posted April 07, 2006 10:19 AM            

Sherman's Travel
Updated: 2:55 p.m. ET April 4, 2006

Book by: ASAP
Travel by: Various through June 2006

The Deal
There’s no better spring welcome than a bucolic escape to California’s wine country. We’ve screened a threesome of wonderfully priced specials at scenic inns in the wine regions of Napa, Sonoma and Santa Barbara. All include wine treats and other goodies, plus hefty discounts over regular room rates. In fact, these overnights now start at only $195!

Sweet delights at five-star Auberge du Soleil in Napa Valley
Set in a 33-acre olive grove perched above the Napa Valley, this stunning property comes with exquisite guestrooms, a highly acclaimed restaurant, a spectacular spa, and just about any amenity you’d ever dream of. Frommer’s describes this winner of many awards as “quiet, indulgent, and luxuriously romantic” where you’d certainly be paying an exorbitant price for an overnight. But thanks to the Culinary Escape package currently on offer by the hotel, you can afford such a treat. For just $500/night per person, you will get all of the following: accommodation in a luxurious king-size bedroom; a four-course dinner with champagne greeting; and an in-room wine amenity. Note that taxes and gratuities are also covered, but the package is only valid for Sunday through Saturday stays.

Just $259/nt at four-star Sonoma resort and spa, with breakfast
We found more sweet treats in California’s wine country. Case in point: you can enjoy unmatched luxury at one of the most prestigious overnight addresses in Sonoma Valley, at a heavily reduced price. The mission-style Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa currently features incredibly low spring rates of just $259/night, with breakfast for two in the top-notch Sante restaurant on the premises. Fodor’s writes, “California Mission-style architecture combines with the elegance of a European luxury spa at this beautifully landscaped estate”. In fact, so beautiful that you’d normally have to dish out a minimum of $350/night to enjoy the beauty, with no extras included. There’s no denying this B&B package is a real steal of a deal!

Wine freebies at Santa Barbara wine country inn for $195/nt
For a more affordable experience that still includes wine freebies, we recommend Santa Barbara wine country where you can save a serious bundle with the special we spotted! The charming Ballard Inn has a well-priced package valid for stays this spring. For just $195, you can spend a midweek night in one of the inn’s cozy rooms, with a wealth of extras thrown in. Those include a signed bottle of wine from a local winery; a complimentary wine tasting at the winery; hors d'oeuvres at the inn; turn-down service with homemade cookies; and breakfast the next morning. This package saves you more than $35 on accommodation only – standard nightly rates start at $215 and don't include all of the above additions!

The Dollars
See details above.

posted May 22, 2006 04:20 PM            

BUDAPEST, Hungary (Reuters) -- Monkeys and apes at the Budapest Zoo drink their way through 55 liters of red wine each year, albeit in small quantities each day, to help boost their red blood cells, the zoo said Monday.

Budapest Zoo spokesman Zoltan Hanga said it was the 11 anthropoid apes who drank most of the wine in 2005.

"Obviously, they do not have it all at once and get drunk, but they get it in small amounts mixed in their tea," Hanga said.

"And it's not Eger Bull's Blood or some expensive wine that they are getting but simple table wine, as it's mainly good for their blood cells."

posted May 24, 2006 10:32 AM            

The U.S. wine industry has changed a lot since a handful of little-known California reds and whites left French winemakers blue.

Thirty years after a tasting event in Paris broke perceptions of New World wines as plonk, the once-sleepy Napa Valley is a world-known tourist destination and U.S. wine is a cash crop.

Winemakers are reflecting on a generation of growth as they mark the May 24 anniversary of those seminal sips with a vintage rematch.

"It's kind of amazing," said Warren Winiarski, whose Stag's Leap Wine Cellars took top red wine honors in 1976. "This is the nature of this story — that it unfolds slowly and reveals itself slowly."

The tasting, dubbed the "Judgment of Paris" by Time magazine, is a milestone in the American wine industry and encouraged California producers to set their sights higher.

"It affected everybody that had any interest at all in wine," said Shari Staglin. Back in '76, she and husband Garen were still only dreaming of opening what would eventually become Staglin Family Vineyard. "It gave us a belief in our ability to do as well or better than the greatest wines in the world."

The tasting was put together by English wine merchant Steven Spurrier, who owned a shop and wine school in Paris. He was interested in the California wines but expected the French to win. In a recent telephone interview, Spurrier said he put in "some of the very best," to make sure of that.

But not only was Stag's Leap's 1973 cabernet sauvignon the top red, another California winery, Chateau Montelena, scored top white with a 1973 chardonnay. The feat was captured by Time magazine correspondent George Taber in a brief but pithy report rife with quotes from judges unable to tell the wines apart — something many California winemakers consider the most important outcome of the tasting.

"If it hadn't happened in Paris, if it hadn't happened with a panel of French judges, it would not have had the validity and surprise that it has had," said Spurrier, now a wine consultant.

Another sign of changing times: The original Time article noted that the U.S. winners were rather expensive — $6 and up. These days, $100 isn't unusual for a big name Napa cab.

Spurrier staged a re-tasting for the 1986 anniversary, and California wines again took top places, although this time the No. 1 red was a Clos du Val 1972 cabernet sauvignon.

The 30th anniversary rematch involves simultaneous testing between a mostly American panel of judges in Napa and European experts in London.

The stakes this time are higher.

Some California wineries declined to send in new wines for the modern part of the tasting. Some Bordeaux producers also balked at another round of blind taste tests.

"Nobody wants to come out on the bottom," said Peter Marks, director of wine at Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts, which is hosting the Napa Valley part of the tasting.

In a compromise with French producers, the judging of the original reds that competed in '76 will be tasted blind. (Whites don't generally age well so they're not part of the re-enactment.)

But a second tasting of modern vintages from France and California will be tasted semi-blind, meaning judges will know the nationality but not the name of the wine.

"The feeling was the competition has served its purpose, now we're looking at the tasting of the younger wines as a celebration," Marks said.

Modern wines to be tasted include a Staglin cabernet sauvignon, something Shari Staglin called "the most exciting, exhilarating honor."

Also taking part is Clos du Val.

"I like the challenge," said Clos du Val co-founder Bernard Portet. "Whether Clos du Val ends up No. 1 doesn't matter really. It's like the Olympics. The name of the game is to participate."

For the older wines, the competition is an interesting chance to see how well they've held up.

"After 30 years, you would wonder how the wines have evolved," said Winiarski. "Have they kept their quality? Do they still reveal their beauty and their character after all this time?"

