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News Index |
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| The view from Kenton Vineyard, Devon | |
Wine in the News
What the Chancellor has really done to wine
What you pay per bottle in duty excluding VAT @ 15% from 1 Dec 2008
(Figures are approximate due to rounding up)
Changes in Duty ex vat 2008 |
1 Jan 2008 |
1 Dec 2008 |
|---|---|---|
Wine (75cl) |
£1.33 |
£1.57 |
Sparkling Wine of 8.5% or more (75cl) |
£1.71 |
£2.02 |
figures from WSTA click to link to their page
Did you know sparkling wine has a higher duty rate than still wine.
Just to rub it in did you know you pay VAT on the duty as well as the wine.
For example on a £5 bottle of wine £2.22 goes to the chancellor leaving £2.78 to spend on the wine, bottle, labelling, packaging and transport costs.
Like to see this in pictures check out our wine eValuator here.
Red Wine May Lower Lung Cancer Risk
by Lynn Shapiro, Writer
An antioxidant in red wine called resveratrol may be protective against lung cancer, Chun Chao, Ph.D., a research scientist at Kaiser Permanente.
Chao looked at demographic and lifestyle data from 84,170 Kaiser members aged 45 to 69, who were enrolled in Kaiser's California Men's Study between 2000 and 2003. She identified 210 cases of lung cancer. Chao measured the effect of beer, red wine, white wine and liquor consumption on the risk of lung cancer. She found there was a 2 percent lower lung cancer risk associated with each glass of red wine consumed per month. There was no benefit noted for consumption of white wine, beer or liquor.
The most substantial risk reduction was among smokers who drank one to two glasses of red wine per day. Chao reported a 60 percent reduction in lung cancer risk in these men. She warned men who smoke to quit and told DOTmed that smoking increases the risk of lung cancer by 10 percent, while red wine's protective benefit is roughly half that. She also urged men not to become heavy drinkers, even of red wine, because heavy drinking often causes serious health problems.
Commenting on red wine's benefits, Chao says that basic research has shown that red wine has a very high component of resveratrol, which comes from grape skins.
Her study was published in the October issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Article from Dot Med news 14/10/08 See full article click here
Difference between Biodynamic
Key to biodynamics is considering the farm in its entirety as a living system. To this end, biodynamic farms are supposed to be closed, self-sustaining systems.
Biodynamics also sees the farm in the context of the wider pattern of lunar and cosmic rhythms. In this holistic view, the soil is seen not simply as a substrate for plant growth, but as an organism in its own right. The idea of using synthetic fertilizers or pesticides is thus an anathema to biodynamic practitioners. Instead, they use a series of special natural preparations to enhance the life of the soil, which are applied at appropriate times in keeping with the rhythms of nature.
Disease is seen not as a problem to be tackled head-on, but rather as a symptom of a deeper malaise within the farm ‘organism’: correct the problem in the system and the disease will right itself.
Biodynamics is in effect a supercharged system of organic farming. Where biodynamics differs significantly in practice from organics is in the use of special preparations and the timing of their application-in other ways the techniques employed are quite similar.
Extract from
Q. Once the wine bottle is opened, for how long can we drink the leftover wine?
A. If you put the cork back in the bottle and put the bottle into the fridge, the wine is still drinkable for one or two days, even red wine. However it is recommended to let the red wine cool down out of the fridge one hour before serving.
However if you use a vacuum sealer (readily available from supermarkets) to protect the wine from oxygen, it will still be good for one week or so.
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