Mountain Spirit Winery

Wine and Your Health

Have you heard the latest news about wine and your health?  The latest research is showing that people who drink moderately - no more than two glasses of wine (or beer) a day - are much less likely to suffer from heart disease than people who don't drink at all!  Can you believe it? 

When I first heard this on NPR several days ago, my ears perked up.  Could drinking a couple glasses of wine a day actually be healthier than not drinking at all?  This research said yes!

The report went further and stated that moderate drinking combined with regular exercise helped lower your risk of heart disease even more!  And those who exercised without any moderate drinking had lower risks, but not as low as those who simply drank moderately.

This, as in so many things, leads us to the crucial philosophy that should guide so many of our actions:

All in moderation!

Enjoy your wine!

Mike

That barrel is juuuuust right!

Last post I was speaking about why wine makers utilize wood barrels for aging their wines.  Not only does the wood impart a delicious flavor to the wine, the wood allows the perfect amount of oxygen to age the young wine so nicely.  Most wine barrels are oak and are about 60 gallons in size.  The question I asked was, "Why the 60 gallon size?"

Turns out that the 60 gallon barrel is, in the words of Goldilocks, just right!  Like I mentioned, it allows a specific amount of oxygen into the fermenting process, mellowing the harshness of young wines, but not letting the wine spoil.  It also imparts just the right amount of oak flavoring into the wine.  A smaller barrel would actually give too much oak flavor to the wine and a bigger barrel wouldn't give quite enough. 

Now you know all you need to know about oak barrels and wine production. 

Make sure you stop by our blog or website next week.  I've got a whopper of a deal coming your way.  And it's only for our internet savvy friends out there in cyberspace, reading this blog or checking out our website.  I'm not talking about a little discount or a free wine opener.  No, this is a biggie.  And it will only be available for the first 300 orders.  (This is the first time Terry and I have provided a deal of this magnitude in the entire time we've been producing wine!)

So, check back on Monday for a deal you won't want to miss! 

Until then, be well and love each other.

Mike

Why use barrels to age wine?

I've often been asked why we use wooden barrels to age some of our wines.  In fact, it's hard to imagine a winery without barrel upon barrel of wine sitting in a dark vault waiting to be bottled.  There's a very good reason why these barrels are so closely linked in our minds with wine and wine making.  Simply stated, the barrels, more than any other container, allow oxygen to very slowly penetrate the wine, refining and softening the flavors of what would otherwise be an immature and rough tasting wine.

This slow aging through the wood also allows a subtle flavor of oak to transfer into the wine.  Mountain Spirit Winery utilizes French and American oak.  A preference for this specific oak lends our wines just one aspect of their distinctive flavor! 

Did you realize that the optimum size of barrel is around 60 gallons?  Just to keep things interesting, I'll offer another of our limited edition Mountain Spirit Winery corkscrews to the individual who can tell us why these 60 gallon tanks are preferred when aging wine in the wood.

Take care everyone.  We hope to hear from you soon!

Mike and Terry

A stumper of a question...

I guess I must have stumped you with that last question.  Just to catch you up in case you missed the last post, I asked if anyone knew about how many acres of land was dedicated to the growing of grapes. 

The answer?

Right around 25 million acres, give or take a grape or two here and there.

That's a lot of vine waiting to be pressed!

It just adds to my motto:  So much wine to try, so little time...

Peace and love everyone!

Mike and Terry

A question to ponder...

Here's a stumper for all of you with countless neurons full of wine trivia:

Approximately how many acres of grapes are planted in the entire world?

The reader who guesses closest, as long as they are within half a million acres or so, will receive one of our special edition wine openers direct from the winery.

Now you've got something to discuss while you enjoy that white wine you've got chilling in the 'fridge!

Peace and love my friends!

Mike

Older is better?

Many people assume that the older a wine is, the better it tastes.  While it is true that some wines age very gracefully, the vast majority of the wines produced in the world were made to be consumed within three years of their harvest!  Here are a couple of guidelines when considering whether or not to age a wine:

• What kind of cork is present?  If it is a sparkling wine with a plastic cork, you probably should be enjoying that wine within a year of purchase.  The carbon dioxide that keeps the oxygen from turning a wine bad will slowly leak out around that plastic cork, making the wine undrinkable over time.
• What color is the wine?  Usually, red wines are the best at aging gracefully.
• How much did you spend for the wine?  Only premium wines have been designed to get better with age.

How do you know which wines are best suited for aging?  Ask your wine dealer or your winery manager.  They will be glad to help you choose wines suitable for aging or for immediate enjoyment!

I can still remember wiping the dust off the old bottles my dad had in his dingy cool wine cellar.  The mystic surrounding those old bottles is still with me today with my own collection of gracefully aging beauties.

If only I could age as gracefully...

Peace and love my friends!

Mike and Terry. 

Champagne Advice

A friend recently asked me about the proper way to open a bottle of champagne.  Contrary to what is seen on TV, I highly discourage popping the cork halfway across the room!  Not only can you hurt people with that flying cork, but you also lose a large amount of the delicious bubbles that make champagne so fun! 

Instead of going for the showy pop of the cork, wrap the cork with a towel and slowly ease it out of the bottle.  The less pop, the better.  Regular wine glasses really aren't appropriate for champagne- if you're in the position to choose.  Wide mouth glasses, even worse than wine glasses, let too many of the bubbles dissipate too soon.  The best champagne glasses are the thin tall glasses that allow one to watch the bubbles slowly float all the way up before popping. 

Just the other day we had a few guests over for a festive breakfast.  I'd been saving a bottle of champagne for just such an occasion.  Plopping bits of fruit and a splash of orange juice into our glasses, we all enjoyed a morning mimosa with our quiche and waffles.  What a way to start the day!

Peace and love everyone.