Does your morning coffee cause you pain? Are you frustrated when
a night out dining with friends ends in discomfort instead of
relaxed conversation? Do you carry antacids with you every day?

Heartburn is more than just a nuisance. It can detract from
enjoying a meal, force you to change your routine and hang over
your every decision - what to eat, what to drink, when to lay
down.

What is this monkey on your back and how can you find relief?

WHAT CAUSES HEARTBURN?

Heartburn occurs when the acid content of the stomach makes its
way back into the esophagus. A burning sensation and even a
bitter taste are experienced by heartburn sufferers.

If you are suffering more than twice a week you may have acid
reflux disease - also known as GERD. Why is this important?

Not all heartburn is caused by GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux
disease). Occasional heartburn can be caused by a variety of
factors but if you have regular episodes there are things you can
do to help.

WHAT CAN I DO?

If you have regular heartburn the first thing you should do is
stay away from regular use of antacids. Antacids can relieve the
pain of occasional heartburn, but because they are designed to
neutralize the acids in your stomach they can cause the stomach
to create MORE acid - a cycle called ‘acid rebound’. Some
medications can also cause diarrhea or constipation or even
increase the risk of food poisoning by inhibiting the growth of
good bacteria.

Watch out for trigger foods such as caffeine, alcohol, citrus,
chocolate, minty, spicy or tomato-based foods as well as fatty or
fried foods, onions or garlic.

Being overweight or smoking also increases the risk of GERD and
lifestyle changes may help to control the symptoms.

Activities such as lying down after a meal, bending forward,
lifting heavy items or eating large meals can bring acid reflux
on. Avoiding these activities after a meal, eating smaller
portions and raising the head of your bed several inches may
help.

Some natural products such as orange peel extract are being
researched for their abilities to curb heartburn.

WHO IS AT RISK?

Anyone. But it should be noted that pregnant women, children,
overweight individuals and smokers are all likely candidates.

Young babies have immature digestive systems. National Digestive
Diseases (NDDIC) says that most children outgrow GERD by the time
they are one year old. However, because the symptoms are painful
precautions like frequent burping and keeping the infant upright
for 30 minutes after eating can reduce the occurrence.

Older children may have to take similar precautions in diet and
activity as adults. You should always consult your doctor when
you suspect GERD to avoid future complications.

Being overweight or pregnant increases the pressure in the
abdomen. 25% of pregnant women experience heartburn at some time
during their pregnancy.

If you suspect GERD it is important to contact your doctor as
there can be harmful side effects of persistent heartburn
including scaring of the esophagus, asthma, erosion of the teeth
and even increased risk of esophageal cancer. Frequent,
persistent heartburn can also be a symptom of other serious
conditions and should be checked on by a professional.

The information contained in this article is for educational purposes
only and is not intended to medically diagnose, treat or cure any
disease. Consult a health care practitioner before beginning any
health care program.

Emily Clark is editor at lifestyle-health-news.com Lifestyle Health News and

Fiber dense foods are widely available today and recommended by most health experts for a better and more desirable lifestyle. It is essential that you maintain a healthy lifestyle to enjoy your later years and evade any health problems that may be on the horizon in the future. Prevention is better than cure and fiber dense foods can certainly contribute to your active prevention plans. Too many people eat junk food and expect to burn it off. Even if you are adept at losing weight, a burger or chocolate bar will not help you to pass waste through your system. Indeed, they often make up a percentage of the waste that will clog your system in the first place.

The digestive system needs an injection of fiber dense foods in order to work properly. You should get a good dose every day because it helps to remove waste from the body via your system more quickly and effectively. Without fiber, you system would soon become blocked because it would not be able to eliminate waste. With fiber dense foods, the nutrients will be absorbed into the body but the excess products can be excreted properly.

