The indispensable tool for the Massachusetts adult beverage trade.
By

Harvey Finkel

Prtecting Us from Cancer

First, let us revisit what is known of increased cancer risk associated with drinking. Alcohol (and its first breakdown product, acetaldehyde) is the only component of wine that may be inculpated, then almost exclusively when chronically abused. Spirits and beer appear to be associated with more risk than wine. It...
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Red Wine Delivering

Recent research has demonstrated that some of the polyphenols of wine appear to extend life span by mechanisms new to us. Maybe Ponce de Leon should have sought the fountain of youth in the vineyards of his native Spain instead of sloshing through the swamps of Florida. Be aware that,...
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Alcohol Content…Why So High?

Let’s examine whether an increase from the 12 or 13 percent, to which we have been accustomed in table wine, to 16 or 17 percent is likely to influence either the adverse or beneficial effects of wine upon health. To ask a question whose answer seems obvious, what has changed...
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Western Wineries (MA, that is.)

The four wineries range from northerly, near the border of Vermont, to westerly, near New York State, to southerly enough to approach Connecticut. They share the terrain and climate of the Berkshire Hills, too severe for home-grown vinifera grapes, but, as we’ll see, they make laudable potables from fruit other...
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Sun Stroked

Recent tastings have caused me to reflect upon the unique 2OO3 growing season in Europe, for many of the wines of that torrid vintage are in bottle and now available for assessment. The Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico has just passed through Boston, providing an array of attractive wines to taste:...
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Way Beyond Concord

Gone are the days when traditional kosher wine choice was limited to sweet Concords grown in New York State. Now we have available a wide array of wines of all varieties and styles. Beginning about 25 years ago, there has been a veritable revolution in the wine scene in Israel,...
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Bonterra’s Bonvino

NICHOLEBIRDSALL, assistant winemaker at Bonterra Vineyards of Mendocino County in California, was part of the massive annual pilgrimage to the this year’s Boston Wine Expo, affording an opportunity to taste and discuss the wines she helps conceive and produce. Lovely wines and reasonably priced, they are worth sharing by means...
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Sweet Smell of Shiraz

Bill Hardy, scion of the eponymic family of the Hardy Wine Company, visited Massachusetts recently, bearing samples of Hardy’s way with Shiraz, the Australian term for Syrah. We’ll get into those specifics after consideration of the genre. Syrah is the great black grape of the northern Rhone, most notably Cote...
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Wines of Washington State

First we must disentangle the state in the upper left corner of the country from the often unreal city on the bank of the Potomac. (There are 47 different Washingtons listed in the index to my atlas.) Next we must understand that, climatically, there are two Washington States. The more...
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Concannon’s Comeback

When wines from California began to attract attention and gain a following in large east-coast markets 35 years ago, Concannon Vineyard was deemed worthy of respect. Tucked in the Livermore Valley, to the east of San Francisco Bay, alongside of Wente Brothers, it offered an alternative source to the better...
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