinkers get caught up in thinking that they must drink a certain wine with a meal, this so not the case! We each have our own wine choices and know exactly what we do and do not like to drink when it comes to wine.

Of course, if you do your research you will find various opinions and most of them will say the same thing, which certain wine goes with certain foods, but at the end of the day the choice of what wine to drink is really up to you, no matter what any review or guide says.

Rule 2: White wine with fish and red wine with meat? Not always! For those who have some knowledge of wines will know that white wine goes with white meat and fish and red wine goes with red meat. But being stringent with the rules takes out all the joy of choosing a good wine you truly enjoy.

The key is to trust your own sense of taste and what you think is good. Wine ought to do one of two things when you have a meal; complement or contrast. Not all fish dishes are cooked in the same manor, with this being the case then why should you only adhere to the white wines?

A good thing to do is consider the dish you are thinking about ordering or cooking, the way it is cooked, the various spices and seasonings added, then when you have considered the following choose a wine that will complement those elements or contrasts and you should end up with far more intense flavours and tastes.

Rule 3: Always read a wine label. Wines from different parts of the worlds are all different, again this sounds obvious, even the popular wines from merlots to Shiraz’s and Cabernet’s to zinfandels are all different in the way they are produced. A European merlot will be different from the merlot wines found in the states and Australia. A prudent move would be to really think about what you are going to order or what you have decided to cook and how it will be cooked.
In cooking there are many herbs and other things added to the dish, so the decision over what wine to have should follow this train of thought to make sure the wine will blend in well with these various flavours, if this is followed correctly then the meal should be such a memorable experience.

Apart from trying to find out where the wine was produced, it is also smart move to check out some local wineries and vineyards. On the wine label, the more abundant the information the better the wine will be. This will of course lead to one of the most deciding factors when choosing a wine, the price. The finer the wine the more expensive the wine is likely to be.

By WineEditorials.com

INSTRUCTIONS:

Things You’ll Need

• Mild Dishwashing Detergent
• Wine Glasses

1. Prepare the sink by placing a rubber mat on the bottom of the sink and a rubber guard on the faucet.

2. Wash the glasses one at a time using a very mild dishwashing detergent and water.

3. Rinse in warm water.

4.Dry each glass by hand immediately after rinsing using a soft, dry dish towel.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid exposing cut glass and crystal to high temperatures.
• Do not wash stemware in a dishwasher.
• Do not place stemware upside down to dry. Always dry by hand.

By Brian Heard

At a party recently, I watched as John bet Chris that he couldn’t manage to swallow a teaspoon of ground cinnamon. I wish I could say that the participants were kids, but they were fully adult members of a Port club. In any case, Chris lost.

Cinnamon is impossibly astringent. On its own, it will make your mouth seize up and refuse to swallow even just a small amount. This makes sense, as cinnamon is derived from the bark of certain trees from Southeast Asia. From the tree’s perspective, it wants to discourage animals (or idiots) from eating it.

It was an amusing and useful demonstration of astringency from tannins, that essential component of fine wines.

Tannins are polyphenols, which are produced by plants, grapevines included. Polyphenols tend to cling to proteins. In our mouths, tannins find protein in saliva—the very proteins that provide saliva’s slipperiness. Formerly saliva-coated mouths turn uncomfortably rough and dry.

Vines have a chance to thrive thanks in part to the defensive properties imparted by tannins. Animals generally dislike strongly astringent experiences, but if this warning is ignored, there is a backup plan: Tannins will sabotage nutrition by seizing crucial digestive enzymes. So the tannins discourage pests with astringency or by reducing its nutritional value—pests “learn” that it’s not worth eating.

Tannins are important to wine in a number of ways: They preserve it for long-term aging; they provide structure (reds with too little seem flabby); they add a slight bitterness for flavor complexity; and their astringency extends a wine’s finish.

