Red Wine and Cancer

We know that our red wine is healthy for us. But the newest research actually had touted that it may be the cure for certain cancers as well.

The Journal of Biological Chemistry released a study in May stating that there is an antioxidant in red wine that actually killed human leukemia and lymphoma cells. How exciting is that breakthrough in the world of cancer research? Most importantly, how great do you feel to be a wino? Scientists tested the effectiveness of C-3-R (anachronysm for something you really don't want spelled out), which comes from the pigmentation chemical in the red grape skins and wine, on different types of leukemia cancer cells. The C-3-R produced peroxides that essentially killed off the cancer. Within 18 hours, all of the tested cells were dead. When they tested this on healthy cells, the cells remained undamaged. What this means is that the C-3-R kills off the bad and leaves the good, something that does not happen in radiation and chemotherapy where all cells are damaged.

I will be waiting anxiously for more news as their testing moves on from lab to animals. Hopefully this will be the huge breakthrough in cancer research that we've been waiting for.

Online Wine Tasting

The world of wine blogging is fantastic to explore. There is a veritable hoard of information out there, from wine reviews to random rantings, some written more soberly than others. Some blogs post new articles almost daily while others lie as dormant as the wine they are collecting. But there is indeed a group of avid winos out there who are prolific and enthusiastically support each other in their pursuit of great wine.

Thus we come to Wine Blogging Wednesday. This is a blog tasting. That's right. A wine assignment is posted on Wednesday and then by a certain deadline everyone blogs about the wine. It certainly is one of the most creative ways I have seen to join forces with other winos and experience wines that may be passed up. One such tasting was boxed wines (sorry I missed that one, not) and last month was on Washington Cabs. There have been 34 tastings done so far since 2005 which is amazing for an online community.

This month the assignment is wines under $10 from Spain. Interested in finding out more? Go to http://lennthompson.typepad.com/lenndevours/wine_blogging_wednesday/index.html for the details. Make sure to check in here for our pick. I'm definitely in for $10 and since we've been requested by the coordinators to avoid Rioja it's going to be a special challenge!

Happy tasting! Please let us know if you participate in this tasting because we'd love to hear all about it.

The Wino Club at Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival

How much fun did we have this weekend at the Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival? Darcy and I split our time between chatting with great people at our own Wino Club booth and volunteering our time to the festival in the VIP booth pouring up some great wine.

We were able to raise $230 for Michelle's Place through the sale of The Wino Club kits as well as from the sale of special coasters donated to them for this purpose. On top of it we raffled off a beautiful basket that was won by Samantha Edwards of Corona, CA. Congratulations.

Huge thanks goes to our INCREDIBLE friends and fellow winos who helped us out all weekend long and a special shout out to Diana Fox of Fox Interiors who completely rearranged our booth after we had it all set up. She made it way better let me tell you.

Looking forward to next year's event already. Hopefully you can come out for the weekend and say 'Hi' to your fellow Winos.

Wine Tasting Tips

Learning to taste wine is a complicated art, but learning about the wines themselves, or at least learning to sound like you know what you are doing, is easy when you read the articles on this blog.



read more | digg story

Tasting Riesling

Summer Calls For Riesling

Riesling is a wine that calls for warm days for sure. It is in it's best crisp and fruity and can range from somewhat dry to extraordinarily sweet. How can you tell the difference? Here in the New World, there's no way of telling except by trial and error. Darn, you have to taste a lot of wine. Sorry about that, not.

Riesling is high on acid and sugar and low on alcohol. It is usually a pale color, ranging from clear to a light wheat tone. It is great to clear the palette with and is floral and fruity. The most intriguing thing about this varietal though really is the range of flavors and characters this wine can embody. Not too many grapes range from a dry wine to sweet desert wine as easily as Riesling.

I have to profess that I am not historically a huge fan of Riesling. It's not that I don't care for white wines because my wine rack is filled with a variety of varietals (that's just fun to say). It is just that the Rieslings that I have tried have been too sweet for my taste. Then I started buying the imports. Riesling is best grown in cooler climates and the coldest wine growing regions in the world happen to be in Germany and Northern France, Alsace to be more specific. Their Rieslings have a beautiful crisp fruitiness that hit the spot for sitting poolside on a hot summer day. Paired perfectly with spicy Asian food, a personal favorite of mine, these imports have become a favorite go-to white for me. Plus the price points for a quality Riesling import are amazing! They can be remarkably inexpensive making it a non-guilty pleasure.