___

On the Net:

posted May 31, 2006 10:52 PM            

VINA, California (AP) -- In a Northern California monastery, 25 monks following the teachings of St. Benedict rise hours before dawn to pray, work the land and make a serious syrah -- a full-bodied red wine.

The men at the Abbey of New Clairvaux have opened the first Roman Catholic Cistercian winery in North America, though their vineyard has a storied place in California's wine history.

The 580-acre spread in this tiny town north of Chico was once owned by Leland Stanford -- the railroad magnate, California governor and university founder -- who ran what was considered the world's largest winery in the late 1800s, said Aimee Sunseri, a fifth-generation winemaker hired to help the monks start the winery.

The brothers' vineyards are more modest, but they hope wine sales will boost the monastery, where recruitment to the order has been hard and the monks must dig up ways to make cash.

"We need to work to keep going, but we don't want or expect to get rich. But the wine has done well -- better than expected," said Father Harold Meyer, who has been at the abbey for 33 years.

While their quarters are kept private, they've opened the monastery to the public for three- and four-day retreats, tours and weekend wine-tasting.

The grounds are quiet most of the day except for the splashing of koi fish in a small fountain and the abbot speeding by in a golf cart. At 7:35 p.m., the monks say their last prayer before the "grand silence," which lasts until morning prayers at 3:30 a.m. the next day.

Then, it's time for work.

"There's a sacredness about working with grapes," Meyer said. "Wine is very special."

The monastery's property is bordered on one side by the Sacramento River. Century-old walnut trees create canopies over the retreat facilities, including a modest library, a small dining hall and a store offering the wares of other monasteries and religious books.

Most of the fields and simple buildings are named, but not all carry religious monikers. Guest rooms for visitors taking retreats at the abbey are labeled by virtue: Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Peace.

The rooms are austere, with a twin bed and desk. Each room has a private, modern bathroom.

Guests are asked to observe silence at night but there are no religious requirements and no schedule to the stay. Guests are welcome to attend prayer services in the monastery's small church or worship as they wish in a quiet room.

Retreats are booked months in advance and the stays are donation-based.

Some of the brothers are more outgoing than others, happy to talk to visitors. Others prefer solitude, meals alone and a day spent tinkering with farm equipment or making pottery.

"We get a lot of city people. We're intriguing, I guess," Meyer said, laughing.

The men follow the Roman Catholic teachings of St. Benedict, which advocate private and communal prayer and self-support through manual labor.

Trappist monks in Massachusetts sell jam and preserves, Benedictines in New Mexico brewed up plans to make beer and Cistercians have made wine in France and Germany for centuries.

Before settling on wine grapes, the Sacramento Valley monks dabbled with dairy, made a go at walnuts, then tried prunes and organic vegetables.

They now grow 10 varieties of grapes chosen specifically for the region's soil and climate, including petite sirah, tempranillo, graciano, zinfandel, barbera, viognier and muscat blanc.

"The ground here is kind of sandy and rough, which is perfect for growing grapes," Sunseri said.

Perfect for grapes, maybe, but not necessarily for those toiling in the fields. They have named and blessed the two fields: St. James and Poor Souls.

"Anyone that has to work that land is a poor soul," said Rafael Flores, one of the brothers.

The monks expect to make about 19,200 bottles of wine this year, twice as many as their first batch in 2002, Sunseri said.

That year, the monks harvested the first wine grapes at the Vina property since the close of the Stanford Winery in 1815, she said. Stanford's vineyards were torn out in the early 1900s and then prohibition kicked in. The land was eventually parceled off and sold in pieces.

The monastery moved here from Kentucky 51 years ago, building a church, a dining hall and residences. They are currently rebuilding part of an 800-year-old Spanish monastery William Randolph Hearst bought in the 1930s, dismantled and shipped to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, where it was never reassembled.

The Abbey of New Clairvaux still uses Stanford's 100-year-old brick wine cellar to produce, age and bottle their wines.

"People will come at first because we're monks, but we want them to come back because this is a good place and we have quality goods to offer," Meyer said.

posted July 04, 2006 04:14 PM            

Updated: 5:00 a.m. PT July 4, 2006
Slide Show

Paul Hobbs, one of California's leading winemakers, offers full-bodied, intensely concentrated wines, in part because he bottles them without filtration or fining, processes commonly used to remove sediment that can also remove flavor. Hobbs started his career as a wine consultant 20 years ago in Argentina, where he still produces wines under the Los Cobos and Marchiori labels. Here are some of my favorite Paul Hobbs wines:

Pinot Noir Russian River Valley 2003

89 points. From a challenging vintage, shows a deep ruby/purple-tinged color, elegant plum, cherry, and anise notes, medium body, and a lusty, heady finish. Drink in three to four years. $40

Chardonnay Russian River Valley 2004

90 points. Offers up notions of citrus oil and white peaches in a medium-bodied, elegant, refreshing style with great fruit as well as subtle wood. Enjoy it over the next two to three years. $40

Chardonnay Richard Dinner Vineyard 2003

94 points. Hints of orange marmalade, crushed rocks, honeyed apple skins, and pineapples along with a huge texture, full body, and good underlying acidity. $55

Chardonnay Ulises Valdez Vineyard 2004

95 points. Boasts a wonderful leesy/brioche character intermixed with honeysuckle, orange rind, tangerine, and hazelnut. With great fruit, full body, superb intensity and concentration, it should drink well for five to six years. $55

Merlot Michael Black Vineyard 2003

93 points. The final vintage for this wine. Shows off a dense purple color plus a sweet perfume of espresso, white chocolate, black cherries, and figs. With tremendous opulence, density, and a long, lush finish, it will provide plenty of pleasure anytime over the next decade. $65

Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2003

93 points. A dark ruby/purple-colored, full-bodied, impressively endowed effort offering up notes of charcoal, smoke, creme de cassis, and toasty oak. A wealth of glycerin, concentration, and fruit suggest it will provide ideal drinking now and over the next 10 to 15 years. $65

Bramare Marchiori Vineyard 2003

93 points. This sensational malbec, from Hobbs's Argentine winery, offers jammy blackberry notes, a touch of smoky oak, and a full-bodied, velvety texture. $85

Cabernet Sauvignon Dr. Crane Vineyard 2003

95 points. This 100% cabernet sauvignon boasts tremendous fruit and ripeness along with hints of graphite, espresso roast, blackberries, creme de cassis, and spice. This rich, concentrated, prodigious effort should be enjoyed between 2008 and 2020+. $100

Wines rated from 96-100 are extraordinary; 90-95, excellent; 80-89, above average to very good.

