‘Chef MD’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine’

Tired of having to choose between losing weight and the flavorful foods you have come to love? You don't have to give up taste to lose weight, according to Dr. John La Puma. He explains in "Chef MD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine: A Food Lover's Guide to Losing Weight, Preventing Disease and Getting Really Healthy." Here's an excerpt:

Chapter 1
Sex is good, but not as good as fresh, sweet corn.
-Garrison Keillor

Food is like sex. When done well, it engages all five senses; it taps into our most primal needs and urges and it's among the greatest pleasures you can experience. And like sex, eating good food is a celebration, and an affirmation of life.

Would you watch TV while having sex? If it was great sex, probably not. So why would you grab a burger while running through an airport or eat a hot dog while sitting in front of the tube?

It's so much more satisfying to enjoy and savor the experience of eating good, fresh, nourishing food than to eat mindlessly.


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Winning in the wine world

Dear FSB: What is the success rate for a small local winery in an area of between 40,000 to 60,000 people?

- David Poland, Galesburg, Ill.

Dear David: In the wine world, it's not size of your hometown, but the measure of your patience and perseverance that determines success.

Boutique wineries in tiny villages - such as the historic Brotherhood Winery in Washingtonville, N.Y., population about 6,000 - can have as much success as one founded amid hundreds of acres of vines in the famed Napa Valley of California.

Enormous changes in the way grapes are grown, and how wine is made and distributed, have made it possible for anyone to begin a label - whether they live in midtown Manhattan or mid-state Illinois.

But that's not to say it will be easy.


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Boutique' winery ordinance on tap

Herman Salerno, owner of the Salerno Winery in Ramona, favors a proposed county ordinance that would allow 'boutique wineries' to host tasting rooms at their facilities. The county Planning Commission will consider the ordinance on Friday.
WALDO NILO Staff Photographer
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Wine making taught at Alba Vineyard

Enroll in "Wine 101" at Alba Vineyard, Pohatcong Township, and be taught by nationally award-winning winemaker John Altmaier.

Classes are held at 11 a.m. every Saturday in March and April. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn from a professional winemaker with over 25 years of experience.

Join Altmaier and discover wine in this 90-minute class.Understanding the basic elements and characteristics of common wine varietals and how they are crafted will take your appreciation to a whole new level, helping you to evaluate wine and identify your own taste preferences.It will build the foundation for a lifetime of wine appreciation.

Cost of $15 per person includes a wine glass. Reservations are required; call (908) 995-7800. Class size is limited.


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eWine Match Service Now Sends Expert, Real-Time Wine Pairings to Your Desktop or Cell Phone

FINE Design Group, a West Coast-based design and technology company, and Foster's Wine Estates Americas, a leading Napa-based premium wine company, announced the launch of eWineMatch.com, completing the first real-time food and wine pairing service available via both the web and mobile phone channels.

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Bill aims for store wine, beer tasting

Drink some beer.

Yup. Barring an unexpected legislative hiccup, a handful of grocery stores across the state will offer shoppers free wine and beer samples, starting this fall.

Some lawmakers, worried about drivers and what children will think, say it�s an unbelievably bad idea.

�Let�s take a look at this bill. It�s about drinking � in grocery stores!� said Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland. �What are we thinking?�

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The valley's love affair with wine

Drinking wine in the Vail Valley is sexy.

From social gatherings among local restaurant wine experts to posh winemaker dinners, the valley has no shortage of wine or those who love to savor every drop.

Local restaurants are practically incomplete without their resident sommeliers, or wine experts, on hand to pair luscious wines with decadent dishes. Most of the high-end restaurants in town have at least one sommelier. La Tour in Vail Village has six � the restaurant wants to make sure that every guest has access to expertise that will make dinner tastier.

�The most fun I have working the floor isn�t necessarily selling the wine, it�s the educational side,� says Steven Teaver, one of La Tour�s sommeliers. �It�s about really being able to open people�s eyes.


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Acorex Wine Holding launches new series of Moscatel sparkling wines

The Acorex Wine Holding has worked out a new series of sparkling wines - Salveto, especially for beautiful ladies. According to the company’s experts, the series includes the Salveto Muscatel sparkling red wine with light tones of fruits and rose and the Salveto Muscatel sparkling white wine with tones of apricot and peach. "The Muscatel wines are considered to be women’s beverages. They have a pleasant and soft taste, they are light. Their bouquet is rich in various tints. The Salveto series consists of genuinely ‘female" wines with a romantic character, they are sweet and semi-sweet Muscatels and Traminers, Acorex Wine Holding representatives say. In February 2008 the Salveto Muscatel sparkling white wine won two golden medals – Authoritative Commissions of international wine tasting contests in Moscow and Chisinau gave unanimously were the highest mark to the new product.


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A tale of one city, and two wine fairs

In late January and early February, wines from Australia and Ontario were displayed at fairs in Ottawa. The Australians have visited before, but this was the first time there had been a full-scale, free-standing Ontario wine show here.

