Points and ratings, ratings and points…do you ever feel like the wine critics have us chasing our tails?  A recent paper from the American Association of Wine Economists titled “The Buyers Dilemma—Whose Rating Should A Wine Drinker Pay Attention To” compares ratings of the high profile critics to those in CellarTracker.  But rather than have you read the entire paper, here’s a link to Alder Yarrow’s summary and comments in his Vinography blog.  As you will see, he’s not entirely convinced that AAWE has cracked the code…

A natural substance found in red wine has been getting a lot of attention lately as studies suggest that it can boost heart health by lowering cholesterol levels and functioning as an antioxidant.  Resveratrol (doesn’t exactly roll of the tongue, does it) is a red-wine compound that “…has been linked to a lower risk of diabetes and heart disease and even to longer life in animal studies.”  Read about it in this don’t-worry-it’s-short article in TIME.  Alas, you’ll probably want to take resveratrol supplements, as you would need to drink 13 bottles of red wine a day to get the same benefit as from 150 mg supplement.  But if it’s really good for you…

OK, OK, we promised ourselves we wouldn’t do it, but Eric Asimov of the NYT recently wrote such an upbeat piece about Thanksgiving wines, we thought you would like to read about it.  Bottom line is that Thanksgiving is the one meal during the year where you can drink whatever you want, as there will probably be some dish on the table that it goes with.  So don’t sweat it, experiment!!

Some trivia from the Menuism website:  The wreck of the Titanic holds the oldest wine cellar in the world and despite the depth and wreckage, the bottles are still intact.  So for Christmas ask for a bathysphere…

“Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves.” — Dorothy Parker