Grape expectations

SCIENTISTS AT CALTECH and Stanford recently published the results of a peculiar wine tasting. They provided people with cabernet sauvignons at various price points, with bottles ranging from $5 to $90. Although the tasters were told that all the wines were different, the scientists were in fact presenting the same wines at different prices.

The subjects consistently reported that the more expensive wines tasted better, even when they were actually identical to cheaper wines.

The experiment was even more unusual because it was conducted inside a scanner - the drinks were sipped via a network of plastic tubes - that allowed the scientists to see how the subjects' brains responded to each wine. When subjects were told they were getting a more expensive wine, they observed more activity in a part of the brain known to be involved in our experience of pleasure.


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Classy wine lounge now open in Drayton Tower

The Roman god of wine has found a home on Liberty Street. Bacchus Wine Lounge opened last weekend on the ground floor of Drayton Tower. For owner Brian Kight, it's the culmination of nearly 20 years in the bar and restaurant business.

A Dublin, Ga., native, Kight worked in Athens and then in California before moving here eight years ago.

A confessed "Georgia boy," Kight told me he just felt the need to be closer to home. "I got too deep of roots," he laughed as we chatted a few days ago across Bacchus' exceptionally comfortable bar.

Once Kight decided to move back to Georgia, Savannah seemed an obvious choice even though he didn't know anyone who lived here at the time.

He was especially attracted to the city's walkability. "There aren't a lot of cities like that," he said.


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A photo caption with a report on the opening of the South Beach Wine...

A photo caption with a report on the opening of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival misspelled the name of celebrity chef Rachael Ray. The error, which was made in the editing process, was on Page 4A of some editions Friday.

• In a story that ran Friday on Page 1C concerning a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of MasTec, J. Marc Lewis, the company's vice president of investor relations, misspoke when he said the company had been exonerated. The SEC simply ended its investigation without recommending enforcement action.

A story about a multiple shooting in Miami-Dade, which ran Friday on Page 1B in Dade and 5B in Broward, incorrectly stated how two wounded victims got to the hospital. They were transferred by fire-rescue truck, not by air.


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Stew Leonard's wine tasting to benefit United Way of Norwalk and Wilton

Stew Leonard's will present its fifth annual wine and food grand tasting to benefit the United Way of Norwalk & Wilton and United Way of Westport-Weston on Friday, March 14, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Aitoro Appliances HDTV Home Theater, 401 Westport Avenue, Norwalk. The tasting will feature more than 70 wines from California, Oregon and Washington, along with the cuisine of Stew Leonard's Executive Chef George Llorens. "Following the hot trends in the wine business, this year's tasting features the 'best of the West' including Oregon Pinot Noir, Sonoma Chardonnay, and some of the new cult Washington vintners," said Amy Dixon, Stew Leonard's fine wine specialist. "The tasting will showcase well-known producers such as Caymus, Ponzi, Andrew Will, Chateau St Michelle and Bernardus, with their top cuvees being poured.


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Bill would allow bottled wine sales at festivals

A Vermont lawmaker with two wineries in her district wants to make it easier for them to sell bottles of their product at wine and food festivals.

Wineries already are allowed to sell their wares by the glass at such festivals; the bill would add the words "or by unopened bottle" to the law.

Wilmington Rep. Ann Manwaring says the bill would maintain the current requirement that permission for such sales be sought from the selectboard in the town where the festival is to occur.

Lauraine Muha of Honora Winery in Halifax told lawmakers that allowing sales by the bottle would make it more economically worthwhile for wineries to send representatives to such events.

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Information from: Brattleboro Reformer

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Some Napa vintners pump up the alcohol

SEBASTOPOL, Calif.

California's big reds are coming on strong these days as winemakers pursue riper, fuller-flavored fruit.

A number of wines have been creeping past 14 percent alcohol and even into the 15- to-16 percent range, as opposed to the tamer 12- to 13-percent of years past. This is largely because vintners wait longer to pick their grapes. More mature fruit is thought to make tastier wine, but it also means sugar levels have a chance to rise, which comes with the side effect of pumping up the alcohol volume. Warmer harvests only increase the phenomenon.

Some are calling for a halt to the so-called "hot wines."

"I just hate high-alcohol wines," said Randy Dunn, founder of Dunn Vineyards, who fired off an open letter last year urging consumers to demand wines of 14 percent alcohol or less.


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SOBE Wine & Food Festival Hot Ticket: The BubbleQ

If you love fabulous food and wonderful wine, you're in luck, but only if you managed to secure tickets to many of the sold out events at the annual South Beach Wine and Food Festival. The epicurean extravaganza kicked off Thursday night with the "Burger Bash" hosted by Rachael Ray, and it continues Friday night with another hot event, "The Moet & Chandon BubbleQ". The BubbleQ features Giada De Laurentiis of Food Network as the first female hostess of this sold out event. It pairs great American barbeque with excellent French champagne on the beautiful sandy shores of Miami Beach. Giada De Laurentiis, one of the Food Network's most recognized personalities, will meet guests and invite them to select from bountiful buffets featuring fresh, grilled meats, seafood, vegetables and other side dishes and well as desserts.


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