This one is probably a first, but one that has tremendous potential. Movie goers in Toronto now have the option to order alcoholic drinks along with the regular popcorn and soda thanks to a pilot program to see if movies and booze mix. The downtown Varsity cinema recently got a special liquor license and now serves alcohol in four of its theaters. Dubbed the VIP theaters, customers can have a drink while watching the movie although tickets to the theater carry a $5 surcharge. The theater considers the move an extension of services offered to the customers as it already had a bar in the lounge. The move was prompted, as theater officials put it “By repetitive customer demand”.
The theater isn’t worried about any drunken patrons as there is a two drink maximum currently being enforced by the servers who deliver the drinks right to the customer’s seat. Prices are kept reasonable with a bottle of wine local beer costing $4.50 while a glass of house wine will set you back $4.99 while the whole bottle is for $22.18.
Oakville, SilverCity theater, Ont. Are set to follow suit, provided their liquor licenses go through. While Ontario will be the second province where the pilot program will be launched.
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Wine drinkers rejoice! An Australian doctor claims to have produced the world’s healthiest wine. Dr Philip Norrie who is based in Sydney Australia, claims to have developed a wine with resveratrol levels 100 times greater than those found traditionally. Resveratrol is a compound which is found naturally in the skin of grapes and is mainly responsible for the medicinal properties of wine and its claims to lower chances of a heart attack. Resveratrol helps maintain blood flow to the arteries by cleaning fatty deposits called atherosclerotic plaque that have a tendency to stick to the arteries and block them. A tasteless and odorless compound, which doesn’t affect the bouquet or the flavour of the wine. Resveratrol effectively helps clean the arteries as you drink the wine.
Currently two wines are being marketed by Dr Norrie; a chardonnay and a shiraz. The wines available in the Australian market under the name of “Wine Doctor” are endowed with resveratrol levels of 100 mg/L. This is about 70 times of that found in normal “whites” and about 15-20 times that of a normal “red”. Though certainly beneficial in the long run, Dr. Norrie stresses that benefits will only realized through “moderate consumption”.
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Everything has been hit in the wake of the credit crunch, from commodities to stocks everything under the sun has taken a beating. Wine is no different. Prices began to fall as things started looking bleak and according to the wine exchange Live-Ex there are no signs of things looking up this holiday season. The Live-Ex 100 index, which tracks the prices of 100 tradable fine wines, has fallen 5.5% since last November, almost a fifth since last August, ever since investors with cash opted for the money, supply outstripped demand and prices started to fall.
The worst hit, are the vintages of 2005 “the first growth” like the Chateau Lafite Rothschild which was described as an “exceptional vintage” owing to the perfect combination of rain sunshine and warmth. Some vintages have almost halved in prices seeing a steady drop in prices the Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion one such particular wine.
If the taste fine wine is what tickles you’re fancy and you never had the heart to splurge huge amounts on them now is your time to buy.
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A San Francisco co-operative “Crushpad,” has a new take on the fluctuation of the stock market. It has launched a new wine called “Bailout”. Bailout, which is a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, will go on sale for $39 per bottle. What makes this wine unique apart from the “Bull and Bear” label is that Crushpad will offer a discount of $2 for every 100 points that the DOW slips after the projected bottling date of August 2009. So if you buy your wine when the DOW was at 8500 and on august 2009 it was at 7000 the wine will cost you a mere $9. Although if the DOW rebounds the price remains at $39, which for a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from a pedigreed vineyard is a great buy.
Crushpad which is a self proclaimed “combination of wine industry veterans and technology industry refugees that want to liberate winemaking from the stereotype of the 5th generation wine family living on the chateau with the Golden Retriever.” provides budding winemakers and wine enthusiasts a chance to make and market their own wines with the help of their in house facilities and experts.
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Tis the season to be Jolly! Nothing gets you jollier faster than a few swigs of the glass. Celebrations nowadays are almost synonymous with champagne. Champagne, is categorized as a sparkling wine though not all sparkling wines are champagnes. What sets champagnes apart from other sparkling wines is that champagnes only come from the Champagne region of France. Sparkling wines however, are produced by all major wine producing nations and are known by different names, Crémant being from France if the origin is unknown.
French Champagne like all other wines comes with its own terms, which may confuse the novice. A particularly confusing term that is used with champagne is “dryness”. French champagne ranges from Extremely dry or “extra brut” to “doux” which is just an indicator of the sweetness of the wine, an “extra brut” will have no sweetness at all while a “doux” shall be extremely sweet. A general order of sweetness would be extra brut, brut, extra dry, sec, demi-sec and doux.
Many sparklers are a blend of more than one vintage, the single vintage ones are generally rarer and more expensive. Another thing to consider while purchasing a wine is the process involved in making the wine. Methode Champenoise which is an imitation of the process used in France is widely held as the only technique for complex and fine champagne.
