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.
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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 My boy Morten Gronbaek is awesome. We've maybe all of us heard of the French Paradox that was inspired by the studies of Dr Serge Renaud. But the guy who has taken the mantle and run with it is named Morten. Morty penned the Copenhagen Heart study (and many others). Morty spent many years publishing almost two dozen papers from multiple countries with beautiful results. The results were in a nutshell that red wine is significantly more protective against heart disease and overall mortality than alcohol from other souces. And with red wine consumption you are even more likely than abstainers in cardiovascular sease and death rates in general! One of the new buzzwords in health is microbiome. Folks with a healthy one tend to be healthier in general and guess what helps to make a happy microbiome? You guessed it, wine. This was in a Washinginton University school of Medicine paper that showed how wine affects your gut in a positive manner helping out in this specific study influenza! With all the craziness going on it's nice to know that some things can make you healthier. Drink good wine and take care everybody.
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 In today’s world, people seem to be certainly divided into two camps. And no, I am not talking about politics. I am speaking of the age old bias of white wine versus red. How did we ever get here? Can't we all just get along? Well, I'm here to tell you that you can firmly plant your feet in either and feel pretty damn good whatever you're guzzling.
Back in 1994, Dr E. N. Frankel wrote "Red Wine Antioxidants and Potential Health benefits" presented at the Society of Medical Friends of wine (how can I get in?!). In that he had shown that no matter the dose of vitamin C or E consumed, the antioxidant activity plateaus at 20%. Pretty good since vitamins C and E are well known and established. But the antioxidants in wine plateau at 100% (that’s right!!!) after 2 or 3 glasses. The antioxidants power in vino is five times more potent than vitamins C and E. Turns out the fermentation process enhances the antioxidant levels. What does this have to do with white wine though RJ? I'm glad you asked. Just a year later in 1994 two fellas named J. A. Vinson and B. A. Hontz wrote "Phenol Antioxidant Index: Comparative Antioxidant effectiveness of Red and White Wines" for the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry. The study showed that while red wines had higher phenol levels than whites, "the white wines had a significantly low IC50 (the concentration for 50% inhibition of low density lipoprotein or bad cholesterol) meaning they're better antioxidants than red! MIND BLOWN. The University of Mainz puts skin in the game with the 1999 article "Moderate Red and White Wine Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease.": white and red wine improved the antioxidative 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. Systolic blood pressure reduced significantly in the white wine group, and the diastolic blood pressure reduced in BOTH wine groups... In some parameters, white wine delivered even better results than red wine. OMG. And back in the good ol’ US, the Jordan Heart Research Foundation reported free radicals diminished by 15% with red wine drinking and 34% in white wine. They also found that red wine quaffers had a 10% drop in blood clotting ability while white wine drinkers 20%. Holy buckets. How is it that white wines antioxidant power is more than reds even though reds have more antioxidants? It seems that just like smaller wine barrels have greater surface area to contact wine, the antioxidants in white wine are fewer and smaller. They can then travel further into tissues to work their magic and prove more effective than red. So says Dr Gordon Troup in "Free Radical Scavenging Abilities of Beverages" found in the International Journal of Food Science and Technology ca 1995. This guy is a physicist at the University of Melbourne, certainly a smart cookie. See, so it doesn't matter. Cats and dogs can get along. Hell has frozen over and you can drink reds or whites and be happy and healthy. Take care and see you soon. |
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