When you think that the great California Wine Fair visits annually, that Australia comes occasionally, and that there have been German and New Zealand wine fairs in the last few years ... well, it was time Ontario showed up.

There's no point in comparing the shows, as they were quite different. The Australians brought 30-odd wineries, and their aim was to highlight the regional diversity of Australian wines.

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Liquid Assets: Some cheap and easy-drinking red wines

The experience: The cab (cited at left) is not the only great value coming out of this winery. This is a rarity: a really tasty, cheap ($10 or less) merlot from California. It seemed a tad one-dimensional at first but opened up nicely to deliver layers of ripe, plummy, caramel-laced flavors and a sturdy finish.

The setting: A splendid "cocktail wine," this merlot also would pair well with pizza and burgers (particularly if there were mushrooms involved with either); beef, lamb or veal stews, and even salmon or tuna steaks.

The back story: WineStreet Spirits' Tom Keim called Cycles Galdiator's Adam LaZarre "the hottest winemaker in the Central Coast area. He comes across like a stoner surfer boy but really knows his stuff." Love that Belle Epoque label, too.

BILL WARD .


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Bridgeton Wine and Food Festival postponed

BRIDGETON -- The Bridgeton Wine and Food Festival scheduled for Sunday, April 20, in the city park has been canceled.

It's not canceled for good. It's only been "postponed," according to Bob Crowe, the event's organizer and promoter.

Crowe announced Thursday that recent knee surgery has not allowed him to put enough time and energy into planning the event.

"I am disappointed because I really wanted to do this for the city," he said. "But, in a way, I'm happy, too, because it gives me a whole year to really do it 100 percent. Not that I wouldn't have gone all out (for this year), but this will give me a chance to get more people involved -- more vendors, more sponsors."

Anyone who has already purchased tickets for the April 20 date can receive a refund at the point of purchase.


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Leesburg Public Library Hosts Free Wine Tasting and Hors d'Oeuvres Event on March 18th

The Leesburg Public Library is hosting an elegant after-hours event of wine tasting and fine dining hors d'oeuvres that is free to adults in the Leesburg community on Tuesday, March 18th.

The event will take place at the library, located at 100 East Main Street in Leesburg, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. It is free to attend, but space is limited and RSVPs are highly recommended. To register for the event, email Danielle.Francis@checkpt.com or call (800) 257-5540 x2148.

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Wine exports drop five per cent

A drop in bulk wine shipments has contributed to a five per cent fall in Australian wine exports in the year to the end of February.

Some 749 million litres of wine was exported in the 12-month period, valued at $2.9 billion.

Bulk wine exports dropped 25 per cent in the year to the end of February this year, but bottled wine shipments rose five per cent.

The United Kingdom remained the largest and most lucrative market, taking 280 million litres of wine valued at $949 million.

The United States was second (192 million litres valued at $862 million), followed by Canada (49 million litres at $282 million).

Brought to you by AAP



© AAP 2008

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Grocer's beer, wine sales plan stalled

DETROIT -- An upscale grocery store that wants to open in Brush Park and sell beer and wine has the City Council rethinking an ordinance banning stores smaller than 15,000 square feet from selling spirits.

But the law couldn't change until at least July because three government bodies and the public need to weigh in on the issue.

"The reality is it's been legal since the end of Prohibition," City Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. said of selling alcohol. "In this particular case, we are talking about a full service grocery store."

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Battle of the sexes: Beer in his mug, wine in her glass

Sam Calagione is Beer Guy - a very trim and fit Beer Guy, seeing how he puts the suds away. Marnie Old is Wine Woman - also trim, delivering sonnets about chenin blanc and arias over rosé.

Calagione owns Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Del. Old is a Center City sommelier, consultant and director of wine studies at Manhattan's French Culinary Institute.

"Beer is more primal," he says, between sips.

"With wine, it's all about the acidity," she says, expertly swishing her glass at Restaurant XIX atop the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue. "Nothing can compare to its taste and diversity."

It's a Dogfish and pinot show.

Their act, perfected over five years, 20 drink-off dinners, and now the book He Said Beer, She Said Wine (Dorling Kindersley, $25), is pairing wines and beers with specific foods and judging which beloved libation is the winner.


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Unconventional wine expert says the number of taste buds determines your wine preferences

Wine expert Tim Hanni tells me I'm a closet White Zinfandel drinker.

Oh geez. If word gets out, I'm finished in this town.

Hanni, one of the first two Americans to pass England's prestigious Master of Wine exam, assures me that it's not my fault. He believes that taste in wine is physiologically predetermined by the number of taste buds on the tongue. Besides, he says, there's nothing wrong with White Zinfandel.

"The wine industry has convinced people what they have to drink to be sophisticated," Hanni says. "We're making mistakes from false assumptions and from not knowing how drastically an experience might vary from one person to the next."

Many leading scientists agree with much of Hanni's taste-bud theory. Some of the movers and shakers in the wine industry don't.


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