To find Paul Hobbs wines, call 707 824-9879 or send an e-mail to info@paulhobbs.com.

posted July 11, 2006 04:38 PM            

Climate warming could spell disaster for much of the multibillion-dollar U.S. wine industry. Areas suitable for growing premium wine grapes could be reduced by 50 percent — and possibly as much as 81 percent — by the end of this century, according to a study Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The paper indicates increasing weather problems for grapes in such areas as California's Napa and Sonoma valleys.

The main problem: An increase in the frequency of extremely hot days, according to Noah Diffenbaugh of the department of earth and atmospheric sciences at Purdue University.

Grapes used in premium wines need a consistent climate. When temperatures top about 95 degrees they have problems maintaining photosynthesis and the sugars in the grapes can break down, Diffenbaugh said in a telephone interview.

"We have very long-term studies of how this biological system (of vineyards) responds to climate," said Diffenbaugh, and that gives the researchers confidence in their projection. Diffenbaugh is a co-author of the paper.

Scientists and environmental experts have become increasingly alarmed in recent years by accumulating gasses such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as a result of the burning of fossil fuels.

A panel of climate scientists convened by the National Academy of Sciences reported last month that the Earth is heating up and "human activities are responsible for much of the recent warming." The scientists said average global surface temperatures rose by about 1 degree in the 20th century. While that may not sound like much, many blame it for melting glaciers, weather changes — perhaps even more hurricanes — and threats of spreading diseases.

James A. Kennedy, a professor of food science and technology at Oregon State University, said he was shocked by the report on the potential effects on wine grapes.

"We're definitely, in the wine industry, starting to be concerned about global warming," said Kennedy, who was not part of the research team.

"The lion's share of the industry is in California, so it's a huge concern from a wine quality standpoint," he said. For people in the industry "this paper is going to be a bit of a shocker."

While problems are seen for California wine country, the paper suggests grape-growing conditions might improve in parts of the Northwest and Northeast.

However, the researchers note that the Northeastern and Northwestern states have higher humidity levels than the current top wine regions.

High humidity is associated with fungus outbreaks and other potential growing problems, Diffenbaugh said, "so it could be very expensive to produce premium wines in those areas."

"Our simulations suggest that the area suitable for the production of premium wine grapes will both contract and shift over the next century," the researchers concluded.

"Production potential was almost completely eliminated in the Southwest and central United States; only high elevations were marginally suitable in the Intermountain West," they reported.

Some favorable regions remain in coastal California, Oregon, Washington and New England.

A thousand years ago when Viking explorers arrived on the coasts of eastern Canada and New England they named the region Vinland, a designation that has perplexed many historians since grapes are uncommon there now.

The weather was warmer then, however.

In Medieval times there were vineyards in England that were later knocked out by a colder period known as the Little Ice Age, Diffenbaugh recalled. Now, wine grapes are being grown in England again.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

___

On the Net:

posted July 21, 2006 11:06 AM            

Chasing the Perfect Taco Up the California Coast

J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times
Lilly’s Taqueria in Santa Barbara, Calif., serves eye, lip and other organs.

I’VE never met a taco I didn’t like. Weaned on Taco Bell and my Lebanese mother’s Old El Paso tacos, I’m not terrifically choosy. High-end, low-end, commercial, authentic — even a bad taco is better than no taco.

But things change. Deep, obsessive love begets connoisseurship, and a more refined understanding is sought. The plan? A trip along Highway 1, between Los Angeles and San Francisco — among the most beautiful stretches of road in the country, and possibly the hottest taco crawl outside of Mexico. My boyfriend, Taylor Umlauf, will take the wheel and help sample the goods — generous spirit that he is — with hours between to soak in the scenery. The hum and buzz of 380 miles of winding open road await — heady visions of rustic farm towns unfolding into sun-bleached fishing villages, the sun, the salt, the fresh California air. This will be our storied and scenic backdrop. But our raison d’être? Five days, 28 taquerias, 49 tacos.

Eager to hit the road, we decide on a whirlwind tour of sprawling Los Angeles.

In the city’s central section, Pico-Union is a largely Hispanic neighborhood that tourists rarely brake for, but it is home to the taco trifecta — King Taco, El Taurino and El Parián.

King Taco owns El Taurino, and both have a terrific atmosphere — bustling assembly-line kitchens, lively patrons, Latin-themed jukeboxes. Each produces tasty blueprints for the authentic Mexican taco: saucer-size soft corn tortillas about four inches wide, topped with steaming meats that hum with cilantro, onion and a shot of hot sauce.

But it is the loner, El Parián, that sways the heart. It is a favorite of the taco-blogging sensation, the great Bandini (www.tacohunt.blogspot.com), who has warned me that it always looks closed.

Parking in back, we slip into a surprisingly roomy restaurant with sit-down service. In the open kitchen, enormous pots bubble with birria (stewed goat), while customers toil quietly over chips and salsa. My carne asada taco arrives, the thick, juicy strips of steak bursting with flavor and laced with ripe tomato. Flanking the plate are the requisite slices of radish and wedge of lemon.

Across town, we cruise into a busy commercial strip of East Los Angeles. Those who have never sampled a fish taco would be wise to cut their teeth at the tropical urban oasis Tacos Baja Ensenada. Filled with plump pieces of fried halibut and stacked high with cabbage and an otherworldly cream sauce, it is the kind of taco you don’t look up from.

Day fades to night through Venice and Santa Monica, and in the morning, we burst onto the open road. This stretch of Highway 1, just before Santa Barbara, where the road hugs the Pacific so tightly you can see the spray coming off the rocks, makes you want to laugh and crank up the music. In the summer, the wildflowers spring up, paving the way to San Francisco. You know it’s been said a million times, but this really is the great American road trip.

Do rich people eat tacos? I had heard that wealthy Santa Barbara was a hotbed of authentic taco activity, but I was hard-pressed to believe it. A cruise down quaint, tree-peppered North Milpas Street, however, confirms it. The street is lined with taquerias, including the one that started the craze — La Super Rica Taqueria.

Known to many as “the Julia Child joint” — she was a loyal customer until she died two years ago — La Super Rica is bright and airy, and the tortillas are handmade on the spot. On the cashier’s recommendation, I pair a taco de bistec (charbroiled steak) with a queso de cazuela (a heavenly cheese baked in tomato sauce).

Just as I’m sitting down with the owner, Isidoro González, a white-bearded passer-by leans in. “It’s not just a taqueria, it’s the best restaurant in town,” he says. Heart be still, it’s David Crosby. A fellow taco-hound! “You don’t have to continue any further,” he says, eyes twinkling. “This is it — this is the place.”

