Drink well, but responsibly this New Years Eve

Happy New Year!  I hope your celebration of 2014 is an enjoyable and successful one.  2013 was a tough year for many and that may cause the celebration to see it finished be one of exuberance.  I hope you enjoy some great wines, regardless if you are going out or staying home.  We are staying home and enjoying some 1993 Lindemans Porphyry followed by a glass of 1967 Lindemans Vintage Port to bring on the new year.

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I want to make sure you have an enjoyable time, but also that you travel safe, remain safe and make it home alive.  Drinking too much and driving can endanger not just yourself, but everyone around you.  As a Responsible Server of Alcohol, I urge you to take every precaution to make it home safely, including:

  • Plan ahead and have a designated driver
  • Taste, don’t drink
  • Eat plenty of food to absorb alcohol
  • Use a breathalyzer, now available at many establishments
  • Listen to your friends and loved ones if they mention you need to be careful
  • Hire a cab or grab a lift with a friend if offered and there is any doubt as to your sobriety

You are responsible for yourself, your loved ones and others around you.  A split second can change – or end – your life.  Don’t get so caught up in celebration, that you lose control of your senses and judgment.  Drive safe, keep well and have a great New Years Eve!

 

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, out early 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
© 2013.  Steve Shipley
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Making red wine ice cream

Vintec, the wine storage company, displayed this recipe on Facebook and I thought I would share it since I took the time to translate the recipe from Spanish to English (OK, Google Translator helped a little bit!).  I was going to write another post on why you need to build a cellar, but that will wait another day now.  I have two Vintec wine storage lockers and they are great.  But again that will be the focus of another post.  For now, I am going to explore making red wine ice cream.  I have not tried this yet, but will give it a go next weekend when we are in the Hunter Valley for a long weekend and let you know the results.  If any of you try it before I do, please write to tell me how it turned out.

Red wine ice cream.The recipe calls for:

  • A bottle of red wine
  • 150g sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 250ml cream
  • 300ml whole milk
  • cinnamon stick

This is not actually a recipe so much as just an ingredient list!  I am sure you could substitute a half-teaspoon cinnamon powder for the stick.  And if you want to make it a bit creamier and smoother texture, use six egg yolks instead of only four.  Then just whip it up in a blender and put into a container to freeze.  I am guessing a more elegant, finer red wine works better than heavier, coarser red wine.  I would use a Pinot Noir or a Zinfandel.  And a full bottle seems to be quite a bit, so you may want to use half a bottle first, then taste, and determine if you need to add more.

Based on the quality of the wine, this could be a pretty expensive dessert.  But it does look delicious and we will give it a try!  Once I know more and can recommend more, I will write an update about our experience making it and how it tasted.  Please let me know if you try it first!

 

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, out early 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
© 2013.  Steve Shipley
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Twitter:  Steve Shipley @shipleyaust;   InkIT Publishing @inkitpub

Mixing wine and antibiotics – ok or not?

Recently having minor surgery, the doctor gave me a 6-day course of antibiotics as a preventive measure against infection.  We have all been told not to mix antibiotics and alcohol, but is there truth to this or not?  Common guidance to avoid alcohol when taking antibiotics started in the 1950s when antibiotics were being used to treat sexually transmitted diseases (STD).  The guidance was used as an attempt to curb continued sexual activity which was prone to happen more when under the influence of alcohol.  Medical professionals wanted the STDs cured before engaging in more sexual activity and further spreading disease.

Doctor and wine

I (as I expect many of us) was told to restrain from alcohol while taking antibiotics because the alcohol would invalidate the effect of the antibiotics, but this is just not true.  Most antibiotics will work fine while consuming moderate amounts of alcohol.  “There are only three antibiotics that realistically carry a risk of the nasty ‘fainting and vomiting’ reaction (the so-called ‘disulfiram reaction’) when combined with alcohol. They go by the catchy names of metronidazole, tinidizole and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. But they are marketed under many different brand names – the most familiar being Flagyl, Fasigyn and Bactrim respectively” (sourced from ABC Health and Wellbeing Online Forum, 3 December, 2009).  There are numerous other sources that all agree (just Google ‘wine and antibiotics’ or ‘alcohol and antibiotics’ for numerous validations).  As little as half a beer or a glass of wine may cause the disulfiram reaction when combine with the ‘bad three.’  But these antibiotics are used to target limited types of infections and only represent a very small portion of prescribed antibiotics.

I checked my prescribed antibiotic and verified it was not among the ‘bad three.’  Therefore, and with the doctors blessing, I will be sharing a bottle of wine this evening with friends over dinner.  Even more importantly, a business colleague brought over a bottle of 1986 Chateau Lafite, which if given the opportunity, I would not pass on even if it did induce ‘fainting and vomiting!’

Make sure to validate that your antibiotics are not among the ‘bad three’ if you want to consider drinking while taking them.  For most of us, it should not be a problem, but it is always important to verify it won’t be.  Safe and happy drinking!

