posted December 09, 2006 11:04 PM            

Steps
Pour 1/4 to 1/3 cups of sugar into a 500ml bottle.
Pour one tablespoon of breast milk into the bottle.
Put about a small pinch of yeast (about 1/16 teaspoon) into the bottle.
Fill the bottle with water and shake it until the ingredients have dissolved.
Screw the cap on tightly.
Leave the bottle to sit and the yeast to ferment for 24 to 48 hours (until it feels hard when squeezed).
Open and enjoy!

Tips
You may vary the amounts of sugar or vanilla extract to change the taste.
If you want to use a one liter bottle instead, just double the measurements of all the ingredients, if two liters then quadruple the ingredients, etc.
The cream soda will take on the taste of yeast. You may try to stop this by adding more vanilla flavoring, or using less yeast, but be careful! Yeast is essential to carbonation, so you don't use too little!

Warnings
If you don't wait for the yeast to ferment, there will be no carbonation.
If you wait too long (especially during the summer), the bottle may explode. This can be prevented by simply keeping the bottle cold.
Don't use artificial sweeteners, sugar is needed for the fermentation and thus the carbonation.

posted December 11, 2006 09:17 AM            

(Budget Travel Online) -- Believe it or not, the humble baguette was headed for extinction not long ago. In the 1960s, boulangeries scrapped old-style methods in favor of industrialized baking, and the bread lost its flavor.

But the French came to their senses by 1998. It's now against the law for a boulangerie to make bread by machine (it must be mixed and baked on-site) and good loaves are once again on the rise. In Paris, there's even a Grand Prix de la Baguette to name the best of the year. (Budget Travel's Paris Snap Guide)

At most boulangeries, the least expensive baguette (often referred to as "ordinaire" and costing less than a euro) will not reflect the full talents of the baker. Spring for a baguette "traditionelle" or any of the house's other special loaves. Here are five places to get the very best.

A block west of the Jardins du Luxembourg, Bread & Roses is well-known for its celeb clientele. (Among the frequent customers are actress Catherine Deneuve and designer Inès de la Fressange.) But the nearly two-year-old organic boulangerie is also making a name for itself with its Puissance Dix baguette ($2). Literally translated, the name means "the power of 10," a reference to the 10 flours -- including chestnut, buckwheat, corn and rye --incorporated into the dough. 7 rue de Fleurus, 6th arr., 011-33/1-42-22-06-06. Métro: Notre-Dame-des-Champs.

In the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, Le Quartier du Pain turns out eight different kinds of baguettes -- some flavored with olives, herbs or bacon -- six days a week (closed Sundays). In 1997, master baker Frédéric Lalos ---just 26 at the time -- was named one of the best bakers in France. Before Lalos mixes sunflower, flax and sesame seeds into the dough for his Baguette Céréale ($2), he toasts them, to bring out maximum flavor. 74 rue Saint-Charles, 15th arr., 011-33/1-45-78-87-23. Métro: Charles-Michels.

At Le Moulin de la Vierge, a boulangerie housed in a mill built in 1356, Basile Kamir bakes his baguettes in an antique wood-burning oven out back. In 1975, when he bought the place, Kamir introduced his clients to sourdough, a leavening agent now used in an organic wheat baguette called the Flute Bio ($1.75). It's the perfect foil for the artisanal fig, raspberry and clementine jams from Burgundy ($6.25) that are also sold on the premises. 105 rue Vercingétorix, 14th arr., 011-33/1-45-43-09-84. Métro: Pernety.

Anis Bouabsa took over Au Duc de la Chapelle in 2005, and at 27, he's already placed in the Grand Prix de la Baguette. One taste of his Baguette Tzara ($1.25) is an indication why. He doesn't use a levain (sourdough starter), so there's a sweet rather than sour taste, and his dough is kneaded entirely by hand. The result: bread that's light, airy and moist, with a crust that tastes faintly of caramel. 32-34 rue Tristan Tzara, 18th arr., 011-33/1-40-38-18-98. Métro: Marx Dormoy.

