According to Dr. Mehmet Oz, while red wine’s high antioxidant levels are good for your health, the acid in red wine can erode your teeth’s enamel. His recommendation to safely and naturally cleanse and protect your teeth – Wine Wipes!!

In yesterday’s “Healthy Habit Backlash” segment (www.doctoroz.com/videos/healthy-habit-backlash-pt-2), Dr. Oz explains that the acid in red wine irritates your teeth’s enamel and scrapes it off, exposing rough patches where pigment can get in and stain your teeth. In addition to staining, enamel breakdown can eventually lead to tooth erosion, cracks, severe sensitivity, and other problems.

Although many people brush their teeth right after drinking red wine to counteract this, Dr. Oz says this is actually the worstthing you can do – the acid has already eroded through the enamel, and then the toothbrush does it more! Instead, he advises red wine drinkers to opt for “super-easy to use” Wine Wipes, which are made with natural ingredients (salt, baking soda, calcium, hydrogen peroxide, etc), are not abrasive to teeth and can be used safely right after drinking red wine.

Check out www.winewipes.com for more information or to order Wine Wipes online!

My mother is hosting a huge Thanksgiving feast this year. The woman can cook Mexican food like no other, but put a turkey in front of her and she will char it black.  I’ve been hearing about this new puree in the food world called ‘Taste No. 5’ and tried to purchase a tube of it for today’s feast (just in case), but I am on a waiting list to get it on amazon.com (not yet available in US).  So what is this hip, new food product?? Taste No. 5 is like a natural MSG; a drug for our fifth sense of taste called Umami.

Umami was discovered 102 years ago by a Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda who identified it as a flavor present in foods high in glutamate. His work led him to crystallize monosodium glutamate (MSG), the controversial flavor enhancer which has since become famous all over the world.

Umami is found naturally in some of our favorite foods; parmesan cheese, canned anchovies, pickles, olives, mushrooms, wine, Tabasco and Worcester.

Taste No .5 bundles up all sorts of high Umami flavors into a paste that can be incorporated into any dish..  Its ingredient list seems harmless and tasty; Tomato purée, Garlic, Anchovy Paste (anchovies, salt, sunflower oil), Black Olive, Balsamic Vinegar, Porcini mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, Olive oil, Vinegar, Sugar, Salt.

I cant decide if having Taste no. 5 in your cupboard is cheating, or just an amazing new ingredient like Tutto Calabria (delicious and addicting sauce from Italy).. Have you tried Taste No. 5??

You can learn more about Umami at www.umamiinfo.com.

Happy Thanksgiving

Our monthly wine night was focused on Italy, the largest wine producing country in the world. We tasted through Alto Adige, Piedmont, Veneto, Tuscany, Umbria, Campania, and Sicily; exploring the country’s most interesting varietals with foods from each region to match.  The night was delicious, informative, and fun.

Some highlights:

Pinot Grigio: Usually only good for a few years after bottling.

Chick Pea Chestnut soup: A staple soup from Umbria, is delicious, hearty, and pairs amazingly well with Orvieto.

Aglianico: A grape varietal found in Campania that typically ages 10-15 years before its ready to drink.

Piedmont is a food and wine lovers mecca. Not only is it home to one of the worlds great varietals, Nebbiolo (Barolo and Barbaresco), but also claims Truffles and Nutella as part of the regions staple foods.

Today is Beaujolais Day, so what better wine to highlight this week, than an exceptional example of what Gamay can offer.

Gamay, VILLA PONCIAGO Fleurie – la Réserve, France 2009

This is not a Beaujolais Nouveau, it’s similar in style to a Pinot Noir, bigger more complex worthy style than most Gamay’s from Beaujolais.. and the 2009 Vintage of Beaujolais is considered the best of the Century!  This wine wants to be open hours before serving along with serving it at the correct temperature – slightly chilled.

Tasting it – in a few words…

Color:  Bright brilliant garnet and violet.

Aroma:  Notes of cherry and blueberry and violets.

Palate:  Fresh and aromatic. Big bold fruits and spice.

Aging:

Expressive fruit shows in the first 3 years and further aging (5 to 7 years) brings mellowness. Some fun info:

Winery Info:

Fleurie la Réserve is a selection of the finest parcels on Villa Ponciago’s slopes; Sous le Parc, with its very sandy mid-slope soils, contributes elegance and floral notes, Montgenas, with its deeper soils and southern exposure, gives structure and richness; La Brirette, with very thin soils on the southwest side of the Poncié hillock, offers mineral notes, finesse and very fine tannins, finally; Les Carcans, at the top of the Poncié hillock, receives the sun throughout the day and brings very deep, concentrated aromas.

What is Beaujolais Day:

Every year, about a week before Thanksgiving, the winemakers of Beaujolais are ready to release the newest vintage, and at the stroke of midnight, restaurants, festivals, and wine lovers across the globe celebrate the arrival of the new vintage. By law, the Beaujolais producers cannot start selling until midnight on the third Thursday of November.

Salute!