 

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, out early 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
© 2013.  Steve Shipley
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Twitter:  Steve Shipley @shipleyaust;   InkIT Publishing @inkitpub

Is a red wine diet a real diet?

There are many forms of diets available and frankly, I think most are crap.  Anything that is counter to your normal lifestyle is not sustainable.  I believe you need to change your lifestyle and your choices a little bit at a time, and then make sure they are sustainable.  When I have tried dieting previously, I have seen quick results only to backslide after some period of time.  I love drinking wine, I love eating great food and I have always loved my snacks, be they potato chips, popcorn, ice cream or chocolate.

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Over the last two months, I have lost 13 pounds (6 kgs) and have been happy about the results.  But I have done that before only to have backslid sometime later and put the weight back on again.  But this time, I have notice something different.  I am still eating the same amount of food for a main meal, but I have been able to substitute my previous poor choice of snacks with healthier ones and be content doing that.  The giant Kit Kat bar with 900 calories or the bowl of microwave popcorn with 500 calories has been replaced by an apple at 45 calories.  If I feel the need for a small sweet treat, I have one piece of chocolate at 70 calories, or a small piece of homemade baked banana, zucchini, or carrot cake with about 125 calories.  I am not munching on the six or so biscuits I used to eat every day at work, nor am I eating multiple chocolates or having multiple treats in a single sitting after dinner.  That’s it – that’s all I did and I have dropped 13 pounds.

Fortunately, I did not require eliminating wine or even cutting down on wine.  I am drinking the exact same amount of wine I had before.  Wine is not high in calories.  150 ml glass (about 5 ounces) is 125 calories.  This means an entire bottle of wine is only 625 calories on average.  I can have half a bottle wine every day and  consume only about 300 – 325 calories which is about the third the caloric intake as the giant Kit Kat bar I mentioned earlier.  Once I knew this trade-off, I gave up the mass consumption of unhealthy snacks and allowed myself to keep drinking wine.  Wine is satisfying and it is also good for you, if you are drinking two or three glasses per day.

In my upcoming book, I recommend a lot of other books for reading, including two on wine diets.  There is good science supporting a wine diet along with other healthy foods.  For me or almost anyone else to lose weight, there are many other things you should give up or constrain before you need to consider limiting your wine intake.  I won’t go into the details here as they are presented in the books.  I have included excerpts from my upcoming book which describes two wine diet books.  a description of them follows:

The Red Wine Diet (Roger Corder): The Red Wine Diet credibly explains the health benefits of red wine. It shows how to use appropriate amounts of red wine to provide an increase in antioxidants and lower hypertension to improve overall health. It goes further and provides healthy food recipes into an overall lifestyle plan of which wine and particularly red wine are an integrated component of that healthy lifestyle. I found this book useful, if a bit detailed in the science, but it is the explanation of the science which makes it credible. Minimally, this book reduced guilt associated with drinking a bit of wine almost every day and has encouraged me to continue to enjoy wine as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Age Gets Better With Wine: New Science for a Healthier, Better & Longer Life (Richard Baxter, MD): This text is similar to The Red Wine Diet, but an easier and more enjoyable read. It focuses less on the scientific understanding of ‘why’ to follow the diet and focuses more on ‘how’ to follow the diet and what to do. However, it is still very credible.

Either one of these wine diet books is a great read. Since it involves your health and your passion for wine, I recommend reading both as they provide somewhat different perspectives, and the combination of both provides a number of useful tips, some which may work best for your situation.

 

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, out early 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
© 2013.  Steve Shipley
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Twitter:  Steve Shipley @shipleyaust;   InkIT Publishing @inkitpub

 

Tasting, not Drinking – Intoxication, not Drunkenness

Many people drink for the sheer ‘pleasure’ of getting drunk.  I don’t understand that, or why becoming drunk would even be an objective for anyone, but I have seen it occur many times.  I gave up hard alcohol by the time I was 30 because I could not handle it, nor did I enjoy it.  I still drink the occasional beer, especially on a hot summer day, but beer bloats me if I have more than a few.

Wine is my drink of choice for many reasons, and I almost exclusively drink wine now.  I have never been drunk from wine, nor would I want to be.  I enjoy drinking wine for the taste and flavor and for its diversity of grapes and styles.  I can drink multiple wines in an evening, and sharing time and food along with the wine with friends for a great experience.

But I ‘taste’ my wine, not indiscriminately drink it.  I take the time to swirl it to open the bouquet and increase the pleasure of nosing it, fulfilling my sense of smell.  I then pour it onto my palate and experience the taste as it impacts my taste buds – but I do not swallow immediately!  I enjoy the wine as it warms up further in my mouth, releasing more new flavors and sensory (if not sensual!) perceptions.  I let my tongue and taste buds pick up on the sweetness, bitterness, or whatever flavors it finds.  I might keep the wine in my mouth for 1 – 3 minutes before actually swallowing it!

I also love to match up wine with foods, or just chocolates or cheeses, and having some food nourishment along the way helps to reduce the impact of alcohol also.