The whole-wheat La Monge baguette ($1.25) is the most popular loaf at Eric Kayser, a chain of boulangeries with eight locations in Paris, including the original on rue Monge. The baguette takes 12 hours to produce and uses a secret blend of flours. The La Monge can be found on some of Paris's top tables, including upscale bistro Dominique Bouchet. 8 rue Monge, 5th arr., 011-33/1-44-07-01-42. Métro: Maubert-Mutualité.

posted December 12, 2006 04:18 PM            

According to the data, drinking a moderate amount of alcohol — up to four drinks per day in men and two drinks per day in women — reduces the risk of death from any cause by roughly 18 percent, the team reports in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

However, “things radically change” when consumption goes beyond these levels, study leader Dr. Augusto Di Castelnuovo, from Catholic University of Campobasso, said in a statement.

Men who have more than four drinks per day and women who have more than two drinks per day not only lose the protection that alcohol affords, but they increase their risk of death, the data indicate.

The reason why men are protected at up to four drinks per day, while women lose the protection after two glasses has to do with how men and women metabolize alcohol, researchers say. It’s been shown that when men and women who drink the same amount of alcohol, women experience higher blood alcohol levels than men.

Therefore, women who consume more than two glasses of alcohol per day may be at increased risk for diseases of the liver and certain types of cancer.

“Our findings, while confirming the hazards of excess drinking, indicate potential windows of alcohol intake that may confer a net beneficial effect of moderate drinking, at least in terms of survival,” the Italian team concludes.

“Heavy drinkers should be urged to cut their consumption, but people who already regularly consume low to moderate amounts of alcohol should be encouraged to continue,” they add.

The manner in which alcohol is consumed also appears to be important, the researchers report. “Little amounts, preferably during meals, this appears to be the right way (to drink alcohol),” said Dr. Giovanni de Gaetano of Catholic University, another author on the study. “This is another feature of the Mediterranean diet, where alcohol, wine above all, is the ideal partner of a dinner or lunch, but that’s all: the rest of the day must be absolutely alcohol-free.”

“The message carried by scientific studies like ours is simple,” Dr. de Gaetano continued. “Alcohol can be a respectful guest on our table, but it is good just when it goes with a healthy lifestyle, where moderation leads us toward a consumption inspired by quality not by quantity.”

posted December 29, 2006 08:27 AM            

Wine retailers have a rosy view of champagne ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations -- with pink champagne sales popping this year.

Rose champagne seems to have overcome the image problems faced by some pink wines, boosting global champagne sales this year, said Darrin Siegfried, a wine instructor and former president of the Sommelier Society of America.

"The prejudice is that if it's pink, it's for girls," said Siegfried. "If the wine is pink, they think it's sweet."

Siegfried, who also operates a New York wine store, estimates about seven percent of his champagne sales are rose, in line with a growth trend since 2000, while rose historically accounts for about three percent of the champagne market.

"Rose is the fastest growing champagne segment," said Charles Curtis, director of wine and spirit for Moet Hennessey USA, part of luxury goods giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton .

Observing this surge in demand in rose, LVMH's Veuve Clicquot launched a non-vintage rose champagne under its popular Yellow Label earlier this year.

In the first six months of 2006, about 833,271 bottles of rose champagne were shipped to the United States, the world's No. 2 importer of champagne, surpassing the amount during the same span in 2005.

This compared to the full year 2005 when 1.3 million bottles of rose champagne were imported to the United States, according to the Office of Champagne USA.

Top-end champagne brands such as Cristal, and LVMH's Dom Perignon and Krug can easily command $400 to $500 a bottle for their aged or vintage roses.

But enjoying a touch of "pink" at midnight this New Year's Eve is within anyone's reach.

In Siegfried's wine store, flavorful, non-vintage roses range from $30 to $45 a bottle which is allowing more Americans to discover the versatility of rose champagnes.

In addition to drinking them before and after a meal, they can be paired with food, said Sebastien Verrier, head sommelier at the landmark Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida.

"Rose champagnes are more intense in flavor. They have more red wine characteristics," said Verrier.

Depending on the style, rose champagnes can accompany most chicken and seafood dishes, while vintage ones can even go with filet mignon, Verrier said.

Regardless how they are consumed, rose champagne's appeal is undeniable, said Siegfried.

"If you have the color and the bubbles together, it is very festive," he said.

posted January 09, 2007 09:14 AM            

Does milk lower blood pressure? Does juice prevent heart disease? Beverage studies were four to eight times more likely to reach sweet conclusions about health effects when industry was footing the bill, a new report contends.

Its authors claim to have done the first systematic analysis of such studies published from 1999 through 2003 in hundreds of journals around the world.

