Tempranillo is the premium red wine grape variety from the Rioja region in Spain. It is now challenging Sangiovese as the up and coming star of the red varietal wine scene in Australia.

New plantings throughout Australian wine regions over t ...

The first stage in the wine making process is to crush the grapes. In days gone by the grapes would be loaded into a large vat and the wine maker(s) would gently tread on them to break the grapes' skins to release the juice.

Nowadays this pr ...

Merlots have soared in popularity in the last decade. Merlot is the most widely planted grape in the Bordeaux wine region in France, and it is also quite widely planted in wine regions in the United States, particularly in California. In Californi ...

The invention of the cocoa press in 1828 made possible separating the natural fat in cocoa beans, called cocoa butter, from the bean solids. This not only improved the consistency and taste of the remaining cocoa powder but made possible the devel ...

The predecessor to the hot chocolate we enjoy today was the Aztec drink xocoatl. Mayan Indians first harvested Cacoa beans from Cacoa pods and frequently traded them to the neighboring Aztecs. Cacoa beans may also have been given as tribute to the ...

Chocolate as we know it today has been 1500 years in the making.

Using the beans of the cacao pod is thought to have originated with the Mayan peoples of southern Mexico and Central America fifteen hundred years ago. Beaten into a paste, the ...

Chocolate has long been given as a gift, particularly as a gift of affection or passion.

The forerunner to chocolate was the Aztec drink xocoatl, a mix of water, spices and ground cacao beans. Aztecs used the beans as a form of currency and ...

Some years ago in a book by Lee Iacocca, who was President of Ford Motor Co. prior to taking over Chrysler Corp. and leading them out of bankruptcy, I read that Mr. Iacocca¡¯s boss, Henry Ford II, drank two bottles of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild ever ...

Nobody wants to look like a nerd. Fortunately, teeth straightening alternatives have come a long way since the days of heavy metal wires and brackets. There is a new ways that you can close your tooth gap without the use of bulky headgear.

Y ...

The glittery glow of liquor advertisements, the fizz of the champagne opened by a victorious sportsman, the gushing froth \rfrom the beer bottle in the hands of a macho hero ¨C all add a touch of style and sophistication to alcohol. Freedom. Fun. \ ...

It is great news that research has found a food that lowers blood pressure and is healthy for the heart and maybe more. The problem is that the chocolate Americans consume most is not the kind that was studied. The more popular kinds of chocolat ...