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Spotted-wing drosophila threatens European vineyards

22/11/2011 Jozef Schildermans 0

Drosophila suzukii or Cherry vinegar fly, a type of fruit fly endemic to Japan and Asia, poses a serious threat to European wine and fruit growing, warns the European Plant Protection Organization (EPPO). The male of the Cherry vinegar fly has wings with distinctive black spots. The first flys were observed in 2009 in Trentino in Italy. The species has > Read more …

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Roman wine jars found off Albania

26/08/2011 Jozef Schildermans 0

A team of American and Albanian archeologists found a well preserved Roman ship wreck off the Albanian coast with 300, unfortunately empty wine jugs, reports Associated Press. The thirty meters long ship wreck dates from the first century BC. The ship transported wine from vineyards in southern Albania to European markets, perhaps in Gaul (France). Albania was part of ancient > Read more …

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Oldest wine-making facility discovered

12/01/2011 Jozef Schildermans 0

A team of archaeologists from Armenia, Ireland and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) found a six thousand years old wine-making facility in Armenia. The winery is dated 4100 BCE, and is one thousand years older than the oldest comparable discovery in the eighties in Egypt in the tomb of King Scorpion I (dated around 3150 BCE). The > Read more …

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Wine cheaper than water in New Zealand

18/10/2010 Jozef Schildermans 0

Researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand claim that wine in their country is cheaper than water. A standard glass of bulk wine costs in New Zealand often no more than 62 NZD-cents (34 eurocents), compared with 64 cents for a glass of bottled wine, 67 cents for a glass of water of 250 ml and 43 cents > Read more …

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Moderate drinkers live longer

14/09/2010 Jozef Schildermans 0

Abstaining is just as bad for your life expectancy as heavy drinking and moderate drinkers live longer, a new study shows. Scientists examined the association between alcohol consumption and all-cause mortality over 20 years among 1,824 older American adults aged between 55 and 65. Compared to moderate drinkers, abstainers showed a two times increased mortality risk. Heavy drinkers had 70% > Read more …

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Study: even moderate drinking increases breast-cancer risk

25/08/2010 Jozef Schildermans 0

According to a study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, even moderate alcohol consumption increases the risk of breast cancer. Women who drink 14 units of alcohol a week have a 24 percent greater risk of breast cancer than abstainers. Fourteen units of alcohol is regarded as moderate alcohol consumption, seven units is the recommended ‘safe level’. > Read more …

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Plastic disc preserves freshness of open wine

15/06/2010 Jozef Schildermans 1

The Australian inventor Barry Rees has invented a thin plastic disc that preserves the freshness of an opened bottle of wine for several days. You put the disc on top of the wine in an opened bottle with a special tool. The disc protects the wine from oxidation for up to five days, provided that the bottle is stored in > Read more …

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Study: Moderate drinkers healthier because of lifestyle

20/05/2010 Jozef Schildermans 0

Moderate drinkers are healthier than teetotalers, but alcohol has nothing to do with it. According to a French study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition moderate drinkers are more optimistic, less stressed and leaner than teetotalers. They studied 150,000 men and women. The researchers split the group into four categories: abstainers, moderate drinkers (less than 10 grams of > Read more …

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Suffering from allergies? Drink less wine!

07/05/2010 Jozef Schildermans 0

It’s the season of allergies. If you are currently sniveling and sneezing, trying to get through the day, it might be a good idea to abstain from wine and other alcoholic beverages, according to scientific research. The problem lies not so much with the alcohol, but with the amount of histamine in your favorite beverage. Histamine is the chemical that > Read more …