Discover The Specific Benefits Of Wine

We have all heard that red wine is part of a healthy life, but it is important to understand the specifics of the benefits of red wine, so you can make the best of them. For instance, not many people are aware that it is only red wine that offers many benefits, because it contains certain flavonoids which white wine does not.

What Are Flavonoids?

Flavonoids are natural chemicals found in plants, fruits and vegetables. In terms of wine the flavonoids are found in the skin of the grapes. That is why they are only found in red wine. To make white wine you need to skin the grape.

Flavonoids keep your heart healthy in three important ways: * They prevent blood clots * They protect against oxidation of LDL (bad) cholesterol * Lower high blood pressure

Through these hearth healthy benefits red wine helps prevent heart disease. In fact, studies have actually shown that one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men lower the risk of heart attack for people in middle age by 30-50 percent.

The Benefits Of Resveratrol

Resveratrol is one of the other benefits of red wine. This substance increases HDL, or good cholesterol, and also exhibits various antioxidant properties that help to prevent blood clots and plaque formation in the arteries.

Resveratrol can also be taken on its own as a dietary supplement. This is especially helpful for people who either don't drink alcohol, can't drink for medical reasons, or recovering alcoholics.

But Don't Drink Too Much

Remember that wine can be a double edged sword, so moderate your drinking. Too much red wine, because of the alcohol content can put you at higher risk for conditions like: * Alcoholism * High blood pressure * High cholesterol * Stroke * Obesity * Cardiac arrhythmia * Sudden cardiac death

Also be sure to check with your doctor to make sure that drinking alcohol is okay if you are on any prescription medication. Combining alcohol, even small amounts in come cases, with prescription drugs can cause harmful side effects.

Health always encompasses many things. Never think that one type of drink, such as wine, or one type of supplement, or one kind of food is going to make you healthy on its own. It takes a combination of things and a consistent commitment to your health and well-being.

So if you want to reap the benefits of red wine then you should also be eating a healthy, well-balanced diet of raw organic fruits and vegetables, drinking plenty of pure water, and getting a lot of regular exercise. Good luck on your journey towards health and wellness!

About the Author

Brue M. Baker, is an expert on natural health and fitness who has helped people from across the world sky-rocket their health and well-being. Rather than hitting your head against a wall trying to find unbiased health information let Brue take you by the hand and give you the best natural health resources on the web. VisitDietHealthAndFitness.com to learn more.

How To Taste Wine

Wine tasting is simply a process applied to distinguish the taste of fine wines. One must be able to note the differences between different types of wines and for expert tasters, also the differences between the vintages of the same class of wine. Sometimes the tasting is called wine de gustation. The most important part of any tasting is the 'what and How'. The what, refers to what you're looking for, the brand and type. While the how determines origin and fermentation process.

The first thing to do in any wine tasting is to look. Always start by pouring the wine into a clean clear glass, then taking a few minutes to look at the color. You should know that the color for white wine is not white, but actually yellow, green, or brown. On the other hand Red wines are normally a pale red or dark brown color. Red wine taste better with age, while white wine stale with age.

The next step is the smell. A good whiff will give you an impression of what to expect from the wine when you taste it. Please take note of the aroma, is it fresh or foul? And again does it smell like wine. Take time to think about the smell before tasting it.

The first step in tasting is to take a small sip. The small sip allows our mouth to get a quick preview and some expectations. Only after the sip approval do we take in a mouth full and swish. Swishing gives a better full taste of the flavor of the wine. It is normally during swishing, that you discover if the wine is bitter, salty or sweet. Severe cold do affect your taste bud and tasting under the influence of one will make the taste appear different.

The last step is to decide if you want to spit or swallow the wine. Personally, I swallow the wine considering all the efforts. If this is the only wine or one of two or three you will sample at the event, swallowing is definitely an appropriate option. But on the other hand, if you are at a winery and going through 5 or 6 wines, spitting is usually your best option.

Otherwise, every wine is going to start tasting funny because of all the different brands and you might end up drunk as well. Remember when you drink different types of alcohol like mixing vodka and rum, you get drunk faster, same theory applies here.

Tasting will also reveal other pertinent nuances about the wine. You should be able to tell if the flavor is derived from the aging barrel or oak chips. You also can tell about the sweetness or bitterness.

Wine tasters do follow some general guidelines and rules that judge how great a wine is. It is these techniques that can help you bring the most out of your wine, providing you follow them and know how to bring out the taste.

After all, the real test is did you like it. Tasting wine requires some protocols as listed above, but the most important part is for you to enjoy yourself.

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The next Shiraz, varietal wines for Australia

Shiraz is the dominant red winegrape variety in Australia. It is the key component of Grange, the flagship Australian wine label. At the other end of the scale it makes up the bulk of the cheap and cheerful red wines in the everyday bottled brands such as Jacobs Creek, Oxford Landing and yellowtail.

But Shiraz has not always held such a hold over the market. Until the mid nineties Cabernet Sauvignon was regarded as the superior variety and this was reflected in the prices paid at the cellar door. But the demand for exports has been mainly for Australian Shiraz and Cabernet has lost ground in the battle for consumer preference in Australia as well.

Shiraz's reign at the top of the tree really started in the middle of the 1950s when it replaced Grenache as the most popular red winegrape variety. In those days a much larger proportion of the wine market was devoted to fortified wine, what we used to call Port.