Some great buzz on Borracha products this month:

Pearly Wipes are a simple way to fight teeth stains and bad breath on the go!  New from Borracha, whose flagship product Wine Wipes is a cult favorite among red wine lovers, Pearly Wipes are perfect for anyone who’s ever been caught with severe coffee breath in a morning meeting, grimy teeth after a long flight or a stained smile from a longstanding love of wine.

The proprietary blend of stain-removing and teeth-protecting ingredients features calcium and glycerin to protect and coat teeth and promote stronger teeth, as well as salt to cleanse, baking soda to fight stains, a small amount of hydrogen peroxide to kill bacteria and mildly whiten teeth, and naturally antiseptic peppermint oil to fight germs and freshen breath. Pearly Wipes are packaged in a 20-wipe compact, complete with mirror, and retail for $6.95/each at www.ilovepearlywipes.com.

Everyday Health

http://www.everydayhealth.com/blogs/health-beauty-reviews/a-farewell-toast-to-redwine-teeth

Nourish Network
http://nourishnetwork.com/2010/11/03/find-your-wine-personality/

EDGE
http://www.edgenewyork.com/index.php?ch=style&sc=food_drink&sc3=&id=112772&pg=2

Day 2- LA.. My welcome to the city was standing in line at Whole Foods behind a beautiful, well enhanced wanna-be actress speaking to the cashier in a horrible fake british accent. I love Hollywood. The traffic and lack of parking was a bit overwhelming for my un-thought-out cold call schedule so I took a quick break from the streets to check into my hotel early; The Redbury on Hollywood and Vine. This place just opened in September and its amazing! Huge rooms, very hip and right in the heart of Hollywood. The hotel is owned by SBE, same group that operates SLS, Hyde Park, Michael Mina, and Cleo (which is downstairs from the hotel). Not only is my room enormous with a full sized kitchen, it comes with a real record player with records.

I pulled myself out of the room to hike Runyan Canyon, the only place in Hollywood free from traffic, before meeting up with Granada’s former resident Wine Nerd- Nikki at SLS and had a delicious dinner with her and Jeff at Eveleigh (theeveleigh.com). If you are anywhere near LA, this is a must visit. Everything was amazing, from the decor to the meal… don’t miss the french fries with truffle aioli.

Pearly Wipes have finally arrived and are ready to place in retail stores, so I decided to take a little sales road trip from SLO to LA introducing retailers to Pearly Wipes, Wine Wipes and Borracha’s Blend. My goal- to visit 50 locations in 4 days..

Day 1- Santa Barbara is a beautiful city right on the water, making it very enjoyable to drive around all day… apart from the amount of construction and one way streets making it difficult to locate some of my hit list without frustration.

My second call of the morning bought Pearly Wipes on the spot; Pacific Traveller’s Store on Anapamu, which was a miracle in itself because I completely botched my sales speech. By the end of the day, I saw 10 new businesses with some very good prospects for placement. I finished off Day 1 with a glass of White Burgundy at Wine Cask and sushi for dinner at Arigatos.

We have been waiting almost 2 months to get our hands on this amazing cheese from Carr Valley, one of America’s finest specialty cheese producers. We discovered this delicious variety at the now closed Cheese Shop in Santa Barbara. After a long day of tasting over 30 cheeses from all over the world, this was the unanimous winner.

Carr Valley is owned by Sid Cook, who is one of a small handful of certified Master Cheesemakers in the United States. It’s a distinction awarded only to veteran Wisconsin craftsmen who complete a rigorous 15-year advanced training and education program.

In the past three years alone, Carr Valley cheeses have won more than 60 top awards in U.S. and international competitions. Many of these have been won by Sid’s one-of-a-kind American Originals – artisan cheeses you won’t find made anywhere else in the world. These cheeses include Black Sheep Truffle, Cave Aged Marisa, and Smoked Ba Ba Blue, Baraboo Blue, Chevre au Lait, Cocoa Cardona, and Goat Cheddar, Bread Cheese, Jenny Eye Reserve, Sid’s Bahl Baby Swiss, Menage, Mobay, and Shepherd’s Blend.

Aged at least 2 years, this olive-oil-cured specialty is a real winner. It’s fruity, nutty, intense, sweet and pungent all at the same time. How good is it? Gran Canaria was judged Best of Show at the 2004 American Cheese Society Competition.

Our newest product, Pearly Wipes, is featured in this month’s issue of People Style Watch Magazine!!

Fight coffee stains, booze breath and other mouthy maladies with one swipe of a wipe.  Whether you’ve been caught with severe coffee breath in a morning meeting, grimy teeth after a long flight or a stained smile from a longstanding love of wine, a not-so-fresh mouth and less than perfect pearly whites aren’t anyone’s cup of tea.

Available in a convenient 20-wipe compact complete with mirror, Pearly Wipes fit into your pocket or purse and can be used after any offending beverage – coffee, tea, soda, fruit juice, red and white wine – as well as a minty treat after a meal when no toothbrush is in sight.  More info and to place an order, check out  www.borracha.us

Cheers!