"We found evidence that's strongly suggestive of bias," said Dr. David Ludwig, an obesity specialist at Children's Hospital Boston who led the work, which was published Monday in the online science journal PLoS Medicine. The consumer advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest also participated.

Biased science can affect consumer behavior, doctor recommendations and even federal regulation of marketing claims for such products, Ludwig said.

"I don't blame researchers for this problem. I think most are highly ethical and dedicated to science. The problem is that when government underfunds nutrition research, industry money becomes hard to resist," he said.

However, beverage industry folks say the authors have a slant, too.

"This is yet another attack on industry by activists who demonstrate their own biases in their review by looking only at the funding source and not judging the research on its merits," says a statement by Susan Neely, president of the American Beverage Association. "The science is what matters — nothing else."

Public health experts who promote dietary guidelines are biased toward their own advice, said Greg Miller, a nutrition biochemist who heads research for the National Dairy Council. The council requires its funded researchers to publish results in journals that require review by outside scientists and to disclose who pays for their work.

"Everybody brings a point of view to the table, and in the long run, that's probably a good thing," Miller said.

But the authors say this point of view appears to influence results.

They used Medline, a compendium of scientific literature, to identify 538 studies about soda, milk or juice involving people, not animals. They targeted 206 that made a health claim directly related to the drink being studied — for example, bone fractures related to calcium and milk intake, or immune system benefits from antioxidants in juice.

Of the 206 studies, only 111 gave information on funding: 22 percent were fully funded by industry and 32 percent got some industry money.

One group of reviewers analyzed study conclusions and classified them as favorable, neutral or unfavorable to the beverage in question. Another independent group of reviewers determined whether a study would help, harm or have no effect on the finances of the study sponsor.

For example, a negative finding about soda would harm a soda sponsor but could help a dairy producer.

Overall, studies funded entirely by industry were four to eight times more likely to be favorable to their sponsors.

None of the experiments fully funded by industry that tested beverages with a control group found fault with the drinks.

The authors' work was paid for by a grant from the Charles H. Hood Foundation, which finances research on children's issues at Ludwig's hospital. Co-author Dr. Lenard Lesser also had funding from a fellowship at the Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

posted January 28, 2007 03:39 PM            

"It's quite young. So, not France. There's no Australian option here. Maybe we can choose New Zealand, it's close," Yao said, laughing during a blind wine-tasting quiz at Beijing's Capital Club.

In the end, Yao and her friends guessed that it was an American wine. They also got the vintage right, scoring five points for the team and more credibility for increasingly educated Chinese wine consumers.

Yao's interest in imported wine began five years ago. Now, critic Robert Parker's wine scores roll off her tongue as she compares the best of Napa Valley with wine from Australia's Barossa Valley. Over New Year's she spent more than $2,100 on 14 bottles of French Bordeaux.

It wasn't always this way. In fact, many Chinese consumers still treat wine as a ceremonial prop for toasting, sometimes downing an entire glass as if it were a popular Chinese grain alcohol known as baijiu. Selection of wine by the glass is still very limited in most Chinese restaurants. And wine is expensive, compared with beer and other alcohol.

But these days, the cost is part of the charm.

"More and more Chinese drink wines, because it's fashionable and a kind of social status," said Zhou Ning, market strategy manager of a Beijing-based real estate company whose ads often feature young couples drinking wine or beautiful women lounging with a glass of wine. "We include wine in our ads because we want to tell potential customers that people living in our apartments are elegant and cultivated, and they pay attention to quality of life."

Luxury good boom
This country has a growing urban middle class; experts estimate that roughly 500,000 Chinese earn as much as $64,000 a year, though exact figures are hard to come by. Meanwhile, the tastes of the newly affluent in Beijing and Shanghai have driven sales of a wide variety of luxury items.

Citing data from China's customs bureau, the Shanghai Daily newspaper recently reported that wine imports surged by 91 percent in the first nine months of 2006. According to industry experts at a conference in Beijing this month, consumption of wine rose 13 percent between 2004 and 2005, to about 564 million bottles.

The surge in imports is largely the result of an increase in bulk wine being sent from Australia, Chile and elsewhere in 6,000-gallon bags. That wine is then combined with local ingredients and sold as Chinese bottled wine, often with names such as Dynasty or Great Wall, experts said.

