Ludlow Wines

Health Benefits of Wine

 When customers say "I'm not a wine connoisseur," I reassure them. A connoisseur is someone who enjoys wine and has formed an opinion about it. Wine is deep in the culture of man. Its use solemnizes the momentous events of our lives: our religious worship, our social gatherings, our business deals, our joys of the present and our aspirations for the future. It is the beverage of choice of peasants and kings. The difference is how much each spends on it. There are two kinds of wine: good wine and bad wine. Drink what you like in moderation and within your means and you will be happy. Some things that ought to make you feel good about wine:

Resveratrol(rez VER a trol)  A substance contained in the tannin of the grape that is manufactured as a response to attacks by fungus in the vineyard. This substance also has been found to have a beneficial effect on blood cholesterol.

Anti-oxidants  Compounds such as those contained in the tannin of the grape, and vitamins such as vitamin 'C' and 'E' and Beta Carotene which scour the body of disease-causing free radicals.

Free Radicals  Produced when the body is exposed to harmful substances (sunlight is a common example) and also produced by the oxygen-using tissues of the body as waste material. They are disease and cancer causing entities that damage cell DNA and therefore alter the message that assures normal cell growth.

Quercetin (KWER sa tin)  Chemical found in wine, garlic, and onions that is a potent cancer fighter. Wine creates a more pleasant form of halitosis than garlic and onions, however.

Some things to keep in mind:

• Heart attacks kill nearly 500 of every 100,000 people each year. Wine can decrease this risk by about 50% when consumed regularly, in moderation, and with meals.
• Wine contains the most powerful anti-aging anti-oxidants known. It also decreases risk from cancer, colds, gallstones, and diabetes with normal and regular consumption.
• Wine gets into the bloodstream much more slowly than beer and whiskey, and therefore, blood alcohol levels- a determining factor of toxicity, is achieved more slowly and is negated with consumption of food.

Family centered activities with strong role models teach children discipline. In my case, I learned to properly use wine from following the example of my parents for whom wine was a part of their heritage and culture. I learned my limits under their guidance. When I arrived at college I was amazed that people would consume huge amounts of beer and liquor with the purpose of getting drunk. Alcohol was taboo for them at home and then away from parental supervision in an environment where alcohol was readily flowing, they couldn't handle it. Alcohol should be considered a fact of life and responsible use of it should be taught.

-Mike

The First Woman of Champagne

A good quality champagne is referred to as being made by  the methode champenoise. When made this way, the wine is transferred to the permanent bottle immediately upon fermentation to begin a secondary fermentation. A combination of yeast, sugar, and cognac or wine- the tirage- is inserted to "start" it.

This secondary fermentation produces a carbon dioxide gas which mixes with the fermented juice and creates the "fizz". After this process the bottles are lined up bottom-up along the walls of champagne caves and are turned periodically by hand to allow the sediment to collect in the neck of the bottle in a process called "riddling". The process of riddling isn't nearly as interesting as how it came about.

Veuve Cliquot is one of my all-time favorite champagnes. With a unique orange label (yellow according to the French) it is mid-range in price- about $59, and bottles three times in price don't taste much differently. The metal cork cap bears an image of the founder, a 19th century matronly, stout old woman. The Widow (Veuve in French) Cliquot, as she was known, was the first true business woman in world history. She invented the riddling process that is still used today. She tipped her dining room table and cut holes in it into which she set her bottles.

Born Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin the beloved Veuve married Francois Cliquot in 1798 when she was 21 and he 24. He ran his champagne business while she dutifully stayed at home and bore him a daughter. They were deeply in love. Then suddenly at the age of 31 Cliquot died. A few weeks later his young widow shocked everyone by deciding not to disband the company but run it herself- unheard of in 1805. She never remarried and instead devoted her life to the champagne and her daughter. She died in 1866 at the age of 89.

The Veuve's champagne is pinot noir, chardonnay, and pinot meunier. It is so flavorful it almost dances in your mouth. Veuve Cliquot has what is known to people as the Yellow Label. As most anyone can observe, the label is not yellow it's orange. Part of the misunderstanding comes from a problem in translation.

The color for the label was chosen by Madame Cliquot herself. She wanted to match the color of the egg yolk of a cornfed hen from Bresse. The word for yolk in French is jaune, the same as the word for yellow. Consequently it became the Yellow Label to English-speaking champagne lovers and the name stuck. Veuve Cliquot has a copyright on the use of the color for champagne labels and is involved in forty lawsuits a year to protect its exclusive use of it. It is more than a label to Cliquot adding to its mystique and is another remarkable insight into the Madame's vision.

Being the first modern businesswoman, Madame Cliquot decreed that fifty percent of her workforce always be female, a practice maintained to this day and over one hundred sixty years ahead of it time.

-Mike