turday, January 12, 2008
RIESLING got a huge plug last week by one of the world’s most influential wine writers, Jancis Robinson of London, a veteran Riesling aficionado who started her San Francisco Chronicle online piece with, “I never thought it would happen but at last it has. Riesling has really and truly become popular. In fact, nowadays most people even know how to spell and pronounce it. (“REES-ling.”)” The lengthy piece, written with characteristic elegance, escorts the reader on a whirlwind worldwide tour of Riesling starting in Germany and circling the globe from Australia to South Africa, California and New York. Last fall we were delighted to host Ms. Robinson at the New York Wine & Culinary Center for a tasting and dinner, which apparently made an impression based on this article’s observation: “Upstate in the Finger Lakes, source of arguably America’s finest dry Rieslings for the last 20 years at least, producers are pinching themselves that at last their very own variety is fashionable. Riesling grape prices here have recently overtaken those of once-lauded Chardonnay, mirroring what is happening over the border in Canada.” Other regions received well-deserved accolades as well, and her enthusiasm for Riesling as “the world’s greatest white wine grape” is inspirational. Perhaps the article is best summed up by her friendly I-told-you-so final paragraph: “All over the world, wine drinkers are discovering just how brilliantly Riesling goes with food, adding vibrancy to flavors rather than swamping them with oak or alcohol. The more patient ones are enjoying Riesling’s capacity to age so intriguingly while the more intellectual ones are marveling at its ability to express geography as eloquently as the most fastidious Pinot Noir. But then I have known this all along.” The article is at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... QTSU6T.DTL”h. Enjoy it with a glass of Riesling.
WINE TRAILS are a vital part of the New York wine industry, as evidenced this week during a meeting we hosted at the New York Wine & Culinary Center. The Cayuga Wine Trail, the nation’s first, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and deserves the gratitude of all the others for serving as a successful model. The Niagara Wine Trail is going through the roof with growth of both wineries and visitors, thanks to innovative programs that capitalize on its proximity to one of the world’s top tourist destination, Niagara Falls. The Cayuga, Seneca and Keuka wine trails created an effective program to guard against abusive behavior by members of groups traveling in buses or limos. And others throughout the state, in different ways, are proving that cooperation pays if we all work to create a bigger pie rather than stealing each other’s slices. The Foundation’s marketing strategy is simple: Bring the people to the wine, and take the wine to the people. In other words, tourism, and urban market promotions. The wine trails are a vital part of the tourism component, and largely explain why tourist visits to wineries have mushroomed from fewer than 340,000 to over 4,000,000 in less than 20 years.
WARM WEATHER this week (up to 60 in January!) might feel good, but it can also be kind of scary unless the temperature drops slowly to where it should be (below freezing) so the vines know what season it is. The “Christmas Massacre” of 1980, while long ago, remains a vivid memory for many growers who lost both grapes and vines when the temperature plummeted some 50 degrees (from 32 to 20 below) in just 12 hours. Wine is a farm product, so growers everywhere hold their breath most of the year. New York had a fabulous 2007 vintage, while our friends in Colorado and Missouri had tiny crops because of nasty freezes. Growing grapes makes Las Vegas look like a safe bet.
PLAQUE, that hard stuff on your teeth which dentists don’t like (remember to floss!), may be reduced by the grape seeds and skins discarded during the winemaking process, according to a study just published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The collaborative study by the University of Rochester Medical Center and Cornell’s Geneva Experiment Station showed that chemicals in red wine grapes interfere with the ability of bacteria to contribute to tooth decay and also may hold clues for new ways to lessen the ability of bacteria to cause life-threatening, systemic infections. Basically, the polyphenols in the grapes and their byproducts interfere with the development of Streptococcus mutans bacteria which produces acid and the building blocks of plaque, along with other problems.
POLYPHENOLS IN WINE may also reduce the negative impact of high-fat foods, according to a recent published study by Israeli researchers. Basically, they gave men and women fat-laden turkey meat and either water (the control sample), or two variations with concentrated wine (either added after, or before, cooking) followed by a glass of wine. The purpose was to see the effect of those three variations on a bi-product of fat digestion (MDA) that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. The control group (water) had increased MDA levels five times the baseline, while those in the wine groups had either a 75% reduction or total elimination of MDA elevation. In other words, the polyphenols in red wine counteract the harmful effects of MDA, leading one scientist to say, “This study suggests that the time will come where people can eat French fries without plugging their arteries.” But why not skip the fries anyway, and just opt for a healthier diet?
NATIONAL PROHIBITION REMEMBRANCE DAY is this Wednesday, and I hope everyone will pause to remember one thing: It was a dumb idea. The “noble experiment” had roots in upstate New York (sorry!), and, instead of making the country more sober and safe, it spawned bathtub gin, speakeasies and organized crime. While Prohibition was legally repealed over 70 years ago, there are people in this country and others who would like to try it again, but more deftly under the guise of complex laws, onerous regulations and higher taxes. Basically, they want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg: The American wine, grape and grape products industry contributes over $162 billion to the economy each year. One thing hasn’t changed: It’s still a dumb idea.
“I think it is a great error to consider a heavy tax on wines as a tax on luxury. On the contrary, it is a tax on the health of our citizens.”
A Votre Santé To Your Health
Jim Trezise
585-394-3649, fax
JimTrezise@nywgf.org, email
http://www.newyorkwines.org/, web
http://www.healthyconcordgrapes.com/, web