Starry-eyed, we proceed. Nearby, just off charming State Street, where white stucco boutiques sit neatly under manicured palm trees, is a no-frills storefront called Lilly’s Taqueria. The menu, scrolled hurriedly across a white eraser board, reads like Hannibal Lecter’s grocery list — cheek, lip, tongue, eye. I opt for the lengua (tongue), and dig into the tiny pocket.

EMBOLDENED, I ask the owner, José Sepulveda, about the ojo taco (cow eye). “It sounds kind of unusual,” he says with a laugh. “They think they’re going to serve the eye right there. We chop everything, and it’s cooked and steamed.”

Right. It does kind of look like browned Steak-Ums. But I also spy some gelatinous, clear bits. “Oh, that,” he says, catching my hesitancy. “That’s nothing. Just different parts of the, uh, muscle.”

Oh, boy. Like the cornea? I think, plunging in. The flavor is rich, straightforward — a bit greasy, but doable. “Tacos de ojo” is also slang in Mexico for “eye candy,” as in “that Salma Hayek is un taco de ojo.” Possibly excited by the connotation, my vegetarian boyfriend leans in swiftly for a bite, then stares sheepishly at the plate before dipping in for round two.

Back on the road — the whistle of the wind, the rush of passing trucks, the smell of salt air. Passing a herd of grazing cows, Taylor grips the wheel, muttering: “I can’t even look them in the eye.”

San Luis Obispo is a lot like Santa Barbara, without the fancy. It’s just as cute, but the streets, lined with Mission-style buildings, are less crowded, and the shopping is feasible. On a sidewalk, four Mexican construction workers sit eating lunch. On a whim, I run through my list. They nod approvingly, but when Chapala, a little-known restaurant in nearby Morro Bay, is mentioned, the big guy on the end lights up like a firecracker: “Yes, yes! That’s the one!”

Morro Bay is a fishing village about 10 miles north, with a service street that runs along roaring Highway 1. Tucked discreetly into a gas-station minimart, Chapala is easy to miss. Last November, after seeing long lines form for his homemade tacos, its owner, Antonio Dominguez, turned Chapala into a full-service restaurant, with a mariachi band that plays Friday nights. To mark the changeover, a temporary plastic sign flags in the wind.

Inside, the restaurant is awash in color — a vibrant, charismatic place with big wooden chairs brought in from Mexico. Festive music competes with the clank of the kitchen as the host grabs a couple of menus. The tacos are the best yet. The al pastor (marinated pork) is kicked up with a zigzag of cream; the shrimp taco is sautéed in a homemade achiote sauce.

Our next stop also turns out superb tacos, but with a beachside surfer appeal. At Ruddell’s Smokehouse, a bubble-gum-colored outpost on Cayucos Beach, the owner, Jim Ruddell, owns up to his “gringo tacos” with a laugh, but his house-smoked meats and seafood are no joke. We feast on cumin-dotted pork loin and sweet, smoky oyster tacos, to the thrum of the crashing waves.

Fat and happy, we set our sights on the rocky landscape of Big Sur. The commercial world slips away as we climb the coastline, the gray-brown Santa Lucia Mountains rising suddenly over the swirling blue Pacific. Before us lies a stretch renowned for its vast, awesome splendor, a 90-mile picture postcard in the making — but alas, a taco wasteland.

As the dark cliffs of Big Sur give way to the bright green heartland, Mexican farmers toil in broad hats, backs bent in the hot sun. This is Watsonville, an agricultural town, filled with taquerias catering to the ever-increasing Hispanic population.

Fiesta Tepa-Sahuayo looks like a classic California hole-in-the-mall, but the festive interior brims with homeland trinkets. The tacos hardly disappoint, but my guess is that the real gems are the hard-to-find specialties, like shrimps in rose petal sauce.

Santa Cruz, to the north, is a flip-flop, sand-in-the-shorts kind of place — a laid-back beach town where the college kids reign supreme along thumping Pacific Avenue. Its Taqueria Vallarta turns out to be a major operation catering to daytime shoppers and late-night partiers, and my defenses kick up. Teenagers don’t have the most discriminating tastes for food.

Young America, I stand corrected. The carnitas (shredded pork) tacos are delicious, and grabbing them to go, we pick up a six-pack and head up to the Skyview drive-in movie theater. It’s a classic drive-in, screening Hollywood blockbusters and entertaining a laissez-faire policy of B.Y.O.T.

Halfway between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, we turn off into the rolling green hills of Pescadero, a tiny little blip of a town with a handful of general stores, a single bar and one gas station. I have been tipped off that there is a taqueria holed up somewhere in town, and that the ingredients are straight off the farm. I ask around. “There is no sign in the window,” a local offers, “but there is a taqueria in the gas station.”

Inside the gas station, it’s lunchtime and bustling at Taqueria y Mercado de Amigos. Mexican workers squeeze into booths, sipping hibiscus sodas and chatting over the sizzle of the grill and the rhythmic cha-ching of the register. Two cooks work quickly — grilling the shrimp just till the edges blacken, searing the al pastor and drizzling it with hot sauce.

Outside, the quiet of Pescadero is breathtaking. We head up Stage Road to the old cemetery and take the dirt road to the top of the hill. Sitting on the trunk of the car, tacos warming our laps, we find the most beautiful spot yet — the Kelly green pastures rolling and folding straight into the Western sky, the sun beaming down on all that open land. And just when it couldn’t get any better, we realize something else — we’re holding two of the best tacos this side of Mexico.

On the last day, we reach San Francisco and its Mission District. For sheer taco volume, it is equal to any neighborhood in the States. The streets are lined with murals and filled with the sounds of friends heading for happy hour, cars honking as they pass. The taco to beat here is at La Taqueria, where awards line the walls. But I’ve heard word that two other restaurants, Taqueria San José and El Taco Loco, were gaining. Clearly, I will need to sample one from each.

Having barebacked it sans gringo toppings all the way from Los Angeles, I decide to indulge my American peccadilloes and load them up with guacamole, sour cream and cheese. In the Mission, this is called the “super taco.”

Three carnitas are placed neatly shell to shell. At first blush, San José’s, filled to the breaking point with rice and beans, looks doomed. La Taqueria’s is clearly the looker — fresh ingredients folded gingerly into a wax paper pocket. But scraping aside the mound of rice on the San José taco, I am blown away. The pork is charred perfectly — crispy on the edges, with a center so sweet it brings a tear to the ojo.