Fiber Dense Food: What You Should Eat

There are many products that are considered to be i-highfiberdiet.com/ fiber dense foods, and they are not as uncommon as you think. Neither are they dull and boring, but they do taste great! You can identify fiber dense products in supermarkets by looking at the labelling that has to legally be placed on foods these days. You can compare the fiber value of different products as some foods have less fiber than others. More fiber dense foods are whole grain breads, bran cereals and fruits and vegetables. However, you would also have to look at fiber dense foods to make sure that they have lower calorie values because some of them actually have hidden calories to give a product more taste and this could lead to weight gain.

You can choose almost any fruit or vegetable to eat and find that it was a fiber dense food. All fruit and vegetables are completely natural products and so have no unnatural or harmful characteristics. Green vegetables especially are considered fiber dense foods. Having just one portion a day can really aid the mechanics of your system. Incorporating fiber dense foods into your diet will help you to avoid health problems later on in life. You should therefore investigate the options that are out there for you if you value your health and well being.

You can also find more information at i-highfiberdiet.com/High_Fiber_Food_List/ High Fiber Food List and i-highfiberdiet.com/High_Fiber_Low_Cholesterol_Diet/ High Fiber Low Cholesterol Diet. i-highfiberdiet.com is a comprehensive resource to know about Fiber Foods and Vegetable Diets.

White tea is increasing in popularity all over the world. It is made from immature growth buds and young leaves. The buds have a fine covering of white hair, giving the tea its name. These are steamed or fired to stop polyphenol oxidation and then dried. Chlorophyll formation is also stopped.

White tea is more expensive than other teas. The best tea is produced in Darjeeling in India; it is also grown in China and Japan. The different varieties have exotic names: white peony, golden moon, silver needle and white cloud. White tea can go up to US $25 for a 2-oz. tin.

High quality white tea is selected in the beginning of spring. There should be no rain or frost on the ground, but there should be plenty of early morning dew. The buds should be perfect and not purple in color. The buds are rejected even if they have begun to open, are hollow, too long or too thin. A single bud with only three to four leaves is also rejected.

White tea is best made in filtered water or light spring water. It should not be heated too much; the right temperature should be between 175 and 180 degrees Fahrenheit. The measure is 1.5 tablespoons of white tea per eight ounces of water in a cup or teapot. After the water gets hot, pour it over the tea and let it infuse for two minutes. Some people reuse tea leaves but the flavor just isn’t the same.

White tea is full of catechins, usually found in fresh tea leaves, which has been found to help in DNA repair. It has less caffeine than other types of tea, with more cancer-fighting antioxidants. A study has noted that white tea can help fight off viruses and dangerous infection-causing bacteria.

There are many people who are very specific about the white tea they drink, and ask for tea leaves of one special brand. Today, white tea is a connoisseur’s choice, enjoyed for its gentle aroma and delicate flavor.

Tea-Source.com Tea provides detailed information on Tea, Green Tea, Herbal Tea, White Tea and more. Tea is affiliated with i-GreenTea.com Benefits of Green Tea.

Alcohol that is common to the public in beverages is Ethyl Alcohol of the chemical structure CH3-CH2-OH, where C is the chemical symbol of carbon, H is that of hydrogen, and -OH is a Hydroxyl group. It is this hydroxyl group that largely dictates the physical and chemical properties of alcohol, so it is called its functional group.

Ethyl alcohol is the widely spread alcohol in daily life, as it is present in beverages, some pharmaceutical preparations and as industrial solvent. It is present in concentrations ranging from about 5% in Beer up to 99% in lab and industrial uses.

The most abundant form of alcohol is sugars. Sugars are present as Trioses, Tetroses, Pentoses, and Hexoses, all of them have more than 1Hydroxyl groups, so they are called poly-hydric alcohols.
Glucose is a hexose alcohol that is used for energy production and storage. When utilized to produce energy, glucose crosses the cell membrane into the cytoplasm where it is enzymically split into 2 molecules with the production of a little amount of energy in a process called glycolysis. This glycolysis process is very important for some tissues to perform their primary function, like when the skeletal muscles start working.