"It's all part of the luxury goods thing that's going on, why the men are buying Zegna suits and the ladies are buying Louis Vuitton bags. They've been traveling the world," said Don St. Pierre Sr., co-founder and chairman of ASC Fine Wines, the largest wine importer and distributor in China. "It's really starting with the new emerging middle class, and moving up to the richest people."

As wine becomes the latest fashion accessory, MBA students are learning about wine appreciation, executives are asking how to build private wine cellars and tastings have graduated from paper cups to glasses, attracting sell-out crowds.

Chinese restaurants such as the high-end Tian Di Yi Jia, just off Tiananmen Square, offer wines that are "full flavored, rich in oak" and often sipped in private VIP rooms. Owner Robert Cho can recommend what goes best with marinated fresh abalone, hairy crab leg or yam with preserved plums.

When a secretary called from Shanghai earlier this month to make a reservation for her boss, an executive in the financial industry, Cho suggested the Chateau Chambeau Lussac St. Emilion, or, alternatively, the Chateau Gruaud-Larose Sarget de Gruaud-Larose St. Julien, which at $126 is the cheapest bottle on the menu. The most expensive is a Pomerol, a 1994 Petrus that sells for $2,154 a bottle.

"Half our Chinese guests don't know much about wine," Cho said. "They know Chateau Lafite, Chateau Margaux, but they don't know California or Australian wines. People know Lafite as a benchmark, like Rolls-Royce or Dior. . . . They buy wines like they buy watches and cars."

The other half are familiar with imported wines, Cho said, because "they study abroad, have a good position and know that wine is part of Western food culture."

'Part of the show'
Most bottled wine in China sells for less than $5 a bottle, a category that grew by about 19 percent between 2001 and 2005, according to recent figures from the organizers of the French-based wine trade show Vinexpo. Wine priced at more than $5 a bottle grew by 86 percent over the same period, while bottles that sold for more than $10 grew by 110 percent.

The role wine plays in enhancing people's status has made it a tool in the endless dinners that are an essential part of doing business in China.

"Face is important in China. Wine is part of the show," said Alex Remy, manager of the Beijing office for Sopexa, which promotes French food and agricultural products worldwide. "Lots of people buy wine for the status, not only what it brings to a person but also to the person you give it to."

In 2002, when Zhao Fan, a wine critic, first started hosting private tastings for friends and acquaintances, only seven people showed up. Now they're so popular that he has to limit attendance.

"Four years ago, people were from different walks of life, like electronic equipment companies, French insurance companies or media, and they all knew about wines. They earned about 7,000 to 8,000 yuan [$897 to $1,026] a month, which was quite a large amount at that time," said Zhao, who also teaches a popular wine appreciation course at China Agricultural University in Beijing.

"Now, more people come to tasting parties, but not all of them know that much about wine. Some just hold the bowl of the wine glass instead of the stem. They are from state-owned enterprises or they are university teachers or students."

While there are exceptions, many of China's hundreds of new wineries are not yet producing wine at a standard recognized in the West, according to Stephen Reiss, an Aspen-based wine educator who a decade ago was a member of the first U.S. wine delegation to China since 1949.

Since then, Chinese wine has become more expensive, but still has a long way to go. "The packaging and presentation elevates the price point, which further alienates the wine from its peers. It is not good at $5, so it is really not good at $20," Reiss said.

"On the political side, there is very little incentive to create quality over quantity. On the social side, criticism is hard to deliver, and harder to take, it seems," said Reiss, who is paid to critique Chinese wines. After delivering one report, he recalled, the Western liaison he was working with said: "I don't know how I will be able to use this. Could you rewrite it so it is not so critical?"

posted January 30, 2007 09:16 AM            

The United States is set to overtake France in the next five years as the world's largest wine market, according to an annual study published on Tuesday.

The study, commissioned by the organizers of the VinExpo trade fair in Bordeaux in June, forecast global wine consumption in that time would grow five percent but the market value would increase nine percent to $117 billion from $107 billion in 2005.

"The world is drinking more and better, more expensive wines," VinExpo Secretary General Robert Beynat told a news conference.

The study predicted U.S. still wine consumption would rise to 27.3 million hectoliters in 2010 from 23.0 million in 2005, exceeding French consumption, which is set to fall to 24.9 million hl from 27.4 million hl.

In value terms, the U.S. still wine market is set to be worth $22.8 billion by 2010, up from $19.2 billion in 2005, with fastest growth rates expected for bottles costing more than $5 each -- a trend also expected in other industrialized countries.