In the New World, fine Rieslings come from Washington State and even parts of New York State. For me though, it's the Old World that has my heart with this grape, perhaps because I can tell what I'm getting into by the bottle. Alsace in France has some beautiful Rieslings, as do 3 major regions in Germany, Mosel-Saar Rower, the Rheingau and the Rheinhessen.
There are 2 distinctions on the rating of the wine or winery. If the bottle has listed QbA, it means 'Quality by Countryside' and is a country wine. This is a step above a non-rated wine and means the grapes came from various vineyards and while it is a quality wine, it is not necessarily estate grown. QmP (Qualitatsweim mit Pradikat) means simply quality with pedigree. It is obviously a higher quality than QbA, and both are letters or phrases to look for when finding a good wine.

So my first trick is location (3 regions in Germany or Alsace are my favorites). My second trick is to check the quality on the German wines and my third and most important trick is to figure out how sweet or dry the wine is going to be. I don't like sweet wines but love the fruitiness that a bone dry Riesling can offer. On the label, Kabinett or Trocken means it's a dry wine. This is the one I will buy; in fact I will choose a QbA Kabinett over a QmP Spatlese any day. Spatlese means it is a select pick, is picked later and is slightly sweeter. Auslese is a desert quality wine. Don't buy this for drinking large quantities because you might get sick. Trockenbeerenauslese or TBA which is sweet and luxurious and a true treat, again in small portions.

I would like to encourage you to taste both New World and Old World Rieslings this month. Email us your results please or post your comments on our blog under Riesling at www.thewinoclub.blogspot.com because we'd love to hear from you!

Happy tasting and we'll see you at www.thewinoclub.com!

Sincerely,
Darcy & Stacy

Riesling Quick Tips

Riesling is all about balance. Look for the following when tasting and smelling this varietal:

Apple
Pineapple
Flint
Talc
Fennel
Petrol
Ginger
Kiwi
Tarragon
Slate
Wet Stone
Peach
Honey
Jasmine
Grapefruit
Minerals
Juicy-Fruit Gum
Orange Blossom
Lime
Apricot

Food Pairing with Riesling

A BIG Thank You goes out to our friend June Evans, Manager of Blazing Noodles at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, CA for the beautifully paired recipes for beautiful Riesling. Their distinct Asian flair matches perfectly with this crisp cool wine. For their full menu listing, go to http://www.pechanga.com/documents/dining/BlazingNoodlesMenu.pdf

Blazing Noodles Recipes

Dynamite Wings

Ingredients:
1 cup Sirirachai chili sauce
1 cup Vinegar
¼ cup Sugar
8 Breaded chicken wings

Directions:
Blend the chili sauce, vinegar, and sugar until completely combined.
Fry the wings until crispy.
Heat pan or wok until hot add teaspoon of oil to cook the sauce. Toss in the wings to coat. Garnish with chopped green onions to serve.

Steamed Fish with Ginger Soy Sauce

Ingredients:
½ cup Soy sauce
½ cup Chicken stock
1 tsp Sesame oil
2 tbsp Julian fresh ginger
1 tbsp Sugar
½ oz Sliced shitake mushrooms
½ oz Julian onions
2 oz Spring mix
8 oz Sea bass filet

Directions:
Add soy sauce, stock, sugar, half of the ginger, and sesame oil to a sauce pot bring to a low simmer.
Put the filet on a plate, pour the sauce over and top the fish with the mushrooms, onions, and ginger steam for 8 min. for med-well.
Plate up: place spring mix in the middle of the platter put the fish on top and pour the sauce around the rim of the plate, garnish with chopped cilantro to serve.

For a fantastic weekend destination, you really should try coming out to Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, CA. Their restaurants, like Blazing Noodles, are world class and Temecula has so much to offer fellow winos, from Old Town to wine tasting at our 30ish wineries to the night life at Pechanga, including special concerts, a comedy club and night clubs. Go to http://www.pechanga.com/home.asp for more information on how to book your trip to our beautiful nexk of the woods and be sure to stop off at Blazing Noodles first!