Wine and wine tourism lovers have a beautiful region in Austria that is less known than other areas of the same characteristics. It is Wachau, which one hour away from Vienna, the Austrian capital, allows you to discover beautiful landscapes and vineyards, and it is declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Let’s go?

The valley has 33 km that separate the cities of Krems and Melk, and it is well known for its cultural heritage, such as castles and monasteries. In this prestigious wine region, although we have heard little of it, it is said that wine was made since Roman times, but its best time was during the Carolingian Empire, in the ninth century. The vineyards of Wachau extend for 1,350 hectares and they are located in the Benedictine abbeys, since it was the monks who in the Middle Ages elaborated the wine of the area.

As places to visit, we have already named Melk, which has a remarkable abbey, the Town Hall Square, the Municipal Museum, as well as restaurants and bars where you can taste the wine of the region directly. On the other hand, Spitz is a small town that has establishments run by grape growers in which we can taste the wine of the harvest of the year.

Wineries in the area

To visit this valley, you must first know its wines and the wineries that are part of the landscape. There are a total of 232 wineries that are included in an association of producers, Vinea Wachau. It should be noted that the small producers are who make this place one of the most important in terms of wines from Austria.

Wachau wine is classified into three different categories, according to their alcohol content: Steinfeder, Federspiel and Smaragd. The wine, generally, is usually a dry white made with no addition of sugar. Vinea Wachau association rules demand that the producers harvest the grapes by hand and, so the wines are obtained throughout an artisanal process.

The grapes used for these wines are Grüner Veltliner and Regia Riesling, which is quite common in such European areas. But other varieties of grapes are also used, such as Neuburger, Gelbe Muskateller, Weißburgunder or Traminer.

Domäne Wachau Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Terrassen 2017

A white wine with the best grüner veltliner grapes from the 2017 vintage and comes with an alcohol content of 13%.

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Prager Grüner Veltliner Federspiel Hinter Der Burg 2018

A fresh white wine from Austria!

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There comes one of the most beautiful traditions of the year. Easter or Holy Week, depending on the country in which it is celebrated, always coincides with spring. It is a time of landscape splendour, which allows you to have a getaway for a few days. Easter is celebrated differently in the different countries of Europe. We will tell you why.

From the “mona” for children to the Holy Week processions in Spain

In Spain, Easter traditions have a lot to do with Christianity. On the one hand, processions are usually held to remember the passion and resurrection of Christ. It is a tradition spread by literally every town, but where it is held with greater fervour is in Andalusia. Eating sweets is one of the other customs of these days: in Catalonia, they usually eat the “monas”, cakes which initially had an egg in its central part, but over time they have been transformed into chocolate figures that godparents give to their godchildren.

Easter eggs in England and other European areas

In general, Easter eggs usually go through most of the European countries. In England, for example, Easter Week lasts from Holy Thursday to Easter Monday. The eggs, as in other places, are painted, decorated and given as gifts. Rabbits are also tradition during these days: they are the ones who carry baskets with candy and coloured eggs to houses where there are children. While the egg means fertility, rabbits start having their breeding in the spring, hence the two concepts were unified.

“Explosion of the cart” in Florence

Florentines celebrate Easter with an event that attracts many tourists. It is the Scoppio del Carro (“Explosion of the cart”, in Italian), which takes place on Easter Sunday. And what does it consist of? A cart, dating from 1679, is loaded with fireworks, and escorted by a hundred musicians and soldiers. It leaves from the church of the Holy Apostles to the Cathedral of Florence. There the cart is lit up and the pyrotechnics start. Its origin is totally religious.

Bells do not ring in France

The tradition of Easter eggs, in this case made with chocolate, is also important in France. But what stands out in this tradition is that the bells are no longer heard throughout the country from Holy Thursday to Holy Saturday. It is the silence of the mourning marked by the death of Jesus. There are also processions and “mysteries”, representations of the scenes of the Passion of Christ.