Italy would remain the second largest market in terms of volume with consumption in 2010 of around 27.2 million hl, the study by London-based consultants International Wine and Spirit Record found.

In total, the global market for still wines with an alcohol content of less than 15 percent by volume was seen growing to 224.8 million hl in 2010 from 211.9 million hl in 2005.

For the first time in the survey's 10 year history, Russia and China appeared in the top-10 markets in terms of consumption, and were forecast to continue growing strongly in the next five years.

The study also looked at trends in the spirits industry, forecasting the global spirits market would be worth $180.7 billion in 2010 compared with $170 billion in 2005.

posted March 06, 2007 08:29 AM            

TheWall Street Journal reports that the art-fraud unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation also is involved in the probe and has conducted interviews.

The paper reports that if the auction houses, collectors or importers knowingly sold counterfeit wines even when they had doubts about their authenticity, those sales could be prosecuted under federal fraud statutes.

Officials at the auction houses told the paper they go to great lengths to ensure the authenticity of the bottles they sell.

"We piece together the history of each bottle of wine, its provenance, ownership and appearance," Richard Brierley, wine auctioneer at Christie's, told the Journal.

The rise in prices has increased the incentive of some to try to sell counterfeit wines, he said.

"In the past, it was only the most rare vintages. But with more wines falling into the $1,000-plus category, there is more opportunity in counterfeiting," he told the paper.

The paper reports whether auction houses and merchants can be held liable for counterfeits provided to them by others could be a big issue in any prosecution arising from the federal probe.

William Koch, president of closely held Oxbow Corp., has also brought civil suits alleging that a German wine merchant, Hardy Rodenstock, forged bottles of wine he claimed had belonged to Thomas Jefferson. The paper reports that Rodenstock denied the claims and deflected responsibility to the merchants who sold them directly to Koch.

posted March 06, 2007 05:22 PM            

Ernest Gallo, the marketing genius who parlayed $5,900 and a wine recipe from a public library into the world's largest winemaking empire, died Tuesday at his home in Modesto. He was 97. "He passed away peacefully this afternoon surrounded by his family," said Susan Hensley, vice president of public relations for E.&J. Gallo Winery.

Gallo, who would have been 98 on March 18, was born near Modesto, a then-sleepy San Joaquin Valley town about 80 miles east of San Francisco. He and his late brother and business partner, Julio, grew up working in the vineyard owned by their immigrant father who came to America from Italy's famed winemaking region of Piedmont.

They founded the E.&J. Gallo Winery in 1933, at the end of Prohibition, when they were still mourning the murder-suicide deaths of their parents. Ernest and Julio rented a ramshackle building, and everybody in the family pitched in to make ordinary wine for 50 cents a gallon — half the going price. The Gallos made $30,000 in the first year.

It grew to become the world's largest wine company by volume, a title since taken by Constellation Brands of New York. But Gallo remains second, selling an estimated 75 million cases under more than 40 labels.

"My brother Julio and I worked to improve the quality of wines from California and to put fine wine on American dinner tables at a price people could afford," Mr. Gallo told The Modesto Bee on his 90th birthday. "We also worked to improve the reputation of California wines here and overseas."

Ernest directed sales, devised marketing strategies and kept a short leash on distribution. Julio, who died in 1993, made the wine.

Gallo was no less tough on the people who worked for him as on those he battled for business. He also demanded total loyalty from his employees. In 1986, when he learned that two longtime Gallo executives were secretly planning to buy a winery of their own, he fired them on the spot.

Gallo was a courtly man who affected Old World manners. But in business he was tenacious, shrewd, aggressive, and secretive. He and others of the Gallo clan shunned publicity like a plague. The reason for the secretiveness, many of their former associates said, was the way his parents had died.

Fresno County records say their father, Joseph, shot their mother, Susie, to death in June 1933, then killed himself. That was two months before the founding of the Gallo winery.

posted May 24, 2007 11:12 AM            

Leslie Rudd is an entrepreneur and philanthropist with a real heart for the Napa Valley. Already a proprietor of Dean & DeLuca, Rudd Winery, Edge Hill Estate, PRESS restaurant, and Distillery 209, he recently adopted the historic Oakville Grocery in an effort to restore the beloved destination for wine country visitors.

