As another week comes to a silent close, I wanted to touch on the links that I found of interest.

Want to Prevent Alzheimers?
It appears as if Cabernet Sauvignon in mice can actually prevent Alzheimer. Given in moderation, it can help to prevent the brain from losing one essential skill, forgetting! But given in large doses, it caused mice to give sleazy one-liners and engage in Bacchanalia like parties as they wandered down maze tunnels. The odd little twist being that while Alzheimer did not set in, they still had difficulties remembering their debaucheries evening the night before.

Tasting enmasse! Yes it’s official, Spain now holds the record for the largest tasting! Last week 5,095 people gathered in the Aranda del Duero bullfighting ring in a grand tasting affair. How do we know that exactly 5,095 people actually attended the event? I have absolutely no idea considering that you just grabbed a glass as you walked in the door, but regardless of the “official counting means” it is a fantastic form of marketing for the region as a whole. Now, if I had my druthers, I think that a great Guiness World Record would be to fill a large swimming pool of wine, bring about 5,000 straws and finally, a gun to signal when the slurping should begin! But hey, that’s just me.

I’m confident that some of the geekier among you have already heard the story, but it appears as if they are now using sunscreen to protect the grapes. By spraying a combination of organic elements including aloe vera, they hope to protect the grapes from dangerous levels of heat from the sun. But doesn’t this news sound a bit strange considering that in many cultures; the sun is prayed to so as to help ripen the grapes? Is this the step towards seeing retractable roof vineyards? To what extent are we willing to manipulate the way in which our vineyards ripen to avoid bad vintages? Are we willing to create completely artificial condition? Why not hydroponic vineyards? What’s the terroir of a 100wt bulb? How far are we honestly willing to take this our lab experiments?

Guess who has accepted the honory sommelier title by the Italian Sommelier Association of Rome? Pope Benedict XVI! Although the Pope has not admitted preferring one label over another, he is wise to the ‘…great cultural and symbolic value that wine has served throughout Christian history.’