So I was just watching 60 minutes and they had a company named Sirtris on. Sitris has released a study stating that one of the main components of red wine, resveratrol, has been linked to slowing the effects of aging. Resveratrol is an ingredient found in grape skins and protects the skin from bacteria and disease. Unfortunately you have to drink about 1000 bottles of red wine a day to get the amount of resveratrol needed to really slow the aging process. Lucky for us, scientists have come up with capsules that can be taken daily and are now testing them on cancer and diabetes patients.
Well, until it's our turn, we'll just have to take our medicine one sip at a time ;).
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Vino to Compliment the Inauguration
The past few days included a great many things...
1. A visit to Rappahannock Cellars
2. Lasagna lunch is in full effect at Naked Mountain Vineyards (posting to follow)
3. The swearing in of our 44th president :)
Unfortunately I'm just going to blog about the wine and not about the dawn of a new day for the US.... but HEY what a better way to start off Obama's first day as President than with some fantastic vino!
The winter scene was in full effect this past weekend, putting about a 2-3" coat of snow throughout the western parts of VA. To me, nothing goes better with snow than a nice glass of Cab Franc. So I'll start this week's posting with Rappahannock's Cabernet Franc:
Cabernet Franc 2006
This wine is up there with Linden's Claret in regards to drinkability. This is the perfect wine to drink with a good book in a bubble bath or by the fire. Hell it's the perfect wine for pretty much anything... when I was having my tasting the man pouring the wine said he enjoyed it with pepperoni pizza... I could see that too.
Nose:
cherries, tobacco
Taste:
mild tannins, very smooth, currant, rassberries
Rappahanock is a beautiful cellar set in the foothills of the Shanandoahs. Their tasting fee is a little high for the area ($7.50 per tasting or $3.00 if you've tasted there before), but you get to go home with the glass and you do get a fair bit of wine for what you pay for. Typically their tastings consist of 8 or more wines. In the busy months they offer two different flights of wines to choose from. So as you can see there's a lot of variety. The Cab Franc was my favorite, but they have other exceptional wines as well, including their 2007 Viogner and 2006 Meritage.
1. A visit to Rappahannock Cellars
2. Lasagna lunch is in full effect at Naked Mountain Vineyards (posting to follow)
3. The swearing in of our 44th president :)
Unfortunately I'm just going to blog about the wine and not about the dawn of a new day for the US.... but HEY what a better way to start off Obama's first day as President than with some fantastic vino!
The winter scene was in full effect this past weekend, putting about a 2-3" coat of snow throughout the western parts of VA. To me, nothing goes better with snow than a nice glass of Cab Franc. So I'll start this week's posting with Rappahannock's Cabernet Franc:
Cabernet Franc 2006
This wine is up there with Linden's Claret in regards to drinkability. This is the perfect wine to drink with a good book in a bubble bath or by the fire. Hell it's the perfect wine for pretty much anything... when I was having my tasting the man pouring the wine said he enjoyed it with pepperoni pizza... I could see that too.
Nose:
cherries, tobacco
Taste:
mild tannins, very smooth, currant, rassberries
Rappahanock is a beautiful cellar set in the foothills of the Shanandoahs. Their tasting fee is a little high for the area ($7.50 per tasting or $3.00 if you've tasted there before), but you get to go home with the glass and you do get a fair bit of wine for what you pay for. Typically their tastings consist of 8 or more wines. In the busy months they offer two different flights of wines to choose from. So as you can see there's a lot of variety. The Cab Franc was my favorite, but they have other exceptional wines as well, including their 2007 Viogner and 2006 Meritage.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Starting off 2009 with a bit of a dissapointment
This past weekend the hubs and I visited Phillip Carter Winery in Hume. PC is a relatively new vineyard and was previously called Stillhouse vineyards, but is now under new ownership. PC has done some large additions to the small scale schoolhouse style building that previously occupied the land, although the large banquet room addition gives a more cold than cozy feeling.
You'll notice under their logo they have the date 1762.... sounds crazy right? How could anyone possibly be making wine in Virginia since 1762 when good old Thomas Jefferson planted his first vines in 1774 and TJ IS afterall, the father of Virginia wines (no matter how unsuccessful he was). Well my friends, I'll explain the little story behind PC's 1762... Charles Carter, was part of a commitee in London created to brainstorm ways to economicly diversify Virginia. Carter, after some research, decided that winemaking would be a good industry to get started in VA. In 1762 Carter had 1800 vines in his vineyard. Unfortunately due to a drought, they were unable to produce a large amount of wine from those vines. So there's where the 1762 comes from.... Now on to the wines....
Late Harvest 2006
Nose: honey, fruit
Taste: coats your tongue, honey, apricot
Nice white dessert wine, thick, syrupy, but not over-powering
Sweet Danielle 2007
Red Dessert Wine
Nose: Rasberries
Taste: Rasberry, currant, sweet, dark, drink more than one and you're sure to have a headache.
This wine was named for the owner's wife... aweeeee howwww sweeeeeet.
I cannot tell a lie... the other wines (especially the reds) left something to be desired. Maybe they're just really young, but only the Cab Franc and Chardonney had any nose. The Chambourcin and Meritage didn't have much complexity or anything else for that matter. I would say it was just me, but half the tasting bar dumped theirs out.
You'll notice under their logo they have the date 1762.... sounds crazy right? How could anyone possibly be making wine in Virginia since 1762 when good old Thomas Jefferson planted his first vines in 1774 and TJ IS afterall, the father of Virginia wines (no matter how unsuccessful he was). Well my friends, I'll explain the little story behind PC's 1762... Charles Carter, was part of a commitee in London created to brainstorm ways to economicly diversify Virginia. Carter, after some research, decided that winemaking would be a good industry to get started in VA. In 1762 Carter had 1800 vines in his vineyard. Unfortunately due to a drought, they were unable to produce a large amount of wine from those vines. So there's where the 1762 comes from.... Now on to the wines....
Late Harvest 2006
Nose: honey, fruit
Taste: coats your tongue, honey, apricot
Nice white dessert wine, thick, syrupy, but not over-powering
Sweet Danielle 2007
Red Dessert Wine
Nose: Rasberries
Taste: Rasberry, currant, sweet, dark, drink more than one and you're sure to have a headache.
This wine was named for the owner's wife... aweeeee howwww sweeeeeet.
I cannot tell a lie... the other wines (especially the reds) left something to be desired. Maybe they're just really young, but only the Cab Franc and Chardonney had any nose. The Chambourcin and Meritage didn't have much complexity or anything else for that matter. I would say it was just me, but half the tasting bar dumped theirs out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)