Festive season parties entice young and old to indulge in both food and drink. Organizers and hosts spend considerable time, effort and incur expenses to provide the best for their guests.
However, this is a time for all to be conscious of overindulgence, particularly of alcoholic beverages. In most cases, there is an abundance of alcoholic beverages and many find it easy to consume more than they can tolerate.
Alcohol is a drug and can only be eliminated by oxidation in the liver.
A small amount is exhaled and evaporated through the skin, but the liver must break down 90 per cent of the alcohol ingested.
Alcohol is absorbed through the stomach wall and in the small intestines, and most of the ingested amount finds its way into the bloodstream within 20 minutes. This happens when the stomach is empty. In order to delay absorption, fatty, and protein-rich foods should be consumed prior to drinking.
Carbonated alcoholic beverages find their way to the blood stream much faster as they accelerate stomach motility.
Once alcohol reaches the liver, enzymes (aldehyde dehydrogenase, alcohol dehydrogenase, catalase, and cytochrane) start breaking it down and ultimately reduce it over time to water and carbon dioxide.
Pending on body weight, and gender, the rate of breakdown changes. A man (150 lbs. – 69 Kg.) can eliminate 14 grams or ½ oz. Pure alcohol per hour, i.e one bottle of beer @ 5 per cent alcohol ABV (Alcohol by Volume), 30ml=1 oz. O spirits @ 40 per cent ABV and 100 ml= 3 ½ oz of wine @ 12 per cent ABV.
It is best to stick to clear spirits that have been aged for a few months, and not in barrels.
Brown spirits, generally aged in barrels for more than a year, contain congeners that cause severe hangovers. Still white wine is fine, but for red wines individuals should be aware of barrel aging, although many light red wines are not barrel aged.
Drinking a lot water or juices before going to bed helps to some extent. Alcohol is diuretic.
Oxygen seems to help some individuals, eating protein-rich food others. Some benefit from rest, although a few do so by exercise according to researchers, but who with a severe hangover would want or could exercise?
It is a fallacy that coffee makes a drunk sober. All it does is make a drunk individual wide awake, but nothing more.
The best way to consume alcohol is moderation, and sticking to clear drinks, and to pace drining to one drink per hour. If consuming spirits do not mix it with sweet soft drinks, and try to drink neat or diluted with a little of water. A severe hangover can last up to two days, and by all accounts is a very unpleasant experience; you can avoid it by following above recommendations.
Enjoy, but be moderate, and careful.

Never miss a post! subscribe via RSS or subscribe via e-mail.   Post writer – Hrayr Berberoglu – E-mail – Read his books?

We are moving web-place this weekend. We will get a lot faster line on the server, but the CPU power will be less. So in the next few days there can be some hiccups. And from Monday the move is completed. Please give us feedback on your experience with the site next week. Is it faster or slower that is the question?

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We have changed the name for the blog to better reflect that it is under the main site Winesworld. We also have a guest writer – Hrayr Berberoglu which is writing about wine, food and travel from all over the world. So the new name is better suitable for both.

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All wine, food or travel blogs LOOK OUT!

Winesworld have a web site for collecting RSS news feed. ADD your feed to the site and you will get link-back ( the site is today Google PR3 ) on every post and you will get your own link on the left sidebar and your own link on the site with yours feed only.

http://news.winesworld.net/

Just click on ADD FEED! And I will manually add your feed as soon as possible. And start use the site. You get all the interesting stories on wine, food and travel on one place.

And do drop me a note if you have something to add or something to make the place better.

Never miss a post! subscribe via RSS or subscribe via e-mail.   Post writer – Morten – E-mail

Naturally made and un-stabilized wines develop crystals, which generally precipitate to the bottom of the bottle or attach themselves on the cork or the closure of the bottle. Sometimes referred to as “Wine Diamonds” they are indicative of good quality. Although crystals are bitter, they are harmless and do not affect the flavour of the wine in any way.
When grapes are de-stemmed and the free-run juice is obtained, the must naturally starts to ferment. The yeasts are on the skin of the grapes. When yeasts discover sugar in the must and oxygen, they start converting the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The must contains potassium from the soil, and tartaric acid, a natural component in ripe grapes.
During the fermentation the alcohol content increases gradually and potassium is combined with the bitartrate of the tartaric acid, thus forming potassium bitartrate in liquid form. (The powdered form of this is known as cream of tartar and used in baking.)
Alcohol induces the salt of tartaric acid to harden and most of the tartaric acid in insoluble form precipitates to the bottom of the fermentation tank or container, either shortly before, or after the fermentation stops.
When the newly made wine is cooled, more tartaric acid in insoluble form precipitates to the bottom of the tank. During bottling the wine is channelled through stabilizers. They consist of cooling pipes capable of dropping the temperature to – 4 C, which turns insoluble tartaric acid to crystals. Crystals are filtered thus making the wine brilliant. Occasionally some of the wines exposed to temperatures which are lower than the temperature by which the tartaric acids were removed, may attach themselves to the cork and precipitate to the bottom of the bottle.
Tartaric acid can be totally removed, but this process deprives the wine of some congeners (taste imparting particles).
Consider yourself fortunate if you obtain a wine which contains wine crystals or diamonds.
Simply remove the tartaric acid by either decanting the wine or separating the sediment from the wine. If it was clear at the time of bottling it will be crystal clear.
If wines enclosed with natural or synthetic cork are correctly stored, i.e. laying on their side, the tartaric acid particles will adhere to the cork. In the case of screw capped bottles tartaric acid will precipitate to the bottom of the bottle. Simply wipe the inside of the bottleneck and pour the wine.
Although both red and white wines contain insoluble tartaric acid, one more frequently finds crystals in sweet white wines, as they are stabilized at lower temperatures than dry whites.
Wine crystals or wine diamonds are indicative of quality and never impart an unpleasant taste.
To your good health!