For extraction of all energy present in a molecule, it should enter the energy house of the cell, the mitochondria.The substrate for mitochondrial energy production is an acid, so alcohols( sugars) should be converted into acids. Together with acids liberated from fats and acids converted from amino acids, they all enter the mitochondria to be converted into water and energy.
Inside the mitochondria, these acids are not ( combusted ) as the body is not an internal combustion engine, yet they are processed through a complex enzymatic array to produce Carbon Dioxide, water and energy.

While poly-hydric alcohols ( sugars ) produce energy and water through the mitochondria, mono-hydric alcohol ( Ethyl alcohol ) decreases the capacity of the mitochondria to produce them, as it competes with the substrates for acids required by the mitochondria for cytoplasmic tools that produce these acids.

Instead of producing energy and water in the mitochondria, mono-hydric alcohol( Ethanol) produces:
- Acetate as an end product of Ethyl alcohol metabolism.
- Cholesterol.
- Lipids.
(Alcoholism leads to fat accumulation in the liver, hyper-lipidemia, and ultimately cirrhosis)
- Lact-acidemia ( increased lactic acid in the blood) which decreases the capacity of the kidney to excrete uric acid, and probably this is the cause of aggravation of Gout by drinking alcohol.

We can see that the safest metabolic pathway of alcohol is when the body converts it into water and energy. A prerequisite, is that we supply the body the proper form of alcohol.

Waheed Elqalatawy writes simple scientific articles on health topics for any one who wants to expand his reading horizons about health. Publish articles, but please do not change them and do not forget to
include this URL:
waheedelqalatawy.blogspot.com www.waheedelqalatawy.blogspot.com

Chocolate has long been a favorite confection for people of all ages and now this tasty treat is receiving recognition for being good for your heart health as well. Studies have found that dark chocolate contains antioxidants, which help promote a healthy heart by improving the blood flow. This lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

What is an Antioxidant?

Antioxidants remove free radicals from the blood stream. Free radicals are a natural product of blood cells. The world is also filled with environmental toxins that also contribute to their production. There has been research that has discovered that eating dark chocolate lowers the risk of heart attacks and high blood pressure by removing the free radicals and ensuring that the blood can flow more freely through the veins. It is important to note that it is only the dark type of chocolate that has these benefits. Tests run on white and milk chocolate did not show these positive benefits.

What Research Was Done on Chocolate?

A Swiss team of researchers ran tests on 20 volunteers who were smokers. They were given 40 grams of chocolate and were not allowed to eat any other food that was rich in antioxidants like certain vegetables. After 2 hours, there was a marked improvement noted in the volunteers who ate dark chocolate that was made up of 74% cocoa. The improvement noted was in the improved flow of blood through the veins. The research also showed that the chocolate significantly reduced the risk of blockages by half.

How Much Chocolate Should I Eat?

You should try to include a portion of dark chocolate everyday, but before you run out to the grocery store to fill the larder with dark chocolate treats, remember that it also contains a lot of sugar and fat, right along with those antioxidants. Before you add it to your regular diet, decide how much you can safely eat without expanding your waistline. Naturally the more active you are, the more you will burn calories.

This would be true of people who exercise regularly or have jobs that require a lot of physical activity. If you have a sedentary job where you sit at a desk all day, or do not follow a regular exercise plan, than you should lower the portion of chocolate that you eat. If you don’t follow an exercise plan, then consider starting one. Exercising three times a week for 30 minutes has also been shown to strengthen the heart. While you are improving your health with chocolate, you can get even greater benefits by including exercise to your regimen.

These new health benefits of dark chocolate will let you please both your heart and your palate.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as chocolatesforeveryoccasion.com Chocolate Gifts at chocolatesforeveryoccasion.com chocolatesforeveryoccasion.com

The white chocolate nut cookie recipe combines two of the most popular ingredients in modern cookie making; macadamia nuts and white chocolate!