Born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, Rudd officially began his career following his student years at Wichita State University. Unofficially, he began it at the age of eight when his parents started what is now the Standard Beverage Corporation (SBC). Spending his spare time at the company, Rudd learned about entrepreneurship when other children were riding bikes. He eventually became owner and CEO of SBC, molding the business into the largest wine and spirits wholesaler in the state of Kansas.

In 1996, Rudd’s passion for the business of fine wine and food led him to purchase the legendary New York epicurean grocery, Dean & Deluca. His keen entrepreneurial spirit soon saw the company expanding beyond SoHo and Georgetown to California (St. Helena in Napa Valley), North Carolina (Charlotte), Kansas (Kansas City), and internationally to Japan and Taiwan.

Rudd recently purchased the historic Oakville Grocery. When asked what prompted him to step in at the last moment to save the iconic brand from bankruptcy, Leslie Rudd had this to say: “I love the history surrounding this beloved Napa Valley brand. I want to see the 1881 building refurbished and the brand thriving once again. I want Oakville Grocery to continue to be the ultimate destination for wine country picnics as well as the source for local, artisanal products. My intention is to maintain Oakville Grocery as a separate brand and to recreate as much as possible the historic feel and experience that has made it a ‘must stop’ for visitors to the Napa Valley.”

One of Rudd’s long held dreams was to create a small wine estate which would produce wines of a quality challenging the very best that Europe had to offer. Rudd says one important reason he moved to Napa Valley was that he liked the hometown feel of the place. “In some ways, it’s a lot like Kansas – small towns and farms,” he says. The first wines from the Rudd Winery were released to critical praise in 2000.

Rudd’s vineyard properties in Napa Valley have expanded to include the Edge Hill Estate, a historic St. Helena-based winery founded in 1867, as well as vineyard property on Mt. Veeder. The rebirth of Edge Hill started in 2000 and the inaugural estate wine was released in October 2005.

The Edge Hill property is also home to the original Registered Distillery No. 209, licensed in 1882. On discovering that current agricultural laws would not permit a distillery to operate in Napa County, Rudd re-launched the brand by creating Distillery No. 209 at San Francisco’s Pier 50. The distillery now produces a critically lauded gin under the name 209.

Another Rudd interest is the restaurant PRESS in St. Helena. Designed by the well-known architect Howard Backen, PRESS offers an experience which goes beyond the fresh grills and roasts and the wines of Napa Valley which appear on the menu.

Rudd employs the same visionary and entrepreneurial spirit in his philanthropic efforts. Striving towards his long held goal to change the way food and wine are viewed in America, Rudd established and funded the Rudd Foundation in 1998, and subsequently, the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, whose mission is to fund research and education in the fight against obesity and weight discrimination. Since its launch in the fall of 2005, Rudd Center at Yale has received widespread recognition for its leading edge research and expertise in this field.

Rudd was the primary benefactor of the new wine studies facility at the Culinary Institute of America’s west coast campus in St. Helena opened in 2003. Housed in a now renovated historic building, the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies explores the dynamics of wine and food and offers two nationally recognized certification programs and a comprehensive portfolio of wine studies classes.

History is important to Leslie Rudd. He stays close to his Wichita roots and his parents’ legacy. But Rudd is making history as well, creating and supporting new businesses and institutions whose vision and quality will ensure them a long and distinguished history of their own.

posted July 07, 2007 02:53 PM            

According to a new study, a cocktail of compounds found in both red and white wine fights germs that can cause dental plaque as well as sore throats.

“Exposure to wine had a persistent antibacterial effect,” the authors wrote in their study, detailed in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Prior to their research, the authors said the effects of wine against germs found in the mouth hadn’t been studied.

Red wines have stronger bacteria-fighting effects than white wine, although not by much. Curiously, the acidity and alcohol isn’t responsible for wine’s germ-fighting properties—instead, it’s a collection of organic (carbon-containing) compounds found in the drink.

After isolating the compounds from wine, which included lactic, malic, succinic and tartaric acids, the researchers neutralized their acidity. They then showed that the isolated antibacterial compounds were more successful than wine alone at killing 99.9 percent of the dental and sore throat bacteria, even when used in far lower concentrations than found in wine.

Because the mixture worked better outside of the wine, the researchers think that something in the beverage dampens its powerful germ-fighting abilities—comparable to antiseptic mouthwashes found in stores.

But don’t run out and gargle wine before brushing just yet, as the acids in wine can actually soften the hard but thin coat of protective tooth enamel.