Never miss a post! subscribe via RSS or subscribe via e-mail.   Post writer – Hrayr Berberoglu – E-mail – Read his books?

The Norwegian restaurant Bagatelle and Eyvind Hellstrøm has got back the star they lost in the last year’s Michelin-guide. It seems that they made a little mistake last year when they took it away, sins they got it back so soon.

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We have a new site: news.winesworld.net Here we collect RSS feed on blogs/sites that are about Wine, Food or Travel. Feel free to add yours!

We have added most of the new wines that have arrived in Sweden this month.

Our Newsletter has been upgraded this past months, please subscribe to it on Winesworld.

Winesworld on Facebook: Winesworld. And Twitter.

And please remember to add your dice/review on the wines you taste on Winesworld, so that you will remember what is good/bad wine for that special evening you need it!

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Barolo and Barbaresco, are the two most important red wines and the crowning jewel wine region of Piedmont, in the northwest, celebrated vintage 2004 claiming it to the best yet. Both regions enjoy a worldwide reputation for their monovarietal (nebbiolo exclusively) vinted from this capricious grape.

This indigenous grape tastes only at its best if and when grown in the volcanic soils of this region coupled with the unique (cool) climate. Growers planted nebbiolo elsewhere in Italy (Lombardy), California, Australia, New Zealand, and even in Ontario, but to date no one has been able to duplicate the aromatic delicacy and textural strength of this unique grape variety.

Of the two, Barolo ages better, longer and offers more flavour and depth. Barbaresco’s quality has been improving gradually over the last 20 years. The biggest proponent and price leader of Barbaresco is Angelo Gaja whose wines have captured the imagination of serious and well-heeled wine consumers.

Barolo long considered to be the “King of wines, and wine of kings” is a relatively small region (1400 hectares) producing an average of eight million bottles pending on vintage. Barbaresco’s soil is more calcareous than those of Barolo, hence the wines are softer, fruitier, and almost perfumey.

In the last quarter century, traditional winemakers retired and/or sold their wineries, or turned them over to their university-educated offspring’s. They are convinced that quality and intensity of their wines must improve constantly, while prices that reflect demand must be reasonable.

Traditional winemakers, like Bartolo Mascarello, seldom emphasised single-vineyard (here called cru). Barolo’s young vintners know differences between sub-regions and even single-vineyards exist and are readily observed by connoisseurs who taste nebbiolo wines frequently. They try to make Barolo that emphasises the unique flavours of the grape.

They even know that the top of the hill site here called Bricco produces better quality fruit and wines of higher alcohol levels that are fuller bodied.
Vintages in Barolo and Barbaresco play an important role in quality and prices vary accordingly. 1996, 1997, 2000, and 2004 yielded very fine wines, and 2004 is claimed by most to be the best yet.

This vintage was released in 2008, and the wine must be aged (in upright Slovenian oak barrels of 6300 – 9000 litre capacity) for a minimum of 36 months, and one year in the bottle. 2004 by all accounts was perfect with the right amount of precipitation and a hot growing season. The fruit came in excellent condition and winemakers made the best wine they could possibly make.
Here are the wineries and their brands that are recommended:

BAROLO

Vietti, Barolo Villero Riserva
Paolo Scavino, Barolo
Manzone, Barolo Bricat Le Gramolere
Ceretto, Bricco Roche
Giacomo Borgono, Barolo Riserva
Gianfranco Alelsandira Barolo
Roberto Vierzo, Barolo Brunate
Roberto Vierzo, Barolo Vignetto Cerequio
Roberto Vierzo, Barolo La Serra
Ascheri, Barolo
Renato Ratti, Barolo Marcenasco
Aldo Contern,o Barolo Granbussia Riserva
Giacomo Contratto, Barolo Cerequio Secolo
Emilio Altare, Barolo Vigneto Arborina
Domenico Cerico, Barolo Pajana
Marchesi di Barolo, Barolo Riserva

BARBARESCO

B Giacosa, Barbaresco Asili Riserva
Ceretto, Barbaresco Bricco Asili
Ceretto, Barbaresco Bricco Faset
A Gaja, Barbaresco Sori Tildin
Moccagatta, Barbaresco Basarin
La Spinetta, Barbaresco Vigneto Gallina
Vietti, Barbaresco Masseria
Marchesi di Gresy, Barbaresco Martinenga Camp Gros
Paitin, Barbaresco Sori Paitin
Paroccho de Neive Barbaresco

Guest Writer – Hrayr Berberoglu E-mail or interested in his books?.