Ingredients

1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

1.2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 squares (1 ounce each) white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts, toasted

Additional granulated sugar for rolling

Hardware

Whisk

Large bowl

Medium bowl

Cookies sheets

Mixer

Step 1: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt; set aside.

Step 2: In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, and sugars, with an electric mixer set on medium-high speed for 30 seconds.

Step 3: Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture.

Step 4: Stir in the white chocolate and nuts.

Step 5: Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Step 6: After 1 hour remove dough from refrigerator and preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Step 7: Roll dough into 1-inch balls.

Step 8: Dip each ball halfway in water, then in granulated sugar.

Step 9: Place each ball sugar side up 2 inches part on ungreased cookie sheets; flatten slightly.

Step 10: Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately transfer cookies to a cooling surface.

Makes 60 cookies.

For more information on baking procedures and hardware used in this recipe see our Baking Tips section.

Important: Feel free to republish this article on your website. However, you are not allowed to modify any part of its content and all links should be kept active.

For more great cutout and fancy cookie recipes visit kicked-up-cookie-recipes.com/cutout-and-fancy-cookie-recipes.html kicked-up-cookie-recipes.com/cutout-and-fancy-cookie-recipes.html

For some great tasting biscotti recipes visit kicked-up-cookie-recipes.com/biscotti-recipes.html kicked-up-cookie-recipes.com/biscotti-recipes.html

For cookie baking tips and a wide selection of recipes visit kicked-up-cookie-recipes.com/ kicked-up-cookie-recipes.com/

Cooking Secret No.1 – Buy Top Quality Ingredients

Leading chef’s only use the freshest and best tasting food they can find. Even the best chefs in the world would have difficulty making food taste good from inferior products. However, this does not mean everything has to be made from scratch.

When buying pre-prepared goods always go for quality and freshness. If cost is an issue try smaller portions. It is better for your waistline and your health to have small servings of good quality food rather than a large serving of an inferior product.

A helpful tip when using frozen or canned goods is to use them up as soon as possible. Don’t wait until they are near the end of their shelf life, as there is already deterioration in quality by then.

Cooking Secret No.2 – Keep it Simple

Some of the best tasting meals in the world are the simplest. I find that they have fewer ingredients but just compliment each other superbly.

Adding too many ingredients to a dish can create a canceling of flavors. Like when making pasta sauce, where the onion in the dish overrides the garlic flavor. I prefer not to add onion to my pasta sauces so the full flavor of the garlic can be brought out.

The opposite is the case when making French Onion Soup. For a fuller bodied onion flavor, don’t add garlic.

Cooking Secret No.3 – Use Complimentary Foods

A secret to cooking well lies in combining complimentary foods, where one ingredient actually enhances the flavor of the other. One of my favorite combinations is tomato and basil. Whether you’re making a pasta sauce or just putting tomato on a pizza nothing compliments it better than the herb basil.

Another great mix is oats, brown sugar and cinnamon. Whether I’ve used this complimentary combination for an apple crumble topping or just for hot oatmeal it creates an unbeatable flavor

You can come up with more of your own complimentary food groups simply by taking note of what foods taste great together!

Cooking Secret No.4 – Use only the Best Equipment

Good equipment makes your work in the kitchen a breeze. Ask any craftsman and he will tell you the value of good tools. Go for quality, ease of use and buy the best that you can afford. If there were only one thing I would recommend investing in, it would be to get a good knife set and keeping them sharp.

Good tools not only make your life easier in the kitchen but can also improve the final result, like in the case of my stainless steel cooking pots. Everything I cook in them comes out better than average simply because the cooking utensils are better than average.

Cooking Secret No.5 – Collect Good Recipes

Good recipes can come from many sources other than a cookbook or finding them online. Most of my favorite ones have actually come from family and friends. The benefit of obtaining recipes this way is that I have usually been able to taste them for myself beforehand. Live cooking demonstrations sometimes offer free samples so that you can test to see if the recipe suits your taste.