Nearby, the legendary El Tonayense taco trucks (named for the owners’ hometown, Tonaya, in the Mexican state of Jalisco) are hopping. Hitting the truck at Harrison and 22nd Streets, I sample an ace tripitas (pig intestines).

It’s fitting that our last stop finds us at La Palma Mexicatessen, a tiny grocery store lined with the Mexican spices we’ve sampled along the way. In the back, kitchen workers shout orders and hand-roll tortillas to order. The crowd is lively — and why not? It’s a beautiful afternoon, and the streets of this gorgeous city are lined with tacos. Determined to cap the crawl on the perfect note, I ask another customer what he likes on the menu. He smiles broadly.

“Everything.”

The Taco Trail

Here are some of the taco places Cindy Price liked best on her trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

EL PARIáN 1528 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles; (213) 386-7361.

TACOS BAJA ENSENADA 5385 Whittier Boulevard, Los Angeles; (323) 887-1980.

LA SUPER RICA TAQUERIA 622 North Milpas Street, Santa Barbara; (805) 963-4940.

LILLY’S TAQUERIA 310 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara; (805) 966-9180.

CHAPALA RESTAURANT 2816 Main Street, Morro Bay; (805) 772-4492.

RUDDELL’S SMOKEHOUSE 101 D Street, Cayucos; (805) 995-5028.

TAQUERIA VALLARTA 1101 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz; (831) 471-2655.

TAQUERIA Y MERCADO DE AMIGOS 1999 Pescadero Creek Road, Pescadero; (650) 879-0232.

LA TAQUERIA 2889 Mission Street, San Francisco; (415) 285-7117.

TAQUERIA SAN JOSé 2830 Mission Street, San Francisco; (415) 282-0203.

EL TONAYENSE TACO TRUCK Harrison Street & 22nd Street, San Francisco.

LA PALMA MEXICATESSEN 2884 24th Street, San Francisco; (415) 647-1500.

posted July 28, 2006 02:53 PM            

NewScientist.com news service
Paul Marks

A robotic wine taster, capable of distinguishing between 30 different varieties or blends of grape, has been developed by engineers in Japan.

The idea is to automate wine analysis so that retailers and customs officials can easily check that a wine is indeed what its label declares.

The wine-bot was developed by scientists from NEC's System Technologies laboratory and Mie University, both in Japan. It is about twice the size of a 3-litre wine box and consists of a microcomputer and an optical sensing instrument.

For analysis, a 5 millilitre sample of wine is poured into a tray in front of the machine. Light emitting diodes then fire infrared light at the sample and the reflected light is sensed by an array of photodiodes.

By identifying the wavelengths of infrared light that have been absorbed by the sample, NEC says the wine-bot can correctly identify the unique organic components of 30 popular wines within 30 seconds.

Grape fraud
Because the combinations of these components are unique to certain wine-making regions, NEC says the wine-bot can even tell where the wine came from. The company promises to extend the number of wines the device can recognise before it is commercialised, but has not revealed when this will happen.

John Corbet-Milward, head of technical and international affairs at the UK's Wine and Spirit Trade Association, says deliberate mislabelling of wine is a serious problem.

"There always has been such fraud going on," the told New Scientist. "If there has been a bad grape-growing year, for instance, it's quite tempting for people to make up a blend of wines that's difficult to spot."

Currently, fraud detection is performed through human tasting and careful analysis of a vineyard's records. "Any new machine that can identify wine fraud is potentially very interesting if it can speed up detection processes and reduce costs," Corbet-Milward adds.

Refined palate
But he also notes that a wine-bot would need to be capable of distinguishing between more than 30 flavours of wine to be truly useful. This is because the global wine market includes thousands of wine varieties and blends. "The acid test would be to test a machine against a team of qualified tasters," Corbet-Milward says.

He is not alone in having reservations. "There have been many attempts to do this but the calibration that is involved is truly enormous," says Geoff Taylor, managing director of Corkwise, a company that analyses wine to assess its quality.

posted September 28, 2006 08:36 AM            

Six weeks after travelers were restricted from carrying wine aboard airplanes, some wineries say they've been able to maintain tasting room sales by offering new shipping and stowage options.

"It's amazing how adaptable wine lovers are," said Wendy Peterson, executive director of the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau.

Taking home a bottle or six is a tradition for many wine country tourists, and a good way for smaller wineries to build customer relations. That tradition was rattled in the immediate aftermath of the London terror plot revelations last month that led to a ban on toting liquids aboard.

Since then, some of the restrictions have been modified, but passengers still can't take wine purchased outside the airport in the cabin with them. Duty-free shop sales are allowed under a system in which the merchandise is delivered as passengers board.

Wineries have reacted by advising customers to sip and ship, offering to have purchases delivered — sometimes at a discount — to customers' homes if they live in states where that's allowed. They're also handing out free shipping containers and other packing materials so customers can be confident their wine will survive the flight in checked luggage.

A lot of customers seem to like the second option, said Eileen Crane, president and winemaker of Domaine Carneros. The premium Napa Valley winery known for its sparkling wine is giving customers free packing materials, often leaving room for a few other bottles that might be picked up on the trip.

"We made it easy for them to buy wine," said Crane.

Tasting room sales at Domaine Carneros have been averaging about 400 cases a month this year, up 20 percent over last year, and that trend has continued despite the new restrictions, she said.

At the Clos Du Val winery, also in Napa, tasting room sales have not slowed down, said winery spokeswoman Michaela Baltasar. Besides facilitating shipping, staff are selling packing materials at cost, between $2 and $6, which appears to be encouraging sales, Baltasar said.

Having wine professionally shipped cuts down on the risk it will be exposed to heat and spoil. Still, many customers like the idea of using containers to check wine in as luggage, Peterson said.

"People just like to stay close to their wine," she said. "They come and they have this incredible experience tasting and they really want to hand carry it home."

___

On the Net:
http://www.sonomavalley.com/
http://www.domaine.com/
http://www.closduval.com/

posted November 01, 2006 11:00 AM            

Their report, published electronically today in Nature, implies that very large daily doses of resveratrol could offset the unhealthy, high-calorie diet thought to underlie the rising toll of obesity in the United States and elsewhere, should people respond to the drug as mice do.

Resveratrol is found in the skin of grapes and in red wine and is conjectured to be a partial explanation for the French paradox, the puzzling fact that people in France to enjoy a high-fat diet yet suffer less heart disease than Americans.

The researchers fed one group of mice a diet in which 60 percent of calories came from fat. The diet started when the mice, all males, were 1 year old, which is middle-aged in mouse terms. As expected, the mice soon developed signs of impending diabetes, with grossly enlarged livers, and started to die much sooner than mice fed a standard diet.