This is me today, or could have been.

Please visit http://haroldsplanet.com to see more funny stuff.

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When it comes to sales of red wine, Italy is at the top. The sales boost up with 17% compared with 2007. Never before has it been sold so much red wine from Norway in a year.

The sale are reduced for the next 3 countries on the list
- France, Spain and Australia.

- Chile has increased the sales for the first time in 8 years.

The sale went up 2.8% in 2008.

This is the increase/decrease in 2008 with the most selling countries at the top:
.

Italy 17,1%
Franche -2,3%
Spain -1,3%
Australia -7,7%
Chile 12,5%
Portugal -7,4%
Argentina -4,8%
South-Africa 12%
USA 2,8%
Hungary -17,3%
Other -23,9%

source: Vinmonopolet.no

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Vinmonopolet’s focuses in January are wines from U.S.A.

Source Vinmonopolet:

Among the news in January 2009, it is the U.S.A that will be the main focus area. The United States is not the focus because it is different, but because it made good wine there! We know that it has made a major effort to adapt the grape to the soil and climate, and we hope it also will be the impression for this presentation.

The wine production in the U.S. actually takes place in all states, but in the first instance we will focus on wines from California and Oregon. California set NOK class in terms of volume and diversity. 98 percent of the export from the United States is California wine. There are about 100 AVA regions in the state, which all offer different geological and climatic conditions for grape cultivation, and this is one of the most important aspects of the focus area. For quality wine is also important Oregon, where we find the familiar area Willamette Valley. It is a young estate, and it was first producing wine in the early 1970s. Pinot Noir is by far the most important grape for the industry in Oregon, which has been well positioned for growth in the last decade. That commitment is also sustainable, often organic methods.

We’ve added many of the new wines in our database and they are search able with the dice roll from the Norwegian newspapers. The database will be updated daily in the days to come. The selection of American wines in Norway has been very poor in recent years so we hope now that it will improve and we look forward to try out several wines from the United States.

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Read more about the wines on Winesworld by clicking the link:

Tenuta Il Falchetto Barbera d`asti Pian Scorrone 2007
Quinta do Crasto Vinha Maria Teresa 2006
Allegrini Valpolicella Classico 2007
Il Rubino Ca` De Santi Ghemme 2001
Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco DOCG riserva Montefico 1999

Have you tasted this or another wine, you are welcome to add a review in our wine guide Winesworld.
(you will get one backlink for every wine review you add.)

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We have now in Winesworld added most of the new wines that arrived for sale in Norway in November 2008.

We have added a search page for the wine producers on Winesworld. Here you can view all the producers and the wines they have in our database.

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We have now in Winesworld added most of the new wines that will arrive in Sweden in November 2008. The wines are now search able in our database and we are constant adding new dices/comment to the wines as they appear in all the major newspapers in Sweden.

It seems like the buying of Tenuta del Pino is going wrong. someone is already calling it a scam. Read more about it on www.dr.dk ( In Danish ).

The new wines that will Arrive in Norway in November will be added to Winesworld on Sunday.

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After 20 hour of power failure it is good to be on the net again. This blog and Winesworld has been down for this period.

In Norway and Sweden wines are only sold through Alcohol Retail Monopoly. They exist for one reason only: To minimize alcohol-related problems by selling alcohol in a responsible way, without profit motive. Denmark has more continental laws and sells wines all over.

In Norway it is called Vinmonopolet and they have stores all over the country. The Swedish version is called Systembolaget . It has as I can see it a couple of advantages. First of all the prices on the best and the most expensive wine can be very nice. They have a fix profit on every wine regardless of its good, bad or popular. So when the marked in other countries turn the price up on the best ones, we can buy it at a fix cost. We in Winesworld have a website where we have tasted, compared and reviewed wines. We have a search page were you can find the best wine and compare the prices. Since there is only one store that sells wines, you can get it there and all the wines have they own item number so it is easy to get the right one. We have a link on every wine to the official sites were you can see if it is available directly and which store who has it on stock. We have a high tax on alcohol in Norway and Sweden so the low-priced wines are quite expensive. You cannot find a bottle of wine in Norway below $9.

To sum up it all up the benefit of having monopoly is that it is good organized, a wide range of wines, easy to find and you can do a scoop on the most wanted and best wines.

Never miss a post! subscribe via RSS or subscribe via e-mail.   Post writer – Morten – E-mail