But that astringency is what makes many people avoid red wines. Why some people at some times, and not others? One variable is human chemistry—differing levels of salivary proteins and differing abilities to replenish it. Another variable is in the nature of tannins themselves.

Tannins in wine can create sensations in the drinker’s mouth that run a spectrum from velvety plush to silken to neutral to burlap-like to cheek-sucking chalk dust. For years, scientists thought that this spectrum was mostly due to the molecular size of tannins, but that thinking is being revised; scientists are looking into the differing properties that the tannins in the seeds and the tannins in the skins impart once the wine is in the fermenter. And that turns out to be a major mystery. The chemical reactions between tannins and all the other compounds in wine become so complex and unpredictable, University of California (Davis) Wine Chemist Doug Adams calls it a “chemical train wreck.”

Winemakers and growers have any number of methods to to harness the tannins in their wine, but ultimately their great skill and experience is wrestling with chance.

And once the wine is bottled, what actually happens to tannins over time? Why do they mellow? The classic explanation is that their grip relaxes as tannins bind to the wine’s color pigments, ultimately precipitating out of the solution as sediment. But scientists are questioning that conclusion as well. The exact chemistry is still not entirely clear. It’s a mystery, happening in exquisite slow motion.

By Winemag.com

Are you ready to be part for the first Baja Wines Club? 

Travel with your taste buds across the border and try fantastic wines from the Baja California Region, the prime wine region from Mexico .

Baja Wines Club members will sample a wide variety of exquisite selections from some of the premier wine vintners in Baja from the comfort of their home.

The Baja Wines Club has designed two special WINE CLUBS just for you, just pick the one that most suits your taste buds and sophistication.

Two types of WineClubs:

1) Discover Baja – WineClub 

Starting Only at $39.99 per month*

 or Save More for Prepaid 3,6 or 12 months!

Favorite clips—entertaining and educational—from the past year

Every year, Wine Spectator’s video department brings top winemakers from around the world (and sometimes rock stars!) into the studio for tastings and conversation, heads out into the vineyards and cellars to teach you about key regions and their wines, and taps chefs to provide recipe demos and tips on great food and wine matches. We also recruit our readers to share their wine videos—humorous, informative or both—and vote on their favorite submissions.

Without fail, the Top 10 Wines countdown videos are the most popular clips each year, but we always like to check out the top views in other categories. Take a look back with us at the best of the vintage, and see what you may have missed along the way.

Video Contest: Zinfandel—Paso’s Wine

For the fifth year in a row, our readers showed off their talent for filmmaking. The nine finalists ranged from Divorce Honeymoon (shot on an iPhone) to a sassy talking grapevine to undercover agents who investigate counterfeit bottles. The winner—from Paso Robles, for the third consecutive year!—humorously conveys what’s distinctive about Zin from this California region.

Editors’ Tastings: Bordeaux Values
How can you find delicious red Bordeaux that doesn’t break the bank? Join senior editor James Molesworth as he shares some of his favorite value producers from this prestigious French region.

Food Pairing: Cooking for Wine—Sauvignon Blanc and Shrimp Ceviche
Wine Spectator’s Cooking for Wine series continues with a winery chef whose job is to make great pairings. Ruth Van Waerebeek, who works for Concha y Toro in Chile, demonstrates a simply elegant seafood dish that is perfect as an hors d’oeuvre, a first course for dinner or a lunch with a salad. Get the recipe in the link below the video.

Wine Regions (International): Argentina Primer—Andes, Altitude, Diversity
The Andes Mountains define Argentina’s wine regions, making for diverse styles of Malbec and Torrontés, the country’s signature red and white grapes. Learn the basics as Wines of Argentina president Alberto Arizu joins Wine Spectator’s Gloria Maroti Frazee.