Another group of mice was fed the identical high-fat diet but with a large daily dose of resveratrol. The resveratrol did not stop them from putting on weight and growing as tubby as the other fat-eating mice. But it averted the high levels of glucose and insulin in the bloodstream, which are warning signs of diabetes, and it kept the mice's livers at normal size.

Even more strikingly, the substance sharply extended the mice's lifetimes. Those fed resveratrol along with the high-fat diet died many months later than the mice on high fat alone, and at the same rate as mice on a standard healthy diet. They had all the pleasures of gluttony but paid none of the price.

The researchers, led by David Sinclair and Joseph Baur at the Harvard Medical School and by Rafael de Cabo at the National Institute of Aging, also tried to estimate the effect of resveratrol on the mice's physical quality of life. They gauged how well the mice could walk along a rotating rod before falling off, a test of their motor skills. The mice on resveratrol did better as they grew older, ending up with much the same staying power on the rod as mice fed a normal diet.

The researchers hope their findings will have relevance to people too. Their study shows, they conclude, that orally taken drugs "at doses achievable in humans can safely reduce many of the negative consequences of excess caloric intake, with an overall improvement in health and survival."

Several experts said that people wondering if they should take resveratrol should wait until more results were in, particularly safety tests in humans. "It's a pretty exciting area but these are early days," said Dr. Ronald Kahn, president of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. Information about resveratrol's effects on human metabolism should be available a year or so, he said, adding, "Have another glass of pinot noir — that's as far as I'd take it right now."

The mice were fed a hefty dose of resveratrol, 24 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. Red wine has about 1.5 to 3 mg of resveratrol per liter, so a person would need to drink from 10 to 20 bottles of red wine a day to get such a dose. Whatever good the resveratrol might do would be negated by the sheer amount of alcohol.

Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute of Aging, which helped support the study, also said that people should wait for the results of safety testing. Substances that are safe and beneficial in small doses, like vitamins, sometimes prove to be harmful when taken in high doses, he said.

One person who is not following this prudent advice, however, is Dr. Sinclair, the chief author of the study. He has long been taking resveratrol, though at a dose of only 5 milligrams per kilogram. Mice given that amount in a second feeding trial have shown similar, but less dramatic, results as those on the 24 milligram a day dose, he said.

Dr. Sinclair has had a physician check his metabolism, because many resveratrol preparations contain possibly hazardous impurities, but so far no ill effects have come to light. His wife, his parents, and "half my lab" are also taking resveratrol, he said.

Dr. Sinclair declined to name his source of resveratrol. Many companies sell the substance, along with claims that rivals' preparations are inactive. One such company, Longevinex, sells an extract of red wine and knotweed that contains an unspecified amount of resveratrol. But each capsule is equivalent to "5 to 15 5-ounce glasses of the best red wine," the company's Web page asserts.

Dr. Sinclair is the founder of a company, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, that has developed several chemicals designed to mimic the role of resveratrol but at much lower doses. Sirtris has begun clinical trials of one of these compounds, an improved version of resveratrol, with the aim of seeing if it helps control glucose levels in people with diabetes. "We believe you cannot reach therapeutic levels in man with ordinary resveratrol," said Dr. Christoph Westphal, the company's chief executive.

Behind the resveratrol test is a considerable degree of scientific theory, some of it well established and some yet to be proved. Dr. Sinclair's initial interest in resveratrol had nothing to do with red wine. It derived from work by Leonard Guarente of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who in 1955 found a gene that controlled the longevity of yeast, a single-celled fungus. Dr. Guarente and Dr. Sinclair, who had come from Australia to work as a post-doctoral student in Dr. Guarente's lab, discovered the mechanism by which the gene makes yeast cells live longer. The gene is known as sir-2 in yeast, sir standing for silent information regulator, and its equivalent in mice is called SIRT-1.

Dr. Guarente then found that the gene's protein needs a common metabolite to activate it and he developed the theory that the gene, by sensing the level of metabolic activity, mediates a phenomenon of great interest to researchers in aging, the greater life span caused by caloric restriction.

Researchers have known since 1935 that mice fed a calorically restricted diet — one with all necessary vitamins and nutrients but 40 percent fewer calories — live up to 50 percent longer than mice on ordinary diets.

This low-calorie-provoked increase in longevity occurs in many organisms and seems to be an ancient survival strategy. When food is plentiful, live in the fast lane and breed prolifically. When famine strikes, switch resources to body maintenance and live longer so as to ride out the famine.

Researchers had long supposed that the increase in longevity was a passive phenomenon: during famine or on a low-calorie diet, organisms would have lower metabolism and produce less of the violent chemicals that oxidize tissues. But Dr. Guarente and Dr. Sinclair believed that longer life was attained by an active program that triggered specific protective steps against the diseases common in old age. It was because these diseases were averted in calorie restriction, they believed, that animals lived longer.

Most people find it impossible to keep to a diet with 40 percent fewer calories than usual. So if caloric restriction really does make people as well as mice live longer — which is plausible but not yet proved — it would be desirable to have some drug that activated the SIRT-1 gene's protein, tricking it into thinking that days of famine lay ahead.

In 2003 Dr. Sinclair, by then in his own lab, devised a way to test a large number of chemicals for their ability to mimic caloric restriction in people by activating SIRT-1. The champion was resveratrol, already well known for its possible health benefits.

The experiment reported today tests one aspect of caloric restriction, the reduction in metabolic disease. Calorically restricted mice also suffer less cancer and heart disease, and there is some evidence that neurodegenerative diseases are also held at bay.

Critics point out that resveratrol is a powerful chemical that acts in many different ways in cells. The new experiment, they say, does not prove that resveratrol negated the effects of a high-calorie diet by activating SIRT-1. Indeed, they are not convinced that resveratrol activates SIRT-1 at all. "It hasn't really been clearly shown, the way a biochemist would want to see it, that resveratrol can activate sirtuin," said Matt Kaeberlein, a former student of Dr. Guarente who now does research at the University of Washington in Seattle. Sirtuin is the protein produced by the SIRT-1 gene.

Dr. Sinclair said experiments at Sirtris have essentially wrapped up this point. But they have not yet been published, so under the rules of scientific debate he cannot use them to support his position. In his Nature article he therefore has to concede, "Whether resveratrol acts directly or indirectly through Sir2 in vivo is currently a subject of debate."

