I’m jumping right into health news, with an important recall update.  Click here if you own a painted ceramic wine goblet.

On much happier wine-related health news, this article explains that red wine may help prevent fat.  Good to know as I down my fatty cheese with my red wine!  And a University of Illinois study reports that drinking a glass of wine might even make you smarter (at solving brain teasers!).

Two articles jumped out at me that fall in the ‘wine 101′ category.  If you’ve ever wondered what causes the ‘legs’ in wine, then click here for an explanation.  The second article is from the Gloucester Times, whose author gives out some advice for when you are at a wine tasting party and trying multiple wine from the same glass.

Finally a few more things that just go in the ‘cool stuff’ category.  This red wine chicken & mushroom recipe sounds delicious!  While this is an awesome idea for storing your wine glasses when not in use.  And finally, this packaging just looks so cool – great idea.  Unfortunately it isn’t available outside of California, but if anyone visits out there, keep your eyes peeled!

Hope you enjoyed this week’s WWWW.  Cheers!

This was so yummy and fruity!  All the fruit cut down on the sweetness of the wine too, so that was nice for me since I don’t like super sweet wine.  But if you are the opposite, then just add a bit of sugar to the blender to bring the sweetness back up.  Also, this was pretty thick, so you might want to add more wine or water to thin it down a bit.  We just used spoons to eat ours though and enjoyed it just as much.

I promised that I’d share a creamy tropical drink this weekend, and wouldn’t you know we are back to springtime temperatures now!  Oh well.  Save this one for when it heats back up into the 90′s again.  So here is a picture of the second wine smoothie I made:

This was delicious too.  I used Courtois in this recipe since the fruit juices are so sweet, but feel free to use Harvest Mist, Whittenburg or Sweet River White if you like those better.  I’d stay away from the Dry Creek for this recipe though as I don’t think the oak flavors in that wine would pair well with all the tropical fruits in this smoothie.  Hope you enjoy these at some point this spring or summer!

Courtois Wine Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup apricot juice
• 1/3 cup pineapple juice
• 1 cup Courtois
• 1 frozen banana, cut into medium size chunks
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1-2 handfuls of ice

I tried a new recipe this past weekend that I really wanted to share with you all.  We were expecting friends to come in around dinner time, but no idea exactly when they would arrive.  Plus, I worked by myself most of the day, which meant I wouldn’t have time or energy to cook once everyone showed up.

So I pulled out the crock pot that morning, and adapted this recipe to what I had on hand.  I loved how fast this came together and the hearty flavors that resulted.  Plus, this recipe earned approval from Clyde, which means a lot to me since he is such a good cook!  Hope you enjoy it too….

Ingredients:

• 2 large skinless, boneless turkey breasts (around 2 pounds), diced
• 6 medium carrots, peeled and sliced about 1/4 inch thick
• 1 Tbl ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1 13.5oz can coconut milk
• 3/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup Meramec

I added a cup of rice about an hour before I served the turkey.  The rice definitely had a bit of crunch left to it, which I didn’t mind but might not be to some folk’s taste.  In the future I think I’ll either add the rice in earlier, not add so much rice, or most likely, I’ll cook the rice in a separate pot and just serve the turkey over the rice.

I’ll start with the wine education articles I found.  This article answers five frequently asked wine questions from CNN’s website.  I took issue with the answer to question #2, but that’s the viticulturist in me who understands how to grow a vine.  Otherwise, I thought it was a pretty good article.

I’m often asked how long a wine should age before it’s ready to serve.  Usually I say, ‘why wait’?  But if you would like a deeper answer to this question, check out this article from the Huffington post.

This blog post was a humorous look at what NOT to do with wine.  Told from first-hand experience.

On the health news front, a study out of Belgium indicates that wine may help ease the symptoms of MS for some people.

Are you a fan of starbucks coffee?  And wine and beer?  Good news!   It looks like several starbucks stores will be offering wine & beer on a trial basis soon.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a recipe for mulled wine.  It’s a little more complicated than my version, but it sounds delicious.  And if you read the article about 6 things not to do with wine, then just ignore the second thing and go ahead and warm up a glass wine.  After all, it’s the holidays and you have enough rules to worry about right now!

Cheers!

Ingredients:

• 1 can (14.5 oz.) fire roasted diced tomatoes with garlic
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) basil garlic and oregano spice diced tomatoes (I used Hunts brand for both cans)
• 1 jar (approx. 28 oz) marinara sauce (I used Bertolli’s tomato and basil sauce)
• 3 large handfuls fresh spinach
• 1/4 cup Forche Renault
• 4 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 cup rice

1. Place the spinach in the bottom of a large crock pot.  Add in the diced tomatoes, sauce, Forche and chicken breasts.  Lightly stir to combine.
2. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.  At least one hour before serving, add the rice.

That’s it!  Easy peasy.  Feel free to play around with the spices or the meat in this dish.  We served sides of salad, rolls, garlic bread, and my neighbor’s delicious homemade peanut brittle for dessert.

Then we watched the movie Buck (wonderful!).  I think this soup would also be a great one to put on before you spend the day decorating the house.  By the time you finish, it would be ready and you could just sit back and enjoy the tree. If you make this dish, be sure to leave a comment on how you liked it.

Here’s a blast-from-the-past recipe that you can put in a crock pot before you head out so you can enjoy your own treat when you get home!