Looking into the future the role of Shiraz seems unassailable, but there are a few challengers on the horizon. The wine consumer is a fickle creature and fashions can change fairly quickly.
Merlot is the third most popular red winegrape variety in Australia. Much of the production goes into blends with Cabernet Sauvignon, reflecting its major role in Bordeaux. There are quite a few varietal merlots also produced. There are two reasons for thinking that Merlot won't displace Shiraz as our major tipple. Firstly there are viticultural problems relating to poor clones and it performs poorly in cooler regions. Secondly at the consumer end the wine often lacks a distinctive varietal character. There seems to be no consensus among winemakers about what a good merlot should be like. Meanwhile consumers think of Merlot as meaning mellow. It is hard to find any passion, for or against, this variety.

Another contender is Grenache. This variety is widely planted in South Australia, particularly in the Barossa and McLaren Vale regions. In the 1980s it was subject to government sponsored vine pull schemes in the belief that its days were over. Its star is on the rise again both as a varietal and as the key to blends with Shiraz and Morvedre. Notwithstanding this recent return to favour, Grenache will not seriously challenge Shiraz because of its need for a relatively warm climate.

Sangiovese is a variety with a large and growing fan club. There are now over a hundred winemakers using this variety. One factor which has held the variety back in the past has been clonal variation, this has been overcome by careful selection by vine nurseries. Over the past few years a significant number of producers have been able to show just what the variety is capable of. The wines show plum and cherry flavours and to my mind these flavours as well as the Italian wine textures will mean that the bandwagon for this variety will keep rolling for quite a while. The number of winemakers and consumers in Australia with an Italian background continues to provide plenty of champions for the variety.

Spain's answer to Sangiovese is Tempranillo. It is growing in popularity in many Australian wine regions. To a large extent the jury is still as many of the plantings are still quite new. Among the champions of the variety are James Halliday and Mark Walpole of Brown Brothers. Tempranillo matures a little earlier than Shiraz or Sangiovese so it can be grown in slightly cooler regions, Indeed Manton Creek Vineyard in the Mornington Peninsula is one of the more highly regarded producers.

The Durif variety is regarded as a warm climate variety, indeed it seemed as though Rutherglen held a monopoly on the variety. But in fact is relatively early ripening, as demonstrated by John Vale at Balnarring on the Mornington Peninsula. The outstanding feature of Durif is the high level of tannins, but if these can be mastered then .

There are a few other varieties attracting attention which will figure in the mix over the next decade or so. Petit verdot is becoming much more popular in the warmer areas. It was pioneered in Australia by Pirramirra in McLaren Vale but it is now grown extensively in the Murray Darling and Riverina.

Barbera and Nebbiolo are the two other Italian varieties which are highly regarded in Australia. Lagrein is a little known Italian variety, in fact it is from the North East of Italy. It is an early ripening variety and as such can be grown in the cooler climates. Cobaw Ridge in the Macedon Ranges region has a wonderful Lagrein.

So what is the verdict? Which red winegrape variety will be the next Shiraz? It seems to be a contest between Sangiovese and Tempranillo, with both camps having some firm adherents. My money at this stage goes with Sangiovese, it has the runs on the board.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Darby Higgs is an expert on varietal wines made from less common grape varieties. He is founder and editor of vinodiversity, an information resource. See http://www.vinodiversity.com

Spirit Wines Guidelines

The alcoholic drinks are generally said to be very bad for one's health. The truth of the matter is that there are some types of booze, which may even improve it. Let us look at wine for instance. It may very well make the blood less likely to clot, due to its anticoagulation effect.

On the other hand, the spirits do not have the same benefits. The first thing that must make you question yourself about the effects of spirits is the thought that are in fact purified or extracted alcohol. The process of distilling alcohol is based on the heating a fermented liquid. The liquid will then disperse in the air, practically changing from a liquid state to a gas or vapor. Eventually, it is squeezed back into its liquefied form. The outcome of this whole process can only be the spirit! You can even make spirits by increasing the alcohol content of a wine and decreasing its liquid substance.

Depending on the fermenting material that is used in the process of fermentation and distillation, the spirits include several distinct types of alcoholic drinks: brandy, gin, vodka and fortified wines. You probably know that brandy is made from fermented grape sap. The booze contents of brandy are generated from a meticulous distillation process of grape juices. No wonder it has such an interesting taste. On the other hand, vodka is a mixed alcoholic drink made out of distilled beers, that are actually made from grains. Last, but not least, the fortified wines are in fact mixed alcoholic drinks made of fermented wine and extracted spirits.

This is just a basic classification of spirits. There are numerous types of such mixed alcoholic drinks, most of them being different from country to country. It is a commonly known fact that each region of the world has a personal favorite alcoholic drink and that they will most surely produce it in many distinct ways and combinations.

Every person knows that the chemical and food experts have proved for years that wine contains rich deposits of vitamins, minerals and natural sugars that are often very good for the health of the consumers. Not to speak about the fact that the wine is a type of booze which is also rich in potassium and low in sodium. Because of the juices' longer contact with the grape skins, the red wines have even more of these elements. And should you want a Vitamin B refill, you can settle the matter by choosing red wine too!

About the Author
Find out more about any mixed alcoholic drink and booze, alcohol and drinks right now.