It's always the season for spicy vin chaud

AMONG the misguided traditions that can limit your enjoyment of wine, few are more absurd than the tradition of drinking mulled wine at Christmas markets only. Mulled wine is easy to make and personalise with your own secret ingredient to complement the usual cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg, vanilla and cloves. The Nordic version glögg contains vodka or aquavit. In Germany, glühwien (literally “glow wine”, from the hot irons used for mulling) is sometimes laced with rum. Keith Floyd was a fan. He laced his version with illegal poitin, aka “Irish moonshine”. Vin chaud is a mid-winter treat not to be reserved for Christmas markets only. 

Full article first published in The Connexion (February, 2013)

Make red wine part of a Happy New Year

OF ALL the well-intentioned New Year’s resolutions, pledging to reduce your red wine consumption may be one of the most misguided. Red wine naturally contains probiotics, micro-organisms that increase beneficial gut bacteria. Red wine also contains Resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant in red grape skins. Probiotics and resveratrol may be the keys to degestive health, weight control, improved mobility and endurance, reduced muscle and bone degeneration, mental health and longevity. Despite resveratrol's capacity to ward off dementia, though, elderly inhabitants on the red wine-loving Greek island of Ikaria appear to forget to die.

Full article first published in The Connexion (January, 2013)