Last night, we got to hang out with the wino and internet sensation, Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV fame at Seattle Swirl’s ”20/30 Something” event, sponsored by The Vineyard Table and yours truly, WINO Magazine.  The event was a smash.  Darby Winery, Senoj Estates Winery and The Magnificent Wine Company were there pouring their wines, appetizers were provided by Salumi and Beechers, and GVay mingled with all the winos in the house.

GVay took the stage and gave a candid talk about his philosophy of wine–try as many as you can. He encouraged listeners to support the local wine community, but urged everyone to broaden their scope to the rest of the world in order to develop a more complete frame of reference.  And, true to form, he urged everyone to, above all, trust their own palate, not his or Robert Parker’s, or the folks at Spectator. 

After a Q&A, by popular demand, attendees got to drink a glass of wine with GVay, tasting it while he described what he got out of it–a Spanish wine with strong mineral and black tea notes.  It was fun getting to taste the wine he’s talking about, something you don’t usually get while watching episodes of The Thunder Show.

Copies of Vaynerchuk’s book 101 Wines were included in the ticket price, and he happily autographed them for the attendees.

Definitely look for more events at The Vineyard Table, and be sure to follow everything Seattle Swirl is doing.  We know we will be.

The July issue of WINO Magazine has gone to press, and will hit the streets beginning Monday, June 30.  It’ll have all the cool stuff you’ve come to expect since our first issue in June, plus a few new features.  As we distribute, we’ll be updating our list of locations, for your convenience.  We wouldn’t want you to miss out on picking up your own copy of WINO.  Also, stay tuned for more exciting features on winomagazine.com.

We’re wrapping up the July issue today. Are you excited? You should be. The issue includes:

• Lake Chelan wine country
• Syncline wine club
• Wino Round Table: NEW WINE PROFILES
• Winos Drinking Wine: North Central WA
• Cheapskate
• Vine Curmudgeon: Death to Top 20s
• HUGE Events calendar
• Laurelhurst Winery
• Trust Cellars
• Why Rob Newsom is my hero
• And TONS more…

We’ll get back to making daily posts once the issue goes live. I’ll have a new cover image up soon as well.
Cheers!

According to an article in the Times of India, a study by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine “used a naturally derived grape seed polyphenolic extract and demonstrated its efficacy to reduce AD-type Aâ neuropathology as well as cognitive deterioration in the Tg2576 AD mouse model.”  That’s a mouthful that means that grape seeds prevent Alzheimer’s in mice.

Further, it turns out that Alzheimer’s is caused by a molecule in the brain called amyloid, which causes the brain to work inefficiently, and the grape seed extract reduces the amyloid, slowing the onset of Alzheimer’s.  But, amyloid is in everyone’s brain, and this extract seems to help prevent memory loss in everyone.  So, perhaps they’ll develop a Smart Pill for the masses.

It’s no wonder I feel so intelligent after a couple of glasses of vino.

According to an article in National Geographic News, “Egyptian archaeologists discovered the two presses with large crosses carved across them near St. Catherine’s Monastery, a sixth-century A.D. complex near Mount Sinai on the Sinai Peninsula.”  They also found some wine vessles called amphorae, and soem grape seeds.  Some of the vessels had red residue on them.

Some of the clues they found in the dig suggested that this wine was being made for export–they found coins from Antioch, for example.

The wine was probably used for religious services, like the Catholic eucharist.  But, leave it to those early entrepeneurs to establish a strong export trade.

The woman spat out the wine when her lips started to burn, and a server offered to taste the wine, experiencing the same effect. When opening the container of mulled wine, they discovered it had been filled with dishwashing detergent. The company that owns the café was ordered to pay for emotional harm of the two women, along with victim’s costs and court costs. Apparently, they don’t have to pay for damages, because treatment costs and lost income are paid for by the countries Accident Compensation program.

I can’t help but to wonder if this would have happened if the customer had swirled and smelled her wine before drinking…

When Jack in the Box started serving their 99-cent chicken sandwich with bacon a couple of years ago, and charging fifty cents extra for it, even if you wanted it without, I was mortified.  I love chicken and I like bacon, but the two just didn’t belong together on my sandwich.  I filled out all those surveys at the website on my receipt, I went to the corporate website and submitted comments every day, railing about how they ruined something perfect by adding something that just didn’t belong.  A month later, they brought my plain chicken sandwich back, and the girl in the drive-thru said, “Apparently, people wanted it the old way.”

So, while I tend to be a bit of a traditionalist sometimes, I was still curious as hell to see a new combination of two very good things.  Wine and ice cream.

I have yet to see this in my local grocery, but wine ice cream is causing quite a stir.  According to an article at Newsday.com, New York legislators have been trying to figure out what to do with this new treat. Last week, the New York Senate and Assembly passed legislation that will treat wine ice cream like other slightly-adult goodies.  The wine ice cream can’t have more than 5% alcohol by volume,  you have to be twenty-one to buy it, it has to have warning labels, but it will be exempt from other state liquor control laws.

I can’t wait to find some.  It sounds delicious!