Dionysus, God of Wine, was more than just an Ancient Greek diety wholly concerned with the celebrated beverage of feasts and celebrations. He was also the god of theater, grapes, ritual madness and ecstasy.As you can see, quite often wine goes hand-in-hand with Dionysus’ other portfolios when consumed in excess – and the Ancient Greeks were experts when it comes to excesses.
Dionysus was a deity often shrouded in mystery. Some Greeks claimed to not even really know where he came from. He was always looked at as some sort of interloper deity, as opposed to the other Olympians (the other Greek gods). The common belief is that the worship of Dionysus migrated to Greece from Anatolia (modern Turkey) or Libya.
Filed under Red Wine by on Dec 19th, 2009. Comment.
No one can deny that America has a weight problem. Our culture has developed to function at breakneck speed and our diet has suffered, becoming high in fat, sugar, and salt. As a result, our bodies have physically expanded and obesity is running rampant. Many of us wine lovers, overweight or just right, have taken heed and begun wondering about the cholesterol in red wine. The health benefits of red wine are many and varied, as it turns out; a glass of red wine has no cholsesterol. In fact, it helps reduce your cholesterol!
Filed under Red Wine by on Dec 19th, 2009. Comment.
There’s no doubt about: America has a weight problem. As our society has developed to be more on-the-go, our diet has gone more and more down the tubes, becoming high in sugar, salt, and fat. As a result, we’ve physically expanded and obesity is a serious problem. Many wine lovers, overweight or not, have taken heed and have begun to pay attention to the calories in wine.
Filed under Red Wine, White Wine by on Dec 19th, 2009. Comment.
There’s no doubt about: America has a weight problem. As our society has developed to be more on-the-go, our diet has gone more and more downhill, becoming high in sugar, salt, and fat. As a result, we’ve physically expanded and obesity is a serious issue. Many wine lovers, overweight or not, have taken heed and have begun to pay attention to the calories in red wine and white wine.
Despite the many health benefits of red wine (more on that later), a glass of red wine has roughly 80 to 105 calories. Most of these will be empty calories, and wholly wasted. This does not mean, however, that you have to ditch the wine in your diet. The calories in red wine are inconsequential when compared to the health benefits, as long as you enjoy your wine in moderation.
The “French Paradox” is the key to enjoying the health benefits of red wine. The French, despite their love of cheese and fatty foods, have a very low rate of heart disease because of their moderate daily consumption of wine.
Studies have repeatedly shown that a moderate, daily consumption of wine is good for you, despite the calories in red wine. A valuable antioxidant called “resveratrol” is what it’s all about. Resveratrol helps kill cancer cells and prevent strokes and has anti-aging effects. Antioxidants, you see, are essentially the cells’ building blocks, especially in our immune systems. Despite the calories in red wine, when drunk in moderation it promotes healthier blood vessels for elderly people and reduces ulcer-causing bacteria and coronary heart disease.
In women, wine helps to decrease stroke risk, build stronger bones and helps to decrease ovarian cancer. In men, wine lowers the risk of heart attack for men who suffer from high blood pressure. Even if you don’t like to drink wine, you can use it in cooking and get the same effect.
When you really think about the process of winemaking, it is very organic and pure. Wine naturally, with no other preservatives added, can stay fresh about one-and-half years. The grapes that wine comes from have enough sulfites in them to keep them from rotting while still on the grapevine.
The key lies in moderation. The calories in red wine are relatively insignificant, but don’t go out and drink a bottle a day. As with everything, there is such a thing having too much wine. Binge drinking is never good, no matter the occasion and isn’t good for you. Drinking too much alcohol is just plain not good for you.
Everybody knows that drinking too much alcohol is a bad idea, but many have no idea about wine’s beneficial effects when drank in moderation. One to three glasses of wine a day will not hurt you. In reality, it can help you! Don’t let wine get lumped in with beer and liquor as a beverage used just to get intoxicated; wine is an exquisite privilege of life to be enjoyed – and it can help keep you healthy!
Filed under Red Wine by on Dec 19th, 2009. Comment.
A lot of people know about cooking with red wine, but they don’t know exactly how and where to use it. Fortunately, there are a lot of great red wine recipes out there for sauces and the like that you can experiment with. Here we’ll provide two red wine sauce recipes that can help get you on your way.
For this red wine sauce recipe, you will need 2 medium minced shallots,
Filed under Red Wine by on Dec 18th, 2009. Comment.
Most wine connoisseurs will tell you that red wine is the cream of the wine crop. Red wines are velvety and rich, often dry, appeal to a more cultured palate, and pair wonderfully with food. When it comes to chicken with red wine, many wine connoisseurs will tell you it doesn’t match, but that’s not entirely true. White wines are certainly generally recommended with chicken, but red wines can work as well. Let’s have a look and see what the different types of red wine are all about and how they pair up with chicken!
Filed under Red Wine by on Dec 18th, 2009. Comment.
If you love wine enough to actively search out wines from all across the planet, you may have been dissapointed in some of your first forays. You see, many of us will buy a bottle of wine we see at the liquor store with an Italian name on the label, believing that we are getting something imported and special. When you get it home, however, you find out that you bought a really bad bottle of wine. You see, the people that make those wines may have imported the vines or juice from Italy, but they’re making it right here in the States and putting an Italian name on the label, knowing that neophyte wine drinkers will flock to it just for that purpose. It’s a pretty smart marketing scheme, but don’t fall for it. The best way to find the best Italian wine is online. That way, you know that you are dealing with real wine lovers that have connections in Europe and can get you the real Italian wine you want.
Filed under Red Wine, White Wine by on Dec 18th, 2009. Comment.
Sometime in the 90s, the “French Paradox” was discovered. This term essentially centered around the phenomenon of French folks, who despite eating a lot of cheese and similarly fatty foods, had a very low instance of heart disease. How was this possible? The secret was in the red wine just about every French person drinks every day. It may seem hard to fathom, but there actually are benefits to drinking red wine!
For most people, we think of liver disease and alcoholism when we consider drinking alcohol on a daily basis. But drinking a bit of wine with your meals is not the same as binge drinking beer or hard liquor. On the contrary, there are many benefits to drinking red wine.
Filed under Red Wine by on Dec 18th, 2009. Comment.
In the 1990s, a phenomenon called the “French Paradox” was discovered in a study trying to figure out what it was that the French, who are world-renowned for their consumption of cheese and other fatty foods, are blessed with a very low rate of heart problems. It was discovered that this was made possible because of the fact that the French drink red wine on a daily basis. Since that study, the benefits of drinking red wine have become widely accepted by many in the health care community.
Filed under Red Wine by on Dec 17th, 2009. Comment.
Any hobby comes with risks and occasional accidents. For wine lovers, this comes in the form of a spill. Every now and then, inebriation from having a few too many glasses of wine or just plain bad luck will cause even the most experienced wine hobbyist to knock over a glass of wine or swirl too aggressively. Unfortunately, wine is one of the hardest stains to remove, and quite often (and unfortunately) it’s red wine that’s been spilled. To remove red wine stain, there are a few instructions you can follow to make sure your favorite drink isn’t permanently stained on your floor or furniture.
Filed under Red Wine by on Dec 15th, 2009. Comment.