We all know vodka as a drink, so it serves to combine with many other ingredients to get the best cocktails. But surely you did not know the different uses of vodka beyond drinking. Let’s know what vodka is for in the most everyday uses.

Preventing deterioration of the colour of the garments

Surely we have already used several tricks when washing clothes and colour continues to vanish. To avoid this, we will mix a part of vodka and another part of water, and sprinkle the mixture on the garments before washing them. In this way the colour will take longer to leave.

Window cleaning

There are many products to clean the windows. But maybe we will get better results if we apply this drink on the cloth to get rid, in a simple way, of the grease that usually accumulates in the kitchen windows.

Against the bite of insects

In summer, insect bites can cause several problems. On the one hand, the “tiger” mosquito damages our skin and produces really important bites, some of which end up in the emergency room. To avoid being bitten by bugs in general we can apply a mixture of vodka and water on our legs and arms. They surely will think it twice before biting us again.

Less smell of feet

If your feet tend to smell more than normal, there are some products to mitigate it, but you can always make a home-made mix and soak the feet in this drink and thus eliminate the smell of feet.

Lengthen the life of cut flowers

We already know that when we cut flowers to decorate our living room they tend to last rather little. Well, apparently if we add a few drops of vodka to the vase then we can make them last a little longer.

Get a brighter hair

If you usually have rather rough and dry hair, conditioner and mask are just fine, but another use of vodka is brightening hair. Just wash it with a little vodka, that you can apply with the shampoo.

More shine to silver

Not only the hair will be brighter. Vodka can also be an excellent remedy to polish the pieces of old silver that we have and seem spoiled when they are really not.

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Studies that state the benefits of wine for health are innumerable. Now, in addition, there are other investigations that could relate those benefits, like protection against heart diseases, with having a good socio-economic level.

Studies on the benefits of wine and economic level

Specifically, the PLOS Medicine study deepens the relationship between wine and health through a socio-economic vision. The researchers state that economic differences regarding health are a great challenge for the public health system, and especially in the investigation on alcohol, several previous studies have observed a paradox. Although individuals with a low socio-economic status drink less, on average, compared to those with a higher position, they tend to end up in the hospital more frequently due to alcohol-related illnesses.

Keys of the research

The researchers analysed consumption habits and economic level, according to the household conditions, the household income and the education levels of more than 207,000 Norwegian adults from 1987 to 2003. They classified the data according to the frequency of alcohol consumption, and three classifications of socio-economic position were created: low, medium or high. Then they calculated the risk of cardiovascular disease for each group.

The researchers focused on the frequency with which each person drank, and less on the amount consumed per session of drinking, although the study differentiates between drinking in excess (five or more drinks per occasion) and not in excess. They concluded that excessive alcohol consumption and a higher frequency of consumption were linked.

Moderately frequent consumption (drinking alcohol two or three times per week) was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease than lower consumption (less than once per month). This benefit was significantly more important among those with a higher socio-economic status.

Previous studies

But these are not the only studies that relate economic level with health benefits of wine. In 2016, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) analysed the relationship between income and life expectancy, based on the income data of 1.4 billion US tax records. It was concluded that a higher income was associated with a longer life at all levels of wealth.

Lifestyle differences among socio-economic classes

In short, the Norwegian study analyses lifestyle differences between socio-economic classes as a possible explanation: those who occupy a higher position may be more likely to consume their alcohol with a meal, which is believed to be healthier than drinking without eating. In addition, this includes a greater knowledge about healthy living and access to better medical care for wealthier people.

Regardless of the socio-economic status, it seems that wine lovers should be able to keep this risk to a minimum, and possibly enjoy some protection benefits, if they practice moderation and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The mojito is one of the most popular of all cocktails, and it is undoubtedly the most famous of the rum-based cocktails. However, even cocktail experts cannot agree on the ingredients: Lime or lemon? White or brown sugar? Mint or spearmint? Sparkling water or tonic…?

