Drinking in a new year

I can understand why these days why people getting problem with their health. That is because people are buying or rather drinking based on their impulse & the genuise of advertisement.

My recommendations is for your great health, one should drink 100% Juice, Herbs Tea, Filtered Water, before bed drink a glass of
red wine.

Drinking in a new year
Syrah, screw caps and emphasis on quality among 2005 predictions
Bill Daley, Tribune food and wine reporter
January 5, 2005

Ask Chicago wine professionals to give their forecast for 2005 and you'll get their informed opinions, personal prejudices and lucky guesses. Here's what they think will be happening in the coming year:

The next hot wine

Syrah has caught the eye of a number of Chicago-area wine pros.

Bill Hoyne, wine consultant at DiCarlo's Armanetti in Willowbrook, expects syrah from California's Central Coast to take on more prominence while the thirst will continue for Australian shiraz.

Ask Sterling Pratt, wine director of Schaefer's in Skokie, about syrah and he offers a tip recently picked up from a supplier: Argentina could be the next big source.

"Growers in Argentina arbitrarily picked malbec to hang their hats on. They picked the wrong one, they should have picked syrah," he said. "If Argentina has got the climate for it, I'll be excited to see what will come out of it."

Virtual wines

A worldwide glut of grapes has meant more than good wine at even better (cheap) prices. The glut has allowed would-be winemakers to get along without their "own" juice. All they need is their own labels, said Rodney Alex, owner of Taste. Expect more "virtual" wineries coming to market, he added.

Jason Given, manager of Randolph Wine Cellars, said this trend will translate into more good wines at bargain prices, often with a catchy logo or slogan to hook customers.

Quality counts

Younger consumers are stepping up when it comes to wine, said Barbara Insel, managing director of research for MKF Group, a wine-industry consulting firm based in St. Helena, Calif. These so-called "Millennials" really like their wine.

Chicago wine sellers agree.

"Instead of two bottles of Yellow Tail, they're buying one bottle of a nicer syrah," Alex said.

Over at Que Syrah Fine Wines, Shebnem Ince said her customers also are buying more expensive wines.

"People aren't buying the $12 stuff," she said. "I sold out of two cases of Caymus at $70 a pop."

Put a cork in it -- not

Alex expects screw caps will continue to shed their declasse image and appear on more and more bottles in place of corks.

Terrific terroirs

Pratt of Schaefer's expects terroir, or microclimates, and appellations to grow increasingly more important in the California wine world. He also said Spain will enjoy an "explosion of interest."

Kafka believes South America, particularly Argentina, will become the new Australia in terms of good, affordable wines.

Italy, both north and south, continues to excite interest, according to Ince. Look for southern Italian wines from Puglia or Sicily, she said, and northern Italian wines from Friuli-Venezia Giulia or Alto Adige.

Women power

"I'm seeing less of the stuffy male collector ... the older guy who is really snooty about it," said Ince of her wine-shop customers. "I'm seeing a lot more women making the wine purchasing decisions for their families."

What that means, she said, is the female customers will actually accept help.

"They're much more open," Ince said. "It's just like directions. A man won't ask for directions but women aren't stupid. They just come in and ask and get helped right away."

Experimenting

"It's just a fun time," Given said. "The wine industry is at a stage where it's a . . . buyer's market. There are a lot of great opportunities."

Size matters

Wines are increasingly being bottled in sizes other than the standard 750-milliliter.

Expect to see more "quartinos" or 250-milliliter bottles (basically one-third of a regular bottle) on shelves and restaurant wine lists, and "mezzeliters," 500-milliliter bottles (two-thirds of a bottle).

Ince thinks bottles bigger than 750-milliliter also will find their niche, especially at large dinner parties. The bigger the bottle, the slower the aging process in general; that can be important when looking to appreciate older vintages.

Of course, the biggest question of 2005 is too early to call now or even 12 months from now: Will the 2005 vintage be prune juice or some divine elixir? You just know the wineries and their publicists will be hopeful, but it's up to you, the consumer, to decide. Read More....

Chicago Tribune: Drinking in a new year