Given that caloric restriction forces a tradeoff between fertility and lifespan, resveratrol might be expected to reduce fertility in mice. For reasons not yet clear, Dr. Sinclair said he saw no such effect in his experiment.

If resveratrol does act by prodding the sirtuins into action, then there will be much interest in the new class of sirtuin activators now being tested by Sirtris. Dr. Westphal, the company's chief executive, has no practical interest in the longevity-promoting effects of sirtuins and caloric restriction. For the Food and Drug Administration, if for no one else, aging is not a disease and death is not an end-point. The F.D.A. will only approve drugs that treat diseases in measurable ways, so Dr. Westphal hopes to show his sirtuin activators will improve the indicators of specific diseases, starting with diabetes.

"We think that if we can harness the benefits of caloric restriction, we wouldn't simply have ways of making people live longer, but an entirely new therapeutic strategy to address the diseases of aging," Dr. Guarente said.

posted November 01, 2006 04:42 PM            

Updated: 1:12 p.m. PT Nov 1, 2006
OAKVILLE, Calif. - Winemaker Chris Phelps lets his tongue decide when it's time to harvest merlot. Grapes popping with sweetness? Check. Velvety skin with a melt-in-your mouth texture? Get out the clippers.

But this harvest, merlot growers and producers have more to worry about than selecting the best grapes. After a boom in the '90s led to a lot more merlot being planted and made, not all of it great, oversupply and faltering demand have cut into prices, leaving some merlot grapes hanging on the vine.

"There is merlot that's just not going to sell," said Bill Turrentine, president of Turrentine Brokerage in Novato, Calif.

At Swanson Vineyards, a Napa Valley producer of high-end merlot, staff aren't taking the grape's misfortunes lightly. The winery is in the third year of a campaign called Merlot Fights Back, holding tastings and seminars across the country and generally "preaching the merlot gospel," said Swanson's Phelps.

Swanson doesn't expect to have to leave merlot to rot in the fields this year despite the poor market. With production of just 20,000 or so cases a year, most of that premium merlot grown in the Oakville appellation, the winery is small enough to use up all its fruit.

But there are some growers who don't expect to sell fruit that isn't already under contract, said Nick Frey, president of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission.

The problem is that sales of new grapes are flat and there are still tanks of merlot left over from last year's bumper crop.

Interestingly, the pinot noir red wine variety is "still very hot," Turrentine said — a droll development for those who remember the 2004 movie "Sideways," and its lead character Miles, the merlot-hating, pinot-loving wine snob.

Did "Sideways" put a spin on merlot sales?

Some think yes, although they note that there were a number of behind-the-scenes factors at work, including the overplanting that followed merlot's mid-1990s popularity surge.

"It probably contributed to a trend," said Turrentine. "It is unfortunate, because some people are making beautiful merlot."

Phelps remembers going to see the movie and groaning when he heard Miles' famous diatribe — "I am not drinking any (expletive) merlot."

But Swanson's merlot maneuvers began before the movie came out, prompted by tasting room staff noticing that visitors were beginning to turn up their noses at merlot. (Swanson also produces pinot grigio, a white wine, as well as a cabernet blend called Alexis.)

Consumer taste in wine is notoriously fickle, a real problem for an industry where it takes three or more years before a new vineyard can come into production.

"It's not like you plant tomatoes this year; next year you plant cotton," said Duff Bevill, vineyard manager for Dry Creek Vineyard in Healdsburg, Calif.

Still, many in the industry don't think consumers have lost their taste for merlot, which is often softer and easier on the palate than other reds, especially when comparing younger wines.

Sales data show merlot is still popular with consumers, though sales growth has slowed.

There were 7.8 million cases of merlot sold in food stores in 2005, according to ACNielsen, a firm that tracks checkout scanner sales in about 3,000 supermarkets and large-volume retail outlets nationwide. That was almost the same as the 7.75 million cases sold in 2004. Overall, merlot's market share dipped slightly from 12.4 percent in 2004 to 11.7 percent in 2005.

Napa-based Wine Opinions, which regularly runs online surveys of wine drinkers, found last March that merlot was still popular with consumers but much less so with the trade — distributors, restaurant wine buyers and sales representatives.

"The bottom line is that the trade has kind of gotten off of merlot," said Wine Opinions owner John Gillespie.

Despite its reputation, merlot is anything but mundane. The grape is grown in the Bordeaux region of France, where it is often blended with cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc. One French merlot, Petrus, is one of the world's most prized, and pricey, red wines.

And, said Phelps, the '61 Cheval Blanc that Miles so treasures in "Sideways" is a blend of two red wine grapes — cabernet franc and, you guessed it, merlot.

Negative product placement isn't new. According to movie lore — although hard figures aren't so much available on this — Clark Gable hurt undershirt sales when he took off his shirt and was bare-chested beneath in 1934's "It Happened One Night."

Merlot has been winner and loser in the produce placement game. The "French Paradox" story on CBS' "60 Minutes," in 1991 on perceived health benefits of wine, is believed to have given a boost to merlot, then a rising star.

Phelps thinks merlot has been "a victim of its own success. It's so good, it's so universal that producers jumped in who probably shouldn't have." The result was "an ocean of merlot out there," some of it not so good.

He's hoping the market will balance out, yielding fewer but better wines.

In the meantime, merlot fanciers should be on the lookout for bargains.

"You're going to pick up some great values on merlot in the next couple of years," said Frey.

posted November 03, 2006 12:14 PM            

How do they do it? One trick is to learn which foods will fill you up without a lot of calories.

We study this in my lab at Penn State. In one type of study, we bring people into our laboratory, offer them various types of foods and see which ones fill them up the most. We conduct long-term trials to find out whether different types of dietary advice can actually help people lose weight and maintain that loss. We also analyze information from large surveys of what Americans eat.

Each of these different approaches has led us to the same conclusion: If most of your food choices pack lots of calories into each bite — we call these foods “calorie-dense” — you will overeat and get too many calories. Calorie-dense foods — for example, chips, cookies, pretzels and crackers — tend to be low in moisture and some also may be high in fat.

So how can you eat more and weigh less?

Choose soups, vegetables
Surprisingly, the component of foods that has the biggest impact on how much food you eat is water. Water adds weight and volume to foods without adding calories — it lowers the calorie density of foods. Water-rich foods include vegetables, fruits and soups. Our studies show that eating a diet low in calorie density helps people eat fewer calories while still eating a satisfying amount of food.

Several of our studies have looked at the best ways to include low-calorie-dense foods in a meal. We found, for example, that eating a 100-calorie bowl of broth-based soup or a green salad at the start of a meal takes the edge off your hunger. Even with the extra course of soup or salad, you are likely to eat fewer total calories during the meal.