This process and experience intoxicates me, and it constrains me from getting drunk.  I drink less because I get more flavor and satisfaction out of each sip of wine and I slow down the amount I drink over any period.  This is similar to the advice of chewing your food 25 times before swallowing.  You pick out much more flavor and nourishment from your food, become more satisfied and ultimately, eat less.

Drunkenness is not a state I enjoy during or after drinking, and I avoid it.  Avoiding drunkenness comes easily for me since I taste my wine while drinking and before swallowing, combine it with food which further absorbs and disperses the alcohol content, and enjoy it and let it satiate me along the way.

I recommend you do the same.  You will enjoy your wine far more and treat your body far better along the journey!  Remember to taste, not drink (or guzzle) your wine to become intoxicated, not drunk!

 

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, out early 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
© 2013.  Steve Shipley
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Twitter:  Steve Shipley @shipleyaust;   InkIT Publishing @inkitpub

 

Do you suffer from palate fatigue?

Is is possible to have ruined your palate and not be able to discern the taste and quality of the wines you are tasting?  The answer is a resounding, “Yes.”

Several years ago, we spent ten straight days at The Hunter Valley and we tasted a lot of wine.  I was quite enamored by the 2007 Hunter Valley Shiraz’ (and I still am) and we tasted a lot of them, in addition to expanding our search for some more aged Semillons and some good Australian Verdelhos.  We were relentless in our pursuit.

However, by Day 7 onwards, I really was not liking much of what I was drinking, and thought some of the wines were down-right tainted.  The combination of sampling wines every morning and afternoon and having wine with all dinners and most lunches, I had simply overloaded and ruined my palate!  We may have sampled over 300 wines during that trip!

It was only two to four months later that when trying some of the same wines, that I realized how great a few of them I thought tainted were.  In particular, I had passed over the 2006 Seppelts St Peters Shiraz (not all wines we were tasting were Hunter Valley Shiraz BTW!) as not being suitable, but when I tasted it again several months later, I realized how spectacular a wine this is.  I could not believe this and several other wines I had rated as insufferable only a few months earlier.

Not that I need to worry about this, but people who exercise regularly find they still need to take at least a day off every week to allow their muscles to recover and build.  And the same is true with wine tasting.  During our ten day trip to the Hunter, I had accumulated so much tannin on the inside of my cheeks and had saturated my palate so thoroughly that I could not discern readily one taste from another.  My palate had been ruined from excessive tasting.  Fortunately, it came right once again.

I drink a glass or two of wine almost daily.  I love drinking wine for several reasons, including that I love the taste, I love the experience of drinking a good glass of wine with a good meal and sharing a glass with friends, and I also find it lifts my spirits and attitude and helps me think, write and do other mental and emotional activities better.  But if I do not take a break of a day or two every now and then, I get to the point where I notice my palate is not working at 100%.  And this will diminish your wine tasting experience.

This is a rare situation where I am writing this blog without having a glass of wine to inspire me!  And I am planning to be wine-free for a couple more days.  By doing this over the last few weeks, I have noticed my palate is functioning better and I have been able to discern far better the characteristics and quality of the wines I have been drinking.  Last night, I attended a members dinner for one of the wineries in The Hunter Valley.  They had 55 wines to sample, but I only tried about a dozen.  By not having any wine the day before and by limiting my selection, I was able to better taste and appreciate the differences and quality of each of the wines I sampled, and was far more confident in my selections (I actually did not buy any, but was confident in my assessment in passing in on them.)

Wine judges have the (enviable!) task of having to judge many wines in a given session.  However, even with spitting out all the wine, they still can suffer palate fatigue which is why they don’t judge more than a maximum of 60 – 80 wines for session.  And they keep their palates in shape and prepare for each judging by ensuring their palate is in optimal shape.  (They also make sure no mint toothpaste, lipstick or other impediments curtail their ability to taste.)

I have found my wine drinking experiences have benefited from following a few rules:

  • Take off a day or two per week from drinking any wine or other alcohol to rest and detox your palate
  • Every month or two, take a break of at least three to five days without drinking anything (or limit it to a glass during that time if you feel the need to imbibe)
  • If you are going to enjoy a great bottle or two of wine, make sure to not drink for a day or two beforehand, so your palate is in optimal shape to enjoy that truly great bottle
  • If you are going to taste or drink four to five glasses or more in any day, mix it up by having some whites and some reds and of different grapes, and follow that with a day of not drinking

I never get drunk while drinking wine.  I drink wine in a controlled manner for the taste and enjoyment and to be able to share the experience with others.  Yet, I still control my approach to wine drinking to get the most out of the experience.  If you are suffering from palate fatigue, give it a rest for a day or two!

 

Steve Shipley, author Wine Sense, out early 2014. Published by InkIT Publishing
© 2014.  Steve Shipley
SAZ in the Cellar on Facebook
Wine Pinterest Boards
Twitter:  Steve Shipley @shipleyaust;   InkIT Publishing @inkitpub