Televised cooking shows and magazines are another way to collect good recipes. I keep organized by putting any loose-leaf recipes I collect in a plastic leaflet file folder.

I’m glad to have been able to share my easy to follow secrets for creating cooking magic. Remember that being selective and keeping it simple are the two main ingredients to creating magic in the kitchen.

Happy Cooking!

If you would like to print out a free copy of Jeannette’s favorite recipes, go to cookingmagic.blogspot.com/ cookingmagic.blogspot.com/ Then click on “My Favorite Recipes” on the right hand side of the page.

The whole coffee phenomena in our culture is a self-sustaining cycle. Even for those who do not drink coffee, we probably are still apart of the coffee culture in some way. We are always surrounded by someone who is indeed a coffee drinker.

The coffee drinker will go out at various hours of the work day and offer to bring you something back. And of course the favor is returned- next time it’ll be your turn to offer to bring them something back (most likely it will be coffee). This is kind of like an unspoken rule in our society that allows this cycle to continue on forever and ever and ever.

Thank goodness for the coffee break right, otherwise we’d be left with only our lunch ours to have some time to ourselves. Lunch hours usually last for 30 minutes to an hour and that’s when the street are filled to the brim with bustling people and noisy cars that it isn’t possible to catch a breath and relax for a bit.

Naturally, people will experience crimps in their necks during the day and want to walk around and stretch about or simply see the sights outside the building. If you think about it, it’s really coffee that gives us all this sense of freedom (even if it’s brief stolen moments out of the day).

coffeesure.com/coffee-syrups/ Coffee syrups pertinent offerings and value-added services are accessible at the author’s website.

coffeesure.com coffeesure.com

One of the favourite cooking methods in Argentina is, without a doubt, grilling. This style of cooking is derived from the original Argentinian Gaucho tradition of cooking fresh meat over a charcoal fire, a tradition which continues even today.

To add flavour and tenderise the meat, Argentines often marinate meats in Chimichurri. Food without Chimichurri just wouldn’t be tolerated in Argentina especially grilled meat to which it adds an amazing flavour.

Why not try out this traditional recipe at your next barbecue event?

Argentine Chimichurri

1/3 packet of garlic salt
6 chilli peppers
2 sachets bouquet garni
1 large onion
½ tub of dried peppers
1 pint (500ml) of vinegar
2 pints (1 litre) oil

Boil all the ingredients, excluding oil, together in the vinegar for five minutes.
Wait until the mixture cools.
When the mixture has cooled, add the oil.
Store in refrigerator.

When you’re ready to barbecue or grill, marinade meat in chimichurri overnight. Barbecue, grill or cook in the oven. Enjoy!

Many thanks to friends who gave me this recipe whilst we were living in the Falkland Islands, where this recipe is regularly used by locals.

For further tips and ideas for cooking great and traditional food from around the world, visit worldwide-recipes.com/argentinian-recipes.html Argentinian Recipes

This article was submitted by Jen Carter, owner of the worldwide-recipes.com Worldwide Recipes website.

Why buy wine?

In Australia, wine has become the new beverage of choice for people in all walks of life. Moreover, Australia has developed an enviable reputation amongst wine drinkers and appreciators the world over. Myshopping.com.au can help you make the right selection of wine for any occasion and to suit any taste. Listed on our website, you will find some of the most celebrated labels and award winning wines and you can make a selection based on reviews, price and supplier, regardless of why you want to purchase wine.

There are essentially three reasons that we can think of why you might want to buy wine: to drink in some social occasion, to give as a gift, or as an investment with a realisable future.

Buying wine to drink

Winemaker Greg Gallagher at the Charles Sturt University, South Australia, says judging a good wine is simple. “It starts with asking, ‘do you like it?’ ” he says, “and finishes with ‘did you like it?’” When you have a list of favourite wines, all you need to do is find them on Myshopping.com.au, and you will find out where it’s sold for the best price.