Mulled Wine

Ingredients:

• 1 bottle Forché Renault or Yadkin Creek (omit the brown sugar if you use Yadkin Creek)

• 1 stick of cinnamon

• 1 bay leaf

• 3 cloves

• 1 cup brown sugar (optional)

Directions:

Pour wine into a crock pot or a large saucepan.  Add cinnamon stick, cloves, and the bay leaf.  Stir in the brown sugar (feel free to add more or less sugar depending on your personal preferences).  Cover and turn the crock pot on low, or set the saucepan over low heat on your stove and heat through.  Serve warm in a mug or in a wine glass – either way it’s delicious.  Double or triple this recipe for parties.

Additional Option: I know folks that also add a slice or two of orange to the mixture while it’s heating.  I don’t normally do this because I’m lazy, but you might be a bit more motivated than me!  And just before serving, give the batch a little taste test to see if it needs a little more sugar added in.

Do you own an iphone?  If so, check out this great missouri wine app!

And for those who like to read up on the basics of serving wine, check out this article about whether decanting wine is worth it.  Or check out this article about the importance of chilling your red wine.

And for those of you interested in the health benefits of wine, here is an article about resveratrol and breast cancer cell reduction.

Recycling and up-cycling are all the rage, and this week brought two articles on that theme.  Here are 5 up-cycled wine gifts, and if you are simply giving a bottle of wine, then here is a great way to wrap that bottle – you could easily use up old paper grocery bags with the instructions.

Finally, onto my favorite: food!  This article helps demystify wine-and-food pairing rules.   If you just want to dig in and cook up something, try this roasted fig recipe – it sounds delicious.  I’m available to help judge the results, if needed!

Hope you enjoyed this week’s wine web wanderings.  Come back on Friday when I’ll introduce you to the musician we’ll be hosting here on Saturday afternoon.  Cheers!

More specifically, several articles tempered the idea of wine being healthy.  This article from ABC speaks to antioxidents in wine and this article from CBS rethinking the role of resveratrol in wine as it relates to heart health.

And then there was the Phoenix Diocese’s decision to stop offering wine during communion services.

Yep, things were not looking good for wine this past week.  Fortunately, one talented artist has figured out a good use for wine: wine stain portraits.  Amazing work!  It really lifted my spirits, so to speak.  :)

And finally, I found these four recipes for ‘Boxed Wine Cupcakes’.  Really, who can stay depressed when presented with a cupcake, especially when they are so adorably packaged?

I am going to try making the Rose Cupcakes using our Grapes of Raft soon, except I’m hoping to not use a boxed cake mix.  I’ll report back after I give it a go.

In the meantime – cheers to cupcakes & wine!

First up is an article about the Missouri Wine Passports.  If you haven’t discoverd this program yet, then be sure to check it out – you can earn over $200 in prizes just by having fun and visiting wineries in Missouri.

Click here for 5 easy steps to becoming a wine connoisseur on a low budget.

And if you are wondering about some of those wine gadgets on the market, check out this blog post for a few reviews of several good items to purchase along with your wine.

And for the not-so-essential gadgets, this post has a fun variety of wine-related gifts specifically aimed at men.  You’ll find things like this manly cork remover:

The next link is more of  a professional-interest article from Decanter.com.  It caught my eye this week that the synthetic cork company we use, Nomacorc, has reported a strong increase in sales in the last 10 years.  (I’ll understand if most of you don’t find the article as interesting as I did!)

Here’s another way to cook with red wine that sounds oh-so-delectable: red wine chocolate cake.  Please invite me over if you make this cake…I’ll bring the wine to pair with it!  :D

Finally, a little eye candy for you art lovers out there.  I thought last week’s heart sculpture was pretty fun, but cork artist Scott Gundersun just blew me away with his amazing cork portraits.  WOW and Cheers!

This past week was filled with lots of wine chatter on the web.  I’ll start with a link I’m adding under the ‘what will they come up with next?’ category: a car powered by wine and cheese.  Well, sorta powered by wine and cheese.  Read all about it here.

Wine received quite a shake up this past week.  Figuratively and literally.  Literally, here’s an in-store-camera video of a wine store in Washington during the earthquake that shook up the east coast on August 23.  Figuratively speaking, the internet wine celeb, Gary Vaynerchuk announced that he is retiring from his starring role on his daily internet show Wine Library TV.  You can read about Gary V’s announcement here.

In health news, many of you have probably already heard that red wine might be a great thing for your heart.  But have you wondered why?  This article attempts to get to the heart of the matter.  :)

Having a hobby is good for you too, so if you’re crafty, check out this cork heart sculpture and get your hot glue on!

And friends are good for you, so why not invite them over for a wine & cheese party?  Make your own Wine Glass Collars for the party so everyone can keep track of their glasses and make notes at the same time.

Have you ever wondered how to choose the right wine glass?  This article is for you.  Although, personally, any drinking vessel works for me if I want at the wine!

I noted a couple of site here and here that showed off some pretty awesome wine racks.  You might ooo and aaah over the gold leaf rack, but I’m wanting this one:

 Doesn’t it look like something out of Alice in Wonderland?

While we are on the home front, here’s another site with wine barrel decor ideas.

Finally, I wanted to leave you with something sweet from my wine web wanderings this week.  For you cooks out there, check out this recipe for a Berry wine ice cream sauce.  It looks delicious!

Happy Surfing and Cheers!