I've known about Erik since 2019. Here's one of the wine dinner's Wine Republic has had with James Beard nom Erik Skaar at Vann restaurant. 

     I just picked up a book called Reds, Whites & Varsity Blues. I'm only eighteen pages in and I'm hooked. You want to know how Jancis Robinson MW started in wine? This will tell you. Oz Clarke and his entre into vino? Same. Seems like almost everybody that came out of the UK and is/was a wine expert went to Oxbridge and was a member of the Oxford or Cambridge Wine and Food Club. These crazy students not only are brilliant in their own right, they train in wine tasting to the point that a great many of them end of becoming Masters of Wine. Not all of them do but damn, they do lead fantastic lives.  Ambassador to France, check. International sportsmen, got it. Business mavericks and mavens, yup. And all foodies to boot. You gotta see some of the food pairings these college kids get to eat. Thinking back on my college days, I am jealous. Check out this book to see how truly artful wine, food and education can be. Cheers. RJ

 According to the website 'beyondpesticides.org': Vineyard farmers who spend more money on pesticide use are more likely to develop Parkinson's disease. Research published by French Scientists in the Environmental Research Journal shows that there is a relationship with vineyards the world over. But read it for yourself. Cheers and drink clean wine.

https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2021/06/vineyard-pesticides-linked-to-parkinsons/
​

​Hey Everybody,
Summer is almost here. Personally I can't wait to breath in that fresh summer air and getting some well deserved sun. All Done with my favorite vino in hand. Fresh air, getting natural vitamin D from the sun and all the lovely health benefits befitting of wine. A great one is the growing evidence that moderate wine consumption is good for the brain! In 2017 a study conducted by the University of Florida tracked identifiable markers in lifestyle. It covered body composition, strength, dietary intake, vascular health and cognitive function. They concluded that "Modifiable biomarkers that impact cognitive performance favorably include greater aerobic fitness and strength, lower blood sugar levels, greater alcohol intake, lower body fat, and avoidance of tobacco." There has even found evidence at the University of Missouri that resveratrol significantly attenuates nerve cell damage from strokes! Johns Hopkins University has studied how resveratrol in wine stimulates heme oxygenase production. This supplements antioxidants and puts less stress on the brain. So let's hear it for summer and let's hear it for wine. Toast those closest to you and enjoy. Laters

​Are There Health Benefits to Drinking Red Wine?

https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-red-wine#1

There is a lot in this article that I think is great however I don't agree with a couple things. One is that red wine is healthier than whites because of it's greater amount of antioxidants. I agree with the idea that there are more antioxidants in red wine but does quantity best quality in terms of health? Not according to Joe Vinson and Barbara Hontz from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania. In 1995 they published the paper called "Phenol Antioxidant Index: Comparative Antioxidant Effectiveness of Red and White Wines." In it you find that, "the white wines had a significantly lower IC50 (the concentration for 50% inhibition of low density lipoprotein or bad cholesterol) and therefore better antioxidants than red wines." Quantity does not surpass quality. It is most important how effective antioxidants are at doing their job rather than the most antioxidants available in wine. Specifically for inhibiting bad cholesterol, white wine antioxidants are shown to be more effective than red wine.

In 1999 Dr. Karl Jung at the University of Mainz published "Moderate Red and White Wine Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease." The paper said: "white and red wine improved the antioxidant capacity in the blood. The sum of the changes in cardiovascular protective blood values, the "protective wine score," which includes all parameters, showed a clear improvement in both wine groups. The scores for moderate wine consumption were higher than for water, and white wine scored higher than red wine. In the US the Jordan Heart Research Foundation found that free radicals were lowered by 15% in red wine drinker and by 34% percent in white wine drinkers. Red wine drinkers experienced a 10% reduction in blood clotting ability and white wine drinkers by 20%. Why is this? A physicist at Monash university in Melbourne may have the answer.

Dr. Gordon Troup studied the size of the antioxidant molecules in wine and found that those in white wine are smaller than those in red. And because they are smaller, white wine antioxidant molecules can get further into the tissues to work with cells and are ultimately more effective than red wine antioxidant molecules. Dr. Troup writes that, "if the health-promoting properties of wines are related to their superoxide scavenging abilities, then white wine is at least as effective as red." Do you see why I disagree with the idea of just drinking red wine for its benefits? Red AND white wine contain alcohol and ample antioxidants to prevent vascular problems and lower degenerative diseases.

Hey all,
Can you believe we're in February already? And it's always a fantastic time for good news, especially about wine. So the president of Taiwan's China Medical University is also the lead scientist on their anti-coronavirus treatments. They have found that wine tannins inhibit effectively 2 enzymes of the virus. That means drinking wine, specifically wines with tannins will stop SARS virus. The polyphenol compounds are also antioxidants and scavenge free radicals. This leads to anti-inflammatory effects. It was shown that tannins prevent infection and control the virus growth. Of course they're talking about making a drug for it but just cut to the chase and drink wine. 

And  newish study from University at Buffalo.

Compound found in red wine opens door for new treatments for depression, anxiety

Here's the study summary: A new study has revealed that the plant compound resveratrol, which is found in red wine, displays anti-stress effects by blocking the expression of an enzyme related to the control of stress in the brain.

The takeaway is drink 2 glasses of wine a day. Though red wine has more tannins and reservation, white wines are excellent also and provides equal results. Take care

Moody Wine
There certainly are things that can make you anxious these days. With all the happenings going on it is wonderful to hear that our good friend wine has our back, again. The National Health and Medical Reseach (NHMRC) conducted a study by Dr Brian Rodgers (Psychiatric Epidemiology Reseach centre) showed that there is  U shaped relationship with alcohol consumption. Folks that don't drink and heavy drinkers are at heavy risk of mood and anxiety disorders. The most mentally healthy people in this study were the ones that moderately drank. Some of the conditions included: palpitations, tension in the head and chest, insomnia, nausea, dizziness and hyperventilation. Wine stimulates appetite, aides digestion and helps with obvious relaxation. Philip Norrie MD states that patients have a glass or two in the evening. Thus relaxing the patient with the effectiveness of any anti anxiety pill like benzodiazepines, valium or serepax. Wine in the evening also helps with sleep and eliminates the need of a sleeping pill/aid. Lovely. And with that, I leave you with the words of Oliver Wendall Holms from a letter to the Massachusetts Medical Society. Wine... is a food. Take care