The matter is complicated further by the many new varieties of the mojito; they are made with strawberries, coffee liqueur, chocolate, watermelon, peppermint… The possible combinations are almost endless, so how do you choose the best rum for the mojito?

There is a rum for each mojito

The first thing you must consider is what type of mojito you are in the mood for. Are you longing for a refreshing mojito, one with a bit more sweetness, perhaps you want a bit of acidity, one with a hearty flavour or warmth? The ingredients and the flavours determine the style of your mojito. The rum is used to combine them all as it is the main ingredient of the drink. Below we present some rums that will match the taste of your cocktail:

• Bitter Mojito: The dominating flavours in this mojito come from ingredients such as tonic, lemon or lemon zest and angostura or something stronger like tequila. Bitter mojitos resemble the original mojitos the most. But they do not represent the general conception of a classic mojito. The touch of the bitterness makes this cocktail combination more refreshing. If you want to accentuate the bitter touch you should use a white rum with very light aromas, like Bacardi rum. Keep in mind that rum is one of the sweetest spirits and using a rum with more flavour could result in the cocktail losing its bitterness.
• Sweet Mojito: In this type of mojito the main flavours are sweet. Ingredients range from syrup or smashed red fruit (from strawberries to grenadine), chocolate, passion fruit, figs or perhaps even a splash from a sweet cava. If these types of mojitos are mixed with a sweet rum there is a real risk that the drink will be overly sweet. However, the cocktail does need a medium or full-bodied rum to not lose consistency. One of the best options for a sweeter mojito is Barceló rum, which is a deep rum full of nuances.
• Sour Mojito: The original mojito is an exceptional combination of the bitterness of sparkling water or soda and the acidity of lime or lemon. The drink is fresh and fun. If you want a sour mojito you can change the soda to still water, or you can add pieces of pineapple, grapefruit or other acidic tropical fruits. Use a sweet rum instead of adding sugar, as well as a powerful white rum. A great choice is the Bacardi Limón, which was developed with this type of mixed cocktail in mind.
• Spiced Mojito: Mojitos with a bit of spice are very popular in non-Hispanic countries such as Bermuda, Martinique or Jamaica. Here the rums of both old and current English or French colonies are more famous. You can use pepper, juniper, ginger or coffee as a replacement for mint and citrus juice. If this sounds like the mojito for you, we recommend using any of the Captain Morgan rums which will give you a great result and surprise your friends.

White rum or golden rum?

Maybe you already know, but just in case … There are two great types of rum: golden rum, which is aged in oak barrels, and white rum, filtered through coal which results in a colourless spirit.

The golden rum spends more time in the barrel and it obtains a somewhat softer flavour. The colour, on the other hand, will become darker as it ages in the wood. The white rum is usually stronger, even if it is marketed shortly after the distillation process, due to the fact that it spends less time in the barrels.

The history of the mojito

Before we reached the endless number of different mojitos that we enjoy today someone was responsible for inventing this drink for the first time.

The most famous summer cocktail has its origins sometime in the sixteenth century. The Uruguayan-born Corsaario Silvio Suárez Díaz, fuelled by the boredom caused by the solitude on the high seas, gave his crew a mix that would later be baptized as Draquecito by the pirate Francis Draque. This cocktail consisted of moonshine liquor diluted in a little water, some lemon to combat scurvy, aromatic herbs such as mint and a little sugar, which softened the flavour and helped digest the mixture.

Rum distillation was used around a century later, and the rum replaced the moonshine. The resulting drink became what is now our much-loved mojito.

Extra tip

Above you will find just some of our suggestions. But if you prefer a traditional mojito you can find 2 rums below which you can use when making authentic luxurious mojitos. We hope you enjoy them!

Ron Barceló Añejo: Ideal both for drinking on its own, with ice or mixed in drinks.