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Gourmet wines have been around forever now, gourmet chocolates are a recent trend, but it’s the first time where a chocolate has been designed especially for wine. Brix Chocolates are manufactures of premium grade chocolates and have recently launched a new range of chocolates which are meant to be paired with wines. It is actually rather surprising that the concept hasn’t been thought of before given the popularity and the health benefits of both.
According to Brix, a lot of trial and error went into the development of the final product because during initial tests both the products were fine on their own, but did not lend themselves well to pairings. Therefore the company has developed a blended range because it says that one product could not go with all wines. The pairings based on coca content are given below:
Milk chocolate is designed for lighter reds and dessert wines, while the chocolate itself is described as creamy and spicy.Dark chocolate is the most versatile of the lot with an option of pairing it with the lighter cabs or the heavier pinots.
Extra dark is designed for the deepest of the reds with a high coca content do stand up to the massive tannins found in these wines.
All the wines come with suggestive pairings on their covers.
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With the worst economic downturn in recent times, even winemakers are feeling the thirst, weak sales and what looks to be a gloomy holiday season, winemakers like the rest of the corporate world are looking towards new and innovative ways to cut costs an increase their profits.
At the recently concluded two-yearly Vinitech trade fair, France’s biggest wine industry equipment event, underlined how the industry was racing to cut costs and innovate. From using oak chips instead of traditional barrels to soil turners which turn the soil burying weeds eliminating the need for traditional weed killers. Another area which received a lot of focus was the use of commercial yeasts to speed up the fermentation process essentially putting the wine on the market sooner than traditional methods.
However on the other end of the market winemakers are pushing luxury and exclusivity in order to boost sales like come barrels made from a specially fine grained wood, bound with orange leather, and decorated with a Swarovski crystal, the barrels come at 1,150 euros, more than double a normal barrel.
About 40,000 people attended the show, according to the organizers.
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Omega-3 fatty acids, mainly derived from cold water fish like salmon, are known to help prevent coronary heart disease and sudden cardiac death. Now European researchers have found that moderate wine drinking acts like a booster for omega-3s — it raises the levels of the beneficial fatty acids in plasma and red blood cells. This major finding of the European study IMMIDIET will be published in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, an official publication of the American Society for Nutrition, and is available on line now (www.ajcn.org).
However, as the scientists point out in the study, this benefit of red wine could be attributed to polyphenols instead of the alcohol content of wine. Polyphenols, which have strong antioxidant activity, are naturally occurring compounds found in a different variety of foods including berries, tea, beer, olive oil, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, walnuts, peanuts, pomegranates and grapes used in wine-making.
More good news for moderate wine drinkers: A study by Cornell University scientists recently published in the journal Neurochemistry International found that resveratrol, a polyphenol found in red wine, peanuts, and pomegranates, could help treat neurodegenerative diseases. In an animal study, the scientists fed resveratrol for forty-five days to mice with Alzheimer’s type plaques in their brains. The result? The polyphenol diminished plaque formation. This supports the idea, the researchers concluded, that neurodegenerative diseases may be delayed or mitigated with use of dietary agents such as resveratrol.
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Reno, NV - Reno’s Atlantis Casino Resort Spa will host the 9th Annual Reno/Tahoe Winter Wine & Ski Expo on Thursday, January 29, when Atlantis’ Grand Ballroom will be bustling with more than 50 wineries from around the world, microbreweries and local restaurants. Area ski resorts will be represented as well, and you can make a bid in the silent auction with more than 150 items from ski and snowboard gear, wine and dinners to luxury room stays.
All proceeds from the Reno/Tahoe Winter Wine & Ski Expo will help fund The Heuga Center for Multiple Sclerosis, a nonprofit organization that leads the way with comprehensive programs that empower people and families living with MS to transform and improve their quality of life. Based in Vail, Colo., the Heuga Center’s one-, three- and five-day programs teach people with this incurable neurological disease how to manage it to the best of their ability.
The Winter Wine & Ski Expo kicks off at 6 p.m., and you must be at least 21 years old. Tickets are $55 in advance or $65 at the door. Tickets are now available at the Atlantis Gift Shop, Bobo’s Mogul Mouse, Whispering Vine or by calling (775) 824-4467 or toll free at (888) 551-7007 or online at www.heuga.org.
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Tanner Creek Energy, Oregon’s most experienced supplier of solar energy systems to its wine industry, designed and installed a 94.5 kilowatt system in Oregon Dundee Hills’ well known Domaine Drouhin Oregon, making it the winery that houses the largest solar panel system in the region’s wine industry.
Embracing environmentally-friendly business practices, Phillippe Drouhin of the fourth generation of the Drouhin Family of Burgundy came up with the idea and worked with Tanner Creek in order to install over 500 ground mounted, state-of-the-art Photovoltaic panels into the facing southwest within the vineyard landscape.
Being the largest developers of solar energy systems in Oregon with over 500 kilowatt of systems already completed, Tanner Creek Energy paired up with the Drouhin Family because of the winemaker’s dedication to the use of renewable energy, which they say is a quality that has brought inspiration to the industry as much as their wine have inspired many people.
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