With all the smoothie bars opening up and the natural supplements and herbs flooding the market, I’m starting to wonder if we’ll even need solid food in the future. They say that modern day man evolved at the point of creating fire, because it allowed us to cook our food, thereby using less energy on digestion and more energy on mental development and awareness. Could this trend continue to the point where we don’t even need food anymore and get all of our nutrition from liquid energy?

I personally love smoothies and protein shakes. They give me almost everything my body needs. I get vitamins, anti-oxidants, and amino acids (whey protein concentrate and/or whey isolate protein), all of which are the key building blocks to growth, energy and vibrant health. Lol, add in a little metamucil and carbs, and I’m good to go.

However, this new way of eating would obviously take away one of life’s greatest pleasures, that of the taste experience. There’s really nothing better than eating a fresh piece of salmon or some creamy italian gelatto… it’s the texture variety mixed with the blend of tastes. Regardless, I have my juicer and I love my smoothies and  whey shakes. I could definitely see my diet moving more and more to liquid energy as the days go buy. Better for evolution? That’s for you to decide.

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With the holidays approaching, Tastevine is getting back in action. We’ve been letting the site breath for the past 6 months, allowing it to gain organic traffic and start paying for itself. The holiday cheer is feeling good and we’re ready to pair some great wine and great food for the full sensory experience.

One pairing I’ve never had that I’m excited to try is wine andchristmas cookies. A nice cab with a spicy ginger cookie or a chilled riesling with an iced sugar snap. Definitely would serve as a nice treat. Here’s a cool site that gives great christmas cookie recipes. Mom’s Who Think… you gotta love it. You’ll find every imaginable cookie recipe under the sun. Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to pair different wines with different types of cookies instead of just having the boring ‘dessert wine’ category.

If you have a moment go through the recipes and make some cookies for your family this holiday season. I think I’m going to try out the German Chocolate Bars and pair it with a Dornfelder, an obscure but popular red grape from Germany. Looking for that inspiration to develop our own portfolio of delectable delicious Tastevine elixirs.

If you are what you eat… what are you?   Yellow #5, Xanthum Gum, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Dextrose, Sorbic Acid??

We’ve been following the organic movement across the world, as consumers begin to understand the level of toxins, chemicals, pesticieds, preservatives, etc.. that are injected, grown, sprayed, or bred into the things we eat and drink.  In an effort to encourage  you to more closely scrutinize those items that you put in your body, we present “The Mouth Revolution” by Free Range Studios.. the same group that brought us, “The Story of Stuff”

Mouth Revolution hones in on the fact that we need to be more considerate of what we put into our bodies, and need to promote a culture of health within our communities.  By being more conscious of those items that are harmful.. The “Mouthifesto” or “Declaration of Indegestion” is a great starting point for understanding those items you should always avoid.   Read the rest of this entry »

When one looks at a vineyard – you’re not looking at it in the same way as you would look at an orange orchard. Instead one sees a multitude of experiences past and of moments yet to come - moments of intimacy, memorable occasions, conversations and treasured friendships. Since time immemorial, vineyards have not only been the touchstone of certain regions, but have often been the lifeblood of local communities and the cornerstone of entire generations of families. Every vineyard contains a family, a history, a culture and a purpose. This was at least, the sentiment I had before embarking on a mission to New York City, where I would promote and sell wine’s connected to my family in some ways, and more importantly – wine from my country. During that time – having spent much time in preparation for the mission, I left with those stories and sentiments of culture and family fresh in my blood. But with every sales-call and wine event I began to feel further and further from the vineyard. Soon it was about laid in cost, case-discounts and what kind of Point of Sale material was on offer. I travelled the country in a rental car with a case of wine, a corskrew and a power-point presentation along the way having people from Westchester Wine Warehouse cruelly spit wine on my shoe after having left me waiting for an hour, sitting in cold-rooms of cellars in Maryland, helping do stock-takes in Ohio, presenting to Wholefoods buyers in North Carolina and pushing on-premise retail in Atlanta: and with every step I became a bit more confused and lost the focus of what I was doing. Having believed that wine was so important to my country and stepping into the States to tell the story of South African wine, it was very dispiriting to suddenly be faced with the fact that no one really cared so long as they could make a profit.

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On a recent trip to the Benicassim Festival in Spain, I purchased a pair of quick-dry camping pants from Titanium for the trip. Walking to outside the festival grounds and sitting on our back-packs whilst waiting for the campsite to open, we took the opportunity to crack a bottle of Rioja we’d got on RENFE (a quick note on RENFE – if you’re on the site and can’t select English you need to select the drop-down labelled Seleccione su Idioma to make it so, which means you have to speak Spanish to get the site into English, go figure!)

Red Wine is a perfect libation for festivals – primarily because it doesn’t need to be kept cold; it doesn’t lose its fizz and if you’re drinking wine locally produced its dirt cheap and super-good. Within minutes of popping the cork however I’d managed to spill the Rioja on my new pants and was questioning the merits of wine in a situation where a shower is hard to find… when suddenly, with a splash of from my water bottle – the wine was gone. Brilliant! Wine proof pants – what more could a young millennial wine-lover at a music festival wish for? I reckon marketing the pants specifically as wine-proof and selling it at Bonnaroo could be a good gig.

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