Ron Barceló Añejo

The Ron Barceló Añejo is a Spanish type’s rum characterized by being fruity with brandy ‘s flavored, notes of raisins and berries.

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Brugal Añejo: a golden rum from the Dominican Republic with an alcohol content of 38%.

As every year, on March 17 we celebrate a date which is very special to the Irish and over the years, has made its way to one of the most celebrated days of the year all around the world.Saint Patrick’s Day is charged with traditions, feasts, lots of green coloured stuff and beer. Here are 10 things you should absolutely know about this day.

Lots of beer. During this day, people augment the beer consumption. It even excels the famous German beer festival. According to established dates, people around the globe consume more than 13 Million litres of beer on Saint Patrick’s Day.

Green and more green. Irish people all around the world, and also lots of symathisers, dress in green. The colour is associated to the green island. If you want to celebrate this day authentically, we recommend you buy yourself a green t-shirt. Fun fact, the historic national colour of Ireland is actually blue.

Friends reunion in a pub. Irish people love pubs. One more reason to visit your next Irish pub and celebrate with natives. There is one in every bigger city, go find yours.

Who is Saint Patrick? Saint Patrick was born in the 15th century and was abducted by attackers of Ireland. During this time he had been studying to become a priest and established a religious doctrine based on the cloverleaf with four leaves. He died on the 17th of March in 1461.

What to eat? Typical Irish dishes are roast chicken, a Guinness stew.

Parades. Parades are typical although not every city has one. Have a look at your city’s agenda to see if a Saint Patrick’s Parade is organised and participate with your friends. Try to make Irish friends.

When was the first Saint Patrick’s Day? The annual celebration started in 1917.

Several days. In some places in Ireland, the festival lasts for several days although the actual feast is on the 17th of March.

Who’s the goblin? The goblin is a must-have on this day. People say that the lucky goblin and an elf appear each year on this date.

Celtic rhymes. You should dive into the rich culture of Ireland and read Celtic poetry, listen to native songs and learn more about the country’s artistic side. You will not get disappointed.

Last but not least, don’t forget about the great beer and whiskey, Ireland provides us with.

Tullamore Dew 1L

Tullamore Dew 1L: The Irish whiskey is known all over the world for its smooth and gentle complexity and its citrus and spicy notes. 

They say that two who live together end up having the same tastes, even in drinks. In a study, published in the behavioural science journal Appetite, researchers from the University of Wrocław in Poland and the University of Dresden in Germany tested the aroma and flavour preferences of 100 heterosexual couples whose relationships ranged from three months to 45 years . They discovered that the longer the couples had been together, the more similar their preferences were.

Organization of the study

The study was based on each participant smelling 38 aroma samples, which included fragrances such as eucalyptus, butanol, orange, smoked meat and caramel. The researchers also dissolved samples of each of the five basic flavours: sweetness (10 grams of D-sucrose), sourness (5 grams of citric acid), saltiness (7.5 grams of NaCl), bitterness (0.05 grams of quinine hydrochloride) and umami (10 g of sodium glutamate). The participants were asked to rate each aroma and flavour sample from 1 (“I like it a lot”) to 5 (“I do not like it at all”).

The more time together, the more similarity in taste

The study examined not only how preferences might be affected by the longevity of a relationship, but also how they might be influenced by how happy the couple was. Happy couples did not have more similar preferences compared to those that were less satisfied. However, greater satisfaction in the relationships had a slightly negative correlation with similar smell preferences.

It is logical that the more years (and bottles of wine) a couple has shared, the preferences end up adapting to each other. The study concluded that even in an unhappy relationship, especially if the couple lives together, it is likely that the couples still smell and eat the same things out of habit, need or convenience.

Couples who drink together are happier

But there is more, because a new study from the University of Michigan states that couples who drink together are happier. Researchers have interviewed 2,700 married couples and analysed how much and how they drink. The conclusions were that the 2 members were more likely to consider themselves happy in their relationship when they shared these habits than those who remained sober while the other consumed alcohol, and vice-versa.

