What Does 100 Year Old Shiraz Taste Like?
Can't wait to find out? Well, if you can spare 100 seconds, then this was made just for you!

Rieslings, Ready for Their Laurels
"In tasting 23 Australian rieslings (along with one from New Zealand), we found excellent, moderately priced wines of character and individuality, tasting as if they came from a particular place in the world and could have come from nowhere else. " MORE->

Thank goodness! All those poor souls who have stopped drinking Aussie shiraz now have something else from downunder to get their laughing gear around.....that is if they ever do crack a smile!!

No More Aussie Shiraz
I have gradualy come to a conclusion regarding Aussie Shiraz. I use to like these wines, but maybe it is me or the wines that have changed. Way too often I have found the wines too heavy, lacking elegance and with aeration they evolve into something like a salty and sweet tomato soup spiced with tar. I have still had some fate that this would not be the case with " the great ones". Yesterday I opened Grange 94 and Armagh 96. The wines were OK from start, but after two hours in the decanter they had degenerated completely. The same unbearable blockbuster taste as with the others. I want to drink wine and not motor oil! Does any one of you have similar experiences? I think my Aussie days are over? MORE->

Has Aussie shiraz come to its end? Well hardly, dear reader. As a quick click on the link above will show you there is life in that red yet. Actually shiraz is very much alive, too much alive for some, me thinks! To be honest I've never tasted a shiraz that had any of the characteristics of motor oil, nor indeeed tar, or salt. Even sweet tomato is a stretch for me. But then the identification of flavors in wine in very much based on personal experience; and dare we say it - autosuggestion! The smell of ink has been one of the strangest, and most characteristic, of flavors for me. There is no doubt about it, Aussie shiraz has changed over the last decade or so. Who is responsible, and whether its a good thing or not, will only be answered by time.

Fruitful Research - Killing Cancer with Grape Skins
"Previous studies attributed a reduction of heart disease in people who drink red wine to resveratrol, an antioxidant found in grape skins. The same mechanism that makes resveratrol an anti-inflammatory agent also helps it fight cancer, reports Marty Mayo at the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville. Resveratrol inhibits the transcription factor NF-kB that stimulates genes responsible for cell survival, inflammation, and the proliferation that runs rampant in cancer. When applied to cancer cells, resveratrol sensitizes them to tumor necrosis factor-a, which initiates apoptosis. As a future drug treatment, resveratrol could both enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy and relieve arthritis and atherosclerosis." MORE->

Alcohol Sharpens Your Brain, Say Researchers
"It is news guaranteed to raise a cheer among those who enjoy a glass or two: drinking half a bottle of wine a day can make your brain work better, especially if you are a woman.

Research to be published tomorrow by academics at University College London has found that those who even drink only one glass of wine a week have significantly sharper thought processes than teetotallers." MORE->

Quick, get me a glass and a corkscrew!