But, because it’s not always easy remembering the name, style and vintage of the wine you enjoy, it’s a good idea to keep a record of wines you drink that you really like (and those that you’d prefer to avoid), for future reference.

When you’re buying wine to drink, there are a number of considerations you might like to bear in mind, the first being: what is the occasion? It stands to reason that a wine for an intimate dinner with a partner might be a different choice than one for a footy night with the boys. Sharing a wine with someone is a lot more than simply sharing the drink. It’s also sharing your taste, your values and your standards, so it pays to think carefully about the occasion and the company with whom you are sharing the wine.

A second consideration might be, what is accompanying the wine? Wine is often enjoyed with a meal, but you might like to consider also how the occasion (or meal) will develop. Matching the perfect wine with the perfect food and mood is an exhilarating experience, and is often at the heart of great memories.

You may also want to consider the ambience of the occasion. A wine for enjoying at an evening symphony concert will have a different character to that enjoyed at a beach picnic.

Buying wine as a gift

Wine makes an excellent gift for many reasons. It’s an easy purchase; you can buy a wine to suit practically any budget. And it is a demonstration of your taste and standards, subtly imparted to someone whom you may care for.

However, as well as meeting your taste standards, you also need to choose a wine that will meet the tastes of the receiver. It pays to find out what sort of wine that person enjoys, and buy within that person’s style or region preferences. A person who enjoys sweet white wines will appreciate a gift that matches that personality.

Buying wine as an investment

Some wines make a good investment because they are rare and have an established reputation causing them to appreciate in value. Possibly the most famous of these in Australia is Penfolds’ Grange Hermitage, a Shiraz style Claret that has been made since 1951 (a bottle of that vintage now might set you back $50,000 or more if you can find one). Although young in terms of wine heritage, Australia has some notable wines that do and will appreciate in value.

A good investment wine is not necessarily a guarantee of a high quality drinking wine. The investment values are arrived at by reputation. A particular vintage may have enjoyed popularity for any number of reasons and become scarce because only a limited number of bottles were produced. What results is a collectors market and wine changes hands through auctions, private sales, estate dissolutions and wine club memberships.

What makes a good investment wine however, is the fact that you are able to sell the wine at some future date for a sum greater than what you paid. Therefore the condition of the wine-or more importantly, the bottle-is of paramount consideration. The provenance of an investment wine is important. Before buying, you need to establish its history of origin and previous ownership. Satisfied that the bottle is in good condition, once in your possession it needs to be cellared correctly in the absence of heat, light and movement. You should document your ownership and the conditions of its cellaring before selling it to a new buyer.

What makes good wine?

The winemaking process

The quality of a wine is affected by a wide variety of factors that occur in and as a result of the winemaking, cellaring and handling processes. One of the key factors is the terrain and climate, commonly referred to as a ‘region’, where the grapes are grown. Different conditions affect different varieties differently. A Shiraz style from McLaren Vale in South Australia, for example, is a heavier and darker wine than the same style from the Swan Valley in Western Australia, which tends to be lighter and more peppery. A Chardonnay from the Hunter Valley is more full-bodied than one from Margaret River.

While knowing which vines are best suited to a soil type and climate is one aspect, another is knowing when to pick the fruit for particular effect. The fruit’s flavour at the time of picking is a major character of the residual flavours of the wine. After initial fermentation, some winemakers choose to ferment in oak, others not to. Using oak affects the reduction of tannins in the wine. Different types of oak-English, American, old-affect the flavour and character of the wine as it matures to its nominal alcohol level. It is in the barrel that a lot of transformations in flavours and character occur, and a great deal of skill is required to know exactly when to bottle the wine.

Different winemakers have different techniques and, while a good wine can’t be made from bad grapes, it is largely the winemaker’s skill that produces a good wine.