There are still many studies to be conducted to fully understand why the tastes of couples are aligned, but for now, why not use it as another great reason to spend time with our partner and our favourite bottle of wine?

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Wine has many flavours and the esters are responsible for them by being substances that are formed by the combination of an organic acid and an alcohol. Therefore, they give pleasant smells and flavours to wine. Let’s learn a little more about esters.

What are the esters of wine and how do they form?

Such flavours and aromas are associated with fruity and delicate flavours, such as banana, raspberry and pineapple, for example, among many others, and they are detected in fruity wines. In total, more than 160 esters have been identified in wine, and many of them are produced in concentrations below our sensory threshold. When they are together, some esters can create a totally different aroma than the one they possess individually, while the presence of one can greatly affect the intensity of another.

It should be noted that a large majority of esters produced in wine are created during fermentation. Esters tend to be much less stable than these other aromas and reach their intensity at the end of the fermentation, when they dominate the character of a wine, but they degrade almost completely during the first year of the wine’s life and do not leave a long term mark.

Esters, in addition, tend to be more aromatic than alcohols, acids and aldehydes. During fermentation, yeasts produce fruity esters or short-chain esters, and heavier esters, which are the long-chain esters. The first ones are produced in low temperature fermentations and some examples are the Riesling and Chardonnay wines.

Formation of esters is quite complex because it depends on numerous reactions between multiple compounds. In general, esters are formed from reactions between alcohols (mainly superior alcohols) created by yeasts and components (usually fatty or organic acids) from grapes.

In addition to using aromatic yeasts, winemakers can also use carbonic maceration to achieve high levels of esters during fermentation. In addition to the yeast, the fermentation temperature is another important factor in the amount and type of esters produced, as well as the degree of retention in the wine.

For example, a winemaker who wants to create wines with high ester content will usually use an aromatic yeast, clear the must and then ferment the wine at a temperature as cold as the yeast can tolerate. It is not surprising that wine professionals discuss the impact of wild and commercial strains on fermentation.

A company from Cerdedo-Cotobade, in the province of Pontevedra, has developed a water that tastes like wine. It can be amazing and almost miraculous (like when Jesus turned the jars of water into wine), but it is a matter of biology. Let’s learn more about the water that tastes like wine.

Vida Gallaecia, water with a wine flavour

This company, called Líquido Gallaecia, has counted, to elaborate this water, with the collaboration of Misión Biológica de Salcedo, and the result is an enriched water, with a wine flavour, that doesn’t get you drunk (it doesn’t carry alcohol) and doesn’t get you fat (it almost don’t have calories because it is water). Its name is Vida Gallaecia.

This product is a novelty that will be talked about a lot and that marks a before and after in this kind of beverages. In addition, it has been presented together with the State Agency of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), because this drink has been made thanks to years of study, commitment and research.

The basis of this study, which began in 2016, was to find ways to enrich the water with the flavonols present in the grape, and also with waste from the wine making of the Godello variety. Although they have specified that later they want to expand this water with other varieties of grapes, their commercial formula has not been revealed. The water, as if it were wine, comes in both white and red varieties, and can be made with or without gas. Its creators have given hints of its development: totally natural and without the intervention of chemical solvents. And this is because its base comes from Galician springs.

A healthy drink

We can say that it is a healthy water because flavonols provide a diversity of properties, such as antioxidants, the protection of the heart, the improvement of the skin… and it prevents some diseases such as diabetes. And it is also a pioneer beverage since it is the first wine flavoured water.

This water, which is increasingly gaining popularity, was presented in Madrid and has also travelled to Japan, at the Foodex fair. And for now, a Japanese airline is interested in distributing it on its flights. To call this hybrid, they have named it flavoured water. At the moment we can not test the water because it has not been yet released, but everything is ready for it to be. In the meantime, we can always enjoy good wines…