Posts Tagged ‘red wine’

I came across a couple of articles that may be of interest to wine drinkers and winemakers. It seems there has been another study done on the health benefits of red wine. Apparently, men who smoke but drink 2 glasses of red wine per day cut their risk for lung cancer by 60%. No similar benefits were found for those that drank white wine or beer.

Could it be the presence of resveratrol? Or other antioxidants that are found in red wine? No one is totally sure but resveratrol is suspected:

“”Red wine is known to contain high levels of antioxidants. There is a compound called resveratrol that is very rich in red wine because it is derived from the grape skin. This compound has shown significant health benefits in preclinical studies,” Chao said.”

~ Science Daily

We all know that red wine can stain teeth – but did you know white wine can cause staining as well? In other news about wine, researchers decided to use cow teeth to find out what effect white wine would have on them. After soaking them for an hour in white wine, they were then soaked in tea. Because of acids in white wine, the teeth became darker than when they were soaked in water prior to the tea soaking.

Toothpaste that contains tooth whitener worked to lessen the stains. You can read more about this study, here.

My “wee man,” Data, The Who, and an interesting read. What does it have to do with home winemaking? Well, just read on!

It’s about 3AM. Normally, I’d be falling asleep by now, or soon to be sleeping – but it’s an atypical night. We’ll get back to typical tomorrow, I’m sure.

For those who have read this blog for any length of time, they will know that I have a “wee man” (who is a real good looking boy!) that I adore, and from time to time, he sometimes expresses adoration toward me. Lately, his adoration has been more about Lego sets that he wants, and has already written down on Christmas and Birthday lists – events that won’t occur for 5 and 10 months from now. But he knows I enjoy making wine and has been a companion on more than one trip to pick up juice or fruit so the “auld man” can experiment and do some home winemaking.

This evening, he decided he needed to help me with some home winemaking. During that time, he wondered what he would be when he “grew up.” A magician? Maybe on stage with The Who? (He loves The Who – he’s probably got the record for being the youngest to take in a The Who concert). Perhaps a fireman. And then, when we started using the Hydrometer, he thought maybe he should be a “Detective.”

“Detectives are good at writing things out and figuring out stuff, right Dad? And I’m good at that.”

I took him into the wine making area, with a piece of paper and a pen. He was to write out the specific gravity readings for the wines I was testing. “How do you spell ‘Zinfandel’, Dad?” I spelled it for him. “Do you want the number beside or below?”

“Beside will do fine, son!”

I spelled out Z-I-N-F-A-N-D-E-L for him. Put the wine thief into the carboy, pulled out a sample, and said, “David, write this down – 0.996.”

He did. And went through it all in the same way. I’d take the sample, read it, call it out after he’d written down which wine batch it was.

Zinfandel: 0.996
GSM: 1.000
Mystery: 1.046
Potato: 1.032

And I’m keeping his piece of paper with his recordings on it, in my winemaking log book. Maybe someday, he’ll decide to be a winemaker!

So that was the Data part of the evening.

Other thoughts:

As mentioned above, The Who is one of my wee man’s favorite artists. He comes by it well! His “auld man” has been a fan of the hard rocking, often libertarian, sometimes about heart wrenching, other times about personal integrity, and always awesome music of The Who. And I’ve been reading Jack Keller’s list of music (on his blog) that has something to do with “wine” in the title. And of course, there is “Old Red Wine” by The Who. I’m listening. Has something to do with Keith Entwistle, apparently. Very good song to listen to, as are all The Who songs.

I’ve also been reading a book. I thought I knew a good amount about home winemaking. Wow.. I have learned so much this past evening, reading this book! I think I might become a mad scientist… although winemaking is not just about science. Or is it? Maybe there’s just not enough data, observations to go with the data, and other situations that seem uncontrollable to making wine that is awesome for any occasion (including to listing to The Who).

I’ll have more about this incredibly interesting book I’m reading shortly. I wonder if many people realize just what goes into that wonderful flavour on their tongue when they put a wonderful wine to their lips and take it into their mouths. Most don’t care about formulas for acids, alcohol accuracy, or learning about the tiny vermin that make wine what it is… yet, it is fascinating to learn about in detail.

And those are enough thoughts to write about, for now. But I’m looking forward to soon pulling out another bottle of Zinfandel that has been aging down in the basement, to be shared and enjoyed. Very soon! While I make more that in years to come, will be enjoyed and shared and perhaps memories of the times while that wine was fermenting can be laughed about, sung about, written about, and even made into poetry.

And with all of that.. it’s the data that is still important!