Taste

One of the ways we can tell the quality of wine as judged by its taste, is whether it has had successes in any of a number of wine shows held around the country. Experts from the wine industry judge wines on their quality and medal winners enjoy the benefits of being recognised and written about in the main media.

While not every medal winner is a wine that suits our taste, it is as a direct result of the shows and competitions that Australian wines have grown in popularity and quality. At Myshopping.com.au you can compare many award winning wines.

What’s your taste?

Regions and style

When you are shopping for wine, one of the first questions to answer is whether you are choosing a red wine or a white wine. Once you have decided this, you can then start to narrow down the different styles. Begin with the question of whether you are seeking a dry wine or a sweet wine.

Styles of wine are named after the region from which the grape originated. In the popular dark reds you have the Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot styles that tend to be drier wines. Lighter reds feature Beaujolais, Pinot Noir and Rose styles and these tend toward sweeter wines.

Popular white wines include the Chablis, Riesling, Semillon, Chenin, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay styles in dry wines, with Traminer Riesling, Moselle and late picked Verdelho in the sweeter styles. Aperitifs include sweet and dry sherry and Marsala. Dessert wines include Sauternes, Muscats and Ports.

Many wines are now presented as blended wines, a way to offer wider variety in taste and a way to use up less popular grapes and thereby minimise waste in the industry.

Australia has more than a dozen identified wine growing regions that produce distinctive wines of the main styles. The Barossa Valley in South Australia is possibly the most famous region with the richest heritage, and features many labels from subregions such as Claire Valley, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek and the Adelaide Hills. These regions produce some of the most spectacular Riesling wines, and Shiraz styles in the country. East of this region, near the border with Victoria lies the Coonawarra district (also known as Riverland), famous for its Cabernet Sauvignon. In Victoria lie the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsular districts. The Goulbourn Valley lies on the border with New South Wales. The Hunter Valley in New South Wales produces some of Australia’s finest wines, while in the West, Margaret River, t4he Swan Valley and the Plantagenet districts all produce fine wines.

Trends

Recent economic conditions and consecutive years of oversupply have changed much of Australia’s wine market. There are many small boutique wineries whose products can be bought direct from the cellar door. Many of these wines are featured on Myshopping.com.au by style and region.

The wine industry is encouraging the buying of wines and cellaring them (storing them in a cool place) for a period of time and enjoying them at a later time. To cellar your wine, store it somewhere cool, dark, airy, and free from vibration and dampness. Temperature stability is the most important factor in preserving wine in the cellar. Storing wine in an environment where the temperature varies gradually with the seasons is better than in a room that varies with the day and night.

For long-term storage, the ideal cellar temperature is 18 degrees Celsius and a relative humidity of 60-75%. Warmer conditions accelerate the development of wines, which could mean a reduction in the pleasure of drinking them.

The second phenomenon to occur through oversupply is the introduction of cleanskins, a method of selling wine without a brand label. This is presented as being ‘money saving’ because of a reduction in marketing expense, however the real cost saving per bottle is around 3-5 cents (the cost of printing and applying a label).

Cleanskins enable a wine producer to present a lower cost bottle, but this is mostly achieved by not having to identify the origins of the grape, or the varietal blends that make up the wine. And while it is true that some cleanskins are eminently drinkable wines, evidence suggests that they are generally of a far poorer quality than branded label products. It is suggested that you taste the wine before purchasing any cleanskins.

Wine is a high fashion product, and wine trends emerge on a regular basis. The best way to follow these trends is to shop using Myshopping.com.au — comparing prices and suppliers, and following medal winning labels.

See All Wine

Andrew Gates for myshopping.com.au Australian comparison online shopping service MyShopping.com.au.
myshopping.com.au MyShopping.com.au helps you compare the different value offers from different brands in terms of specifications and accessories. You can also compare prices from hundreds of different brands and vendors.