Wine Regions (U.S.): Rock ‘n’ Wine from Queensrÿche’s Geoff Tate
What can happen when an introspective rock legend returns to his roots in Washington? And how is making music like making wine? Lead vocalist Geoff Tate, who started the Insania brand, answers these questions and more in his tasting with Wine Spectator’s Jennifer Fiedler. Also, check out this 2011 video with rocker-winemaker Maynard James Keenan (of Tool, Puscifer and A Perfect Circle), who runs a vineyard and winery in Arizona.

Learn Wine, with Worksheets: Transforming Tuscany, Talking Ripeness
One of the hottest issues in wine is ripeness. Consulting winemaker Stefano Chioccioli, who has worked with clients such as Tua Rita and Ruffino, describes the evolution of how grapes are grown—and how that affects ripeness—in the popular Italian region of Tuscany. Get the worksheet below the video.

Special Reports: Wine Experience 30th Anniversary
Since it was founded in 1981, Wine Spectator’s Wine Experience has come to be much more than a wine tasting, for the participating wineries, chefs and wine lovers—as well as for the universities and charities that benefit from the annual event.

By: Winespectator.com

Sometimes, these types of wines are those that taste exquisite and therefore shouldn’t be taken for granted just because of your lack of understanding. Sometimes, you tend to choose something that you have already drank and swore never to drink again. In order to determine that a wine tastes as good as it looks, you have to know 8 factors which can make wine tasting all clear to you and to be able to make the right choice.

Educate yourself

If you know nothing about wine, better ask someone to do it for you or else, you can just spend a sum on something that has a similar taste with polluted water. Read about the different kinds of wines which are assured to tickle your taste buds. There are tons of books readily available to help you gain knowledge on some of the most reputable wines.

Free taste

For one to know how it feels, one must endure it first. That is why, whenever there are free tasting of wine within your area, grab that once in a lifetime opportunity. Events like these usually advertise good tasting wines which are offered cheaper compared to other brands. You local wine store can host evening sessions of wine gatherings. Through this, you are expanding your knowledge regarding the various types of wines.

Depend on dependable sources

If you have the money for it, you can just go to wine establishments and ask for advice on the kind of wine that will suit your taste. Some of the elegant wine stores have services that will filter you with information about different kinds of wine. You will find yourself inside a cellar that’s full of wine laid horizontally on compartments that prevents that wine from being exposed to heat and light.

Watch out for bad advertisements

As much as possible, do not go for commercialized wines because these are usually poor in quality and you’ll get lesser in taste. Do not settle for wines bragging about their labels because these can turn out to be just gimmicks. It is still best that you go for those local wine stores for they have some of the most exquisite wines not available anywhere.

Be aware of the importer

Wine bottles which are imported are required by the law to have certain shipping information printed at the back of every bottle.

Be an avid wine drinker

Sometimes, all you need to do is try it. To be able to determine the right kind of wine which completes your taste buds, you just have to make wine tasting your hobby. Frequent drinking can indeed put you in a lot of spending but if you have the amount for it, then go for the idea. You don’t need to use up the entire bottle.

A glass of wine is enough for you to identify the kinds of wine which tastes superb.

By: Wine Tasting

Bajawines present in “Wine & Food Festival, San Diego Bay“: 

Have you been in the Festival ?? What do you think about wines from Mexico ? …

Thanks everybody to make it happen!! “Wine & Food Festival” was our first wine festival and it was AWESOME, too many people could taste Mexican Wines and they LOVED it!!

]]> http://www.winesfrombaja.com/blog/2011/12/19/wine-food-festival-san-diego-bay/feed/ 0 http://www.winesfrombaja.com/blog/2011/12/19/valle-de-guadalupe-baja-california/ http://www.winesfrombaja.com/blog/2011/12/19/valle-de-guadalupe-baja-california/#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:00:27 +0000 Carla Guerrero http://www.winesfrombaja.com/blog/?p=344   Region Map

The map shows Baja Califonia’s Guadalupe Valley with surrounding vintners and some points of interest, like restaurants and hotels.

You may print this map for your personal purposes.

… We are certain you will love Baja California !!