By billn on April 1, 2011
Okay, I know it’s blatent product placement – but today, at least, Boisset worked hard for it The secret of Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot revealed: Its taste comes from “moonstone” A mystical and mythical wine, at once full-bodied and with good minerality, the celebrated Vougeot Premier Cru Le Clos Blanc de Vougeot today lifts the lid on the mystery of its origins. This Domaine de la Vougeraie monopole in the shadow of the celebrated Clos Vougeot is one of the oldest vintages and can trace its history back as far as 1110, when it was the wine used at mass by the monks of Cîteaux. Since the French Revolution and the separation of Church and State, this vineyard covering two hectares has never been [....]
Posted in a bit of science |
By billn on April 22, 2010
Posted in a bit of science, The Market |
By billn on May 30, 2009
Perhaps worthy of your attention, I find the following: Berry Bros & Rudd have shown a real drive to ‘engage’ their customers and potential customers, not just by being the first with a new ‘offer’, but by blogging, twittering, U-tube-ing and who-knows what else. Their ‘blog’ was refreshing in that it was more ‘a day in the life of…’ than a selling tool, per se. Not ones to do things by half, this week (I think it was this week) they have re-vamped their already young site. Take a look, it’s not bad – even Jasper discussing trying to avoid ‘lunar knots’! Gougeon and Schmitt-Kopplin tell Chemistry World: ‘By using the most recent advances in ultra high resolution mass spectrometry, we have shown that it [....]
Posted in a bit of science, Other Sites |
By billn on April 28, 2009
It’s taking me 3 days to finish my most recent bottle, so I thought I might bring you all the news instead – though to start with, I didn’t find much! There is the Dr Vino non-story about reviewers being taken to lunch and more peripherally Mark Squires getting yet another vote for worst moderator – I laughed at first, but in the end, not even worth linking to. I found two interviews reasonably interesting; Randall Grahm and Bernard Magrez, clearly two completely contrast-worthy characters, and I find yet more photos from Vincent Dancer – he’s been quite busy in the last days. If there’s one story that could slip through un-noticed, but actually begs further comment, it is a recent Decanter news item: Closure [....]
Posted in a bit of science, Other Sites |
By billn on January 20, 2009
It seems mandatory that the word resveratol must be accompanied by hype and pseudo science in any article – particularly when seen in any of the ‘wine press’. From Chemistry and Industry Magazine is yet another optimistic vignette, but at least there is some ‘real’ science content: “Resveratol in wine has been hailed as the elixir of youth and cure for many ailments. It occurs in the seeds and skins of grapes and has reputed anti-tumor, antioxidant and antimicrobial action. It has even allowed for a longer life. Resveratol prolongs the lifespan of flies, mice and yeast, similar to the effects of a starvation diet, and is believed to work by promoting sirtuin, a protein that helps to repair chromosomes. This wonder polyphenol is more [....]
Posted in a bit of science, Other Sites |
By billn on August 27, 2007
The finished sequence is the work of a consortium of French and Italian researchers led by Patrick Wincker, a geneticist based at Genoscope — the French national genetic-sequencing facility in Evry. Full analysis of the more than 30,000 genes contained within the sequence could aid breeding strains with novel flavours or better pest resistance. Source Link to the project at the Centre National de Séquençage. Clearly the PFVini will be unhappy!
Posted in a bit of science |
By billn on February 22, 2007
To start with, I just can’t quite write that subject-line without a complaint; I was brought up with sulphur, not sulfur, but since UIPAC took up the American spelling… Moving swiftly on, I note from the February 2nd issue of ‘Science‘ (Science 2007, 315, 666) that maybe a common compound of sulfur might be responsible for that special smell of a Chablis: Scientists at the University of East Anglia (UK) have apparently discovered what makes the sea smell like the sea! It seems that the answer is a bacterial gene which they call dddD, which catabolises a bacterial metabolite called DMSP to DMS – or dimethylsulfide. It seems then, that it is DMS that is responsible for the smell of the sea – or in [....]
Posted in a bit of science |
By billn on July 12, 2006
Back from a short break. Gratified to see that the site made a new record last week when the summer issue was launched: 743 unique IP addresses in one day – wow – that’s 200 up on the last record! Just in case you need more excuse to drink here’s an article I picked up last week from Chemistry in Industry: Melatonin: a grape excuse to hit the bottle by Marina Murphy There is now yet another reason to drink more wine. Scientists in Italy say they have discovered that grape varieties used to make some of the most popular red wines contain melatonin, the ‘sleep hormone’ previously thought to be produced only by mammals. Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxy-tryptamine) is produced in the pineal gland, a pea-like [....]
Posted in a bit of science, Other Sites |
Writing from San Francisco, Thomas Layton is a winemaker and lover of Burgundy. There are certain things he doesn’t like to smell in his glass… For years I was skeptical about red burgundies that had been filtered because I thought this meant they could be stripped of flavor. And I noticed that many red burgundy producers (not to mention new world producers of pinot noir) made a big deal of being “unfined and unfiltered” which seemed an important badge of honor. Now more than 10 years later, I am pretty sure I got it all wrong. While filtering can have deleterious effects on pinot noir, I now believe that in many cases it is worth this risk especially for bottles purchased for storage and medium [....]
