"without the Culinary
Arts, the crudeness of reality would be unbearable"
Ageing is the name of the game when it comes to fine wine.
Top producers mature their brews in oak barrels; connoisseurs keep a bottle
in the cellar for years so they can savor the complex bouquet at its peak.
For Hiroshi Tanaka, all that waiting is a waste of time. Mr
Tanaka claims to have a machine that can transform a bottle of just-fermented
Beaujolais Nouveau into a mellow wine in seconds, by zapping it with a few
volts of electricity. Read
Article
It seems every month a new study yields promising
indications of the incredible healing properties of wine. Now, some Italian
researchers think that red wine can actually fight the flu. Read Article
The challenge
of moving fragile items can make you want a drink or two. But what happens if
those valuables are drinks? The owners of Le Select, a French style Bistro in
Toronto, Canada know the answer all too well. Read Article
No word yet on what
the moneys will be given to prevent hangovers.
“The restaurant industry employs 12.5 million individuals in 925,000
locations this year. As restaurants continue to be an essential part of Americans’
lifestyles, we expect the industry to post steady job growth in the years
ahead. In recent years, the restaurant industry has been an engine of growth
for the economy, even when some other industries experienced job losses. In
fact, restaurant industry job growth outpaced the overall economy in each of
the last six years.” - Steven C. Anderson, President
and Chief Executive Officer, The National Restaurant Association  Ageing is the name of the game when it comes to
fine wine. Top producers mature their brews in oak barrels; connoisseurs keep
a bottle in the cellar for years so they can savor the complex bouquet at its
peak. "We can now electrolyse
young wine and ship bottles of fine wine out in no time at all," says Mr Tanaka, president of Japanese start up Innovative
Design and Technology Inc, which runs a small laboratory in Hamamatsu, west of Tokyo. Wine connoisseurs are skeptical but Mr
Tanaka's company is not the only laboratory chasing instant wine. He says his
method is the most advanced and a key part of the machine has been patented. The company is in talks with wineries in California and
Washington state to start providing its U.S. affiliate, BW2 Holdings, with
young wine to treat and sell. BW2 hopes to sell the bottles on the Internet later this
year for an affordable $A6.67. In Europe - where viniculture is considered a sacred
cornerstone of civilisation - the idea of electrolysed wine makes traditionalists blanche. "I
don't see how a machine can turn low-quality wine into a magical, mature wine
in seconds," says Emmanuel Delmas, Sommelier
at the celebrated Fouquet's Restaurant in Paris. In the natural maturation process, the taste of wine is
enhanced by the mixture of alcohol with water molecule clusters, Mr Tanaka says. He claims electrolysis instantly breaks
up water clusters in the wine, allowing the more thorough blending. He says
the possibilities are endless but he has no illusions. "I know we'll
face a lot of resistance from within the industry," he says recollecting
that in 2002 a firm took a prototype to Italy. "We were told to leave the room, leave the
country," he recalls. "And never come back." A report from Italy's Higher Health Institute, Rome
University and the National Research Council found that a molecule found in
red wine, is capable of blocking the flu virus from mutating process. The
report is important because of the global alert over avian flu, which many
experts fear could mutate and cause a pandemic. At present there is no known
pharmaceutical product which can effectively block the flu virus. Scientists believe that the 1918 "Spanish Flu",
which killed millions of people around the world, was caused by a mutated
avian flu virus. The Italian study, which has been published by the Journal
of Infectious Diseases, was based on tests on cell cultures and then on live
animals. According to the researchers, they were able to reduce the
flu mortality rate in mice by 60 percent. "This discovery is very
important because it increases the possibility of combating the virus and has
proved effective against all different types of flu," researchers said. A flood of scientific studies has already shown that
drinking two glasses of red wine a day helps prevent diseases like
Alzheimer's and Parkinson's as well as cholesterol-related cardiovascular
conditions. There has been extensive research in Italy on the
medicinal benefits of wine and it has been discovered that white wine also
contains a disease-fighting molecule. Drinking white wine appears to be good for the lungs, too.
According to a June 2002 study released by the University of Buffalo, people
who drink white wine regularly have healthier lungs than people who do not. Moving bites. Perhaps nothing’s worse than having
to load up years of accumulated junk in the car, knowing full well that you
don’t really need it, but you may as well keep it for who-knows-what-reason.
Add the challenge of moving fragile items -admit it, you’re the type that
shackles your Star Trek DVDs
in seatbelts and pillows- and you’ve got more than enough reasons to have a
drink or two. But what happens if those valuables are drinks?
Specifically, an award winning wine collection for which your quaint Canadian
bistro is known. Jean-Jacques Quinsac and Frédéric Geisweiller, the
owners of Le Select, a French style Bistro in Toronto, know the answer all
too well. After many successful years of doing business on Queen
St., the duo decided that it was time to move away from the growing retail
market that was beginning to overtake the area. They found the perfect spot
on Wellington Street, which offered a quieter, more “French” surrounding for
their establishment. They knew the move would be tough, but not for the
reason’s one might expect. In other words, it wasn’t the furniture and fixes that
would present a challenge. It was Le Select’s wine
collection which numbers over ten thousand bottles and has been personally
and painstakingly built over the years by Quinsac
and Geisweiller. If even one bottle was broken
during the trek, it would have been as if they’d lost a dear friend. Amazingly, they pulled it off without a scratch. Surely
the Fates were with them. Three old ladies spinning the threads of life? Check. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario? Um, not so
much. In fact, the agency deemed Le Select’s
vintage collection unfit for sale over the fact that the wines had been
purchased with the liquor license associated with the old, Queen St.
location, and not the new locale. All of a sudden, Le Select’s
joy turned to anguish and a plethora of self-doubt about the move. If Le Select attempted to sell the wines to customers,
they’d be racking up fines and possible criminal charges. If they didn’t,
they’d lose the cornerstone of their business and throw away a lifetime of
treasure hunting. So they were given a three-pronged option: Ship the wine to
the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. Sell the wine to the LCBO. And finally,
buy it back under Le Select’s new license. The owners refused. Besides finding the solution to be a
ridiculous example of bureaucracy, shipping the wines a second time was far
too risky. For weeks, the battle raged on between the owners and the
alcohol commission. But as it often happens when tempers and emotions subside,
a compromise appears to have ensued. If the latest news is any indication, it
seems that Le Select’s incredible wine list is soon
to be released as the LCBO validates the massive wine collection. Bottle by bottle.
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