Another effective approach is to add vegetables to your favorite mixed dishes — bulk up chili, stews and even macaroni and cheese with water-rich veggies like broccoli, carrots or tomatoes. Our studies show that you are likely to eat the same portion of food as usual and will be satisfied with fewer calories because some of the space in the bowl is taken up by low-calorie-dense vegetables. People tend to dish out the same portion, so why not make it lower in calories?

Eat for nutrition, as well as weight
A low-density meal is the ultimate value meal, one that gives you fewer calories and more nutrients in satisfying portions.

An analysis of what 7,356 U.S. adults reported eating, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition earlier this year, showed that those eating a diet low in calorie density — rich in vegetables, fruits and other high-water foods — ate fewer calories per day (425 less for men, 275 less for women). And by choosing these foods, they were able to eat bigger portions without breaking the calorie bank.

What's more, this type of eating pattern supplies more of important nutrients such as calcium, iron, potassium and vitamins A, C, B-6 and folate, as reported in the August issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Make small changes
We looked at the same survey data to help answer our question: What are normal-weight people eating? According to Dr. Jenny Ledikwe, a post-doctoral fellow at Penn State and lead author of the study, normal-weight people had diets lower in calorie density than those of their obese peers.

They are not depriving themselves; they eat a variety of foods from all food groups. She encourages people to “make small changes to their diet by incorporating additional fruits and vegetables to lower the calorie density. Lean meats, low-fat dairy products and whole grains are also good choices.”

To stay lean in this expanding world you don’t have to cut out whole categories of foods or eat tiny portions. These tips can help you choose a healthy balance of foods to lower the calorie density of your diet:

• Sneak vegetables and fruit into your diet throughout the day: top cereal with berries, snack on an apple or carrot sticks, tuck your favorite veggies into sandwiches or casseroles, increase the proportion of veggies on your plate.
• Cut the fat in foods without sacrificing taste by using a smaller amount of highly flavored vegetable oils, switching to lower fat milk and buying lean cuts of meat. Fat packs more than twice as many calories into an ounce of food as carbohydrates or protein.
• Keep your pantry well-stocked with a variety of your favorite low-calorie-dense foods so these are what you eat when you have the munchies.
• Focus on what you can eat, rather than what you can’t. Find a low-calorie-dense eating pattern that you enjoy so you will stick to it.
• Find ways to tweak your own diet using foods that you like and find appealing.

posted November 13, 2006 10:51 AM            

Sunday , November 12, 2006

By Catherine Donaldson-Evans

NEW YORK —

There's always been veritas in vino. Now there's vino in chocolate.

Spices such as chili pepper and cardamom have been showing up in chocolate for a while, and many chocolatiers have also been flavoring their concoctions with teas like Earl Grey.

This year, one of the up-and-coming trends is chocolate infused with wine. Among the confections spotted at the industry's annual Chocolate Show in New York City over the weekend were truffles and ganaches spiked with everything from Chardonnay to Shiraz.

Click here for a photo essay of this year's Chocolate Show.

J. Emanuel Chocolatier is one of the leaders of the wine-in-chocolate pack, with its Bacchus line of truffles flavored with Cabernet, Red Zinfandel, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec, among other varietals.

"I was trying to combine my love for wine and chocolate together," said company owner Tad Van Leer. "The profiles of wine are very similar to those of dark chocolate. It's healthy and it's fun."

Neuchatel Chocolates is also making a red wine dark chocolate truffle, said marketing manager Melanie Coldiron.

Other companies, like the Tokyo-based Mary's Chocolatier, have champagne- and kahlua-laced ganaches that look even more tantalizing thanks to edible silver glitter sprinkled on the outside.

But the cocktail chocs don't stop there. Some go so far as to replicate the flavors of mixed drinks, like the mojito chocolates by newcomer Cocoa Locoa. They're made with lime, mint and rum, just like the real thing.

Chocolatiers also keep pushing the limits of purity and darkness by raising the percentages of cacao to astonishingly high levels.

Cocoa Locoa has a dark ganache that's 99 percent cacao. And E. Guittard is coming out with "Nocturne," a chocolate bar that's 91 percent cacao.

"It's pretty punch-in-your-face," said Gary Guittard.

Tea-infused chocolate is still everywhere, with green tea confections the most prevalent. Mary's has a new green tea ganache, and Knipschildt Chocolatier's latest concoction is a chocolate flavored with a blend of Earl Grey and green tea.

Chocolate makers are continuing to experiment with spices, too. One of Mary's recent additions is a wasabi ganache, which has a Japanese-style kick.

Mary's spokeswoman Kaori Kobayashi said the company has latched on to the popularity of Japanese foods in the United States by incorporating some of the ingredients into its chocolates.

"We are always pursuing new flavors," Kobayashi said through an interpreter.

Other companies, like Cielo — which means "heaven" in Italian and promises chocolates that are made the way they are in Tuscany, with local ingredients — are injecting their sweets with everything from olive oil and salt to decanted balsamic vinegar.

So many people go gaga for chocolate that a new club for enthusiasts called Cocoa Ventures formed only in June and has already signed up 1,000 members, according to spokeswoman Ann Martini.

What's with the obsession with the sweet brown treat?

"It's just one of those guilty indulgences," Martini said. "Besides the fact that it's fabulous tasting, chocolate has become a lot more sophisticated. It happened with cheese and wine and now with chocolate. You can taste all different levels of flavor."

Self-professed chocoholic Christine Boozer, 35, of Scotch Plains, N.J., brought her husband Greg and 8- and 5-year-old sons Justin and Garrett with her to the show for the first time this year to support her addiction.

"I love chocolate!" Boozer said.

posted November 20, 2006 02:41 PM            

Cranberries are full of antioxidants, which protects cells from damage by unstable molecules called free radicals.

The National Institutes of Health is funding research on the cranberry’s effects on heart disease, yeast infections and other conditions, and other researchers are investigating its potential against cancer, stroke and viral infections.

So far, research has found:

Drinking cranberry juice can block urinary infections by binding to bacteria so they can’t adhere to cell walls. While women often drink unsweetened cranberry juice to treat an infection, there’s no hard evidence that works.
A compound Howell discovered in cranberries, proanthocyanidine, prevents plaque formation on teeth; mouthwashes containing it are being developed to prevent periodontal disease.
In some people, regular cranberry juice consumption for months can kill the H. pylori bacteria, which can cause stomach cancer and ulcers.

Preliminary research also shows: