ROBERT M. PARKER JR., the powerful wine critic, called it “one of the major scams being foisted on wine consumers.” Other wine writers have joined in, though perhaps with less vitriol. Mike Steinberger, in Slate.com, referred to wine’s “radical chic side,” and bemoaned the sloganeering. Tom Wark, a wine marketer and blogger, assailed it for denigrating competitors in order to define itself. People I know in the wine business, including a few good friends, find the whole thing obnoxious.

Their target? Natural wines and their partisans, sometimes referred to grandiosely as the “natural wine movement,” implying leaders, orthodoxy and an agenda — set forth, no doubt, in triplicate.

What is this movement? No more than a tiny collection of winemakers who, along with a motley crew of restaurants, wine bars, consumers and writers, prefer wines that are made with an absolute minimum of manipulation: grapes grown organically or in rough approximation, then simply set forth along an unforced path of fermentation into wine, with nothing added and nothing taken away.

Nothing ought to be wrong with that. Yet the notion of such advocacy lights a short fuse that explodes into hissy fits. In fact, as is so often the case with annoyances, the reaction brings the irritant far more attention than it might have earned otherwise.

Almost two years ago, I likened the natural-wine discussion to a hornet’s nest, which had set off disagreements all over the world of wine. If anything, the fracas has worsened, except that now the loudest voices are those of condemnation. The criticism raises the question of what, exactly, people find so threatening about natural wines and the people who enjoy them.

Clearly, critics perceive the natural-wine partisans as self-righteous, scolding and sanctimonious fundamentalists, even if the evidence is supplied only by implication. That is, if you call your wine natural, what does that make mine? Unnatural? Manipulated?

As many critics have pointed out, the word natural is nebulous and ill defined. Nobody knows exactly what it means, least of all its partisans, who seem to have little interest in specifics and codification.

For some on the extreme end, it may mean using no sulfur dioxide whatsoever, a risky maneuver as this chemical has been used since antiquity as a wine stabilizer. Without it, wine must be made with painstaking hygiene, and shipped and handled carefully, or it may spoil.

Others will accept the use of sulfur, but insist on fermenting the wine only with ambient yeasts, rather than trying to guide fermentation by selecting particular strains of yeast and adding them to the juice.

This lack of definition, repeated in many other ways, seems to profoundly disturb the critics, yet perhaps it is one of the greatest strengths of the natural partisans. In the same way that the Occupy Wall Street insurgency resists enumerating goals or anointing official representatives, natural-wine partisans refuse to be pinned down in a manner that subjects them to lawyerly argument. That frustrates those who fear they will become targets if they do not subscribe to what they see as natural-wine dogma; hence the shrillness of their criticism.

To me, this fear seems terribly misplaced. Unlike the 99 percent in the Occupy analogy, the natural-wine partisans represent far less than 1 percent in terms of wine sales.

And as far as dogma goes, the only thing many natural-wine partisans agree on is that they abhor industrial practices in agriculture and the technological and chemical manipulations of wine. Guess what? So do many critics of natural wines.

That leaves us with the wines themselves, which come in all shades and styles, offering a diverse spectrum from beauty to, yes, hideousness. The best include wines that I love, whether the lively, provocative sparkling wines of Andrea Calek, made in the Ardèche; the gorgeous multifaceted wines of Arianna Occhipinti, from Sicily; the many complex cuvées of Jean-François Ganevat in the Jura; or the brilliant, amphora-fermented wines of Josko Gravner in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

Bad ones? Naturally. Any genre of wine, regardless of how it is defined, will include those that are poorly made. I’ve had so-called natural wines that tasted like microbiological swamps. I’ve also had some that simply didn’t appeal to my taste.

Frankly, I don’t know, and don’t much care, whether many of the wines that I love to drink qualify as “natural” or not. I do know that the vast majority of them are made as carefully as possible by farmers who practice classic forms of viticulture and winemakers who may try to guide the path of production but don’t seek to control it.

The fact that we are so much more conscious now about viticultural and cellar practices is because of an older generation of producers, writers, importers and others in the trade who inspired the genre of natural wines, like the French scientist Jules Chauvet, who conducted early experiments with sulfur dioxide; the Beaujolais producer Marcel Lapierre; his American importer Kermit Lynch; and even Mr. Parker himself, who has spent years criticizing many of the worst practices of mass-produced wine.

Those practices, of course, still go on. The commodity wines that make up the bulk of production are results of industrial farming and winemaking. In truth, so are many of the wines considered to be fine, though not all by a long shot.

Natural wines offer an ideal — many ideals — that have influenced the world of wine, no matter how much they irritate. Far better to absorb and consider rather than stamp a foot in annoyance.

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A SHIFT in the tastes of Australian drinkers has wine producers turning red with anger and white with fear. The strong Australian dollar, coupled with the aggressive tactics of supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths, has caused a plunge in the price of European wine. Prices of some European brands have dropped by 30 per cent, with a bottle of French Moet & Chandon now sometimes cheaper than the local version, Domaine Chandon.

Coupled with a cultural cringe that assumes foreign wine must be better, the low prices for obscure European drops have caused a flow of wine into the country - and money out - that the local industry is desperate to stem.

''It's absolutely fantastic,'' said Melbourne-based wine critic Jeremy Oliver. ''If you have $100 in your pocket, that will get you a top bottle of Australian cabernet or shiraz. Today it also buys you a pretty serious Bordeaux, a very good Italian from any region or a sensational Spanish red.'' The Australian industry's response to the deluge of cheap wine is a new marketing campaign asking consumers to consider patriotism as well as palate. Wine Australia wants Australians to stick to Australian wine on Australia Day and, if they catch someone drinking an offshore drop, to ''pull down their strides''.

The organisation's regional director, Aaron Brasher, said that in addition to the high Australian dollar, which yesterday was trading about 81 euro cents, European producers also benefited from government subsidies, economies of scale and lower labour costs.

''If you look at Spain or Italy, their cost of inputs would be lower, '' he said. Wine had also been caught up in the price wars between Coles and Woolworths, he said. ''People like Coles and Woolworths are actually importing their own wines now and cutting out the middle man,'' he said. ''Therefore their prices are more competitive.''The high dollar has delivered a double hit to local producers, making exporting more difficult at the same time as French and Spanish wines flood bottle shops. At Treasury Estates, which owns Lindemans and Penfolds, sales in the US, its largest market, fell 15 per cent to $803 million in the year to June.

''It's not just the strength of the dollar, it's the economic climate in Europe,'' said John Ellis, who stopped European sales from his Hanging Rock Winery two years ago to focus on the Asian market. ''We've basically abandoned that as a market.''Mr Brasher said the wholesale price demanded by overseas buyers had dropped from about $90 a case five years ago to about $60 a case today. As a result, the industry is concentrating on increasing local consumption, which accounts for about three-quarters of sales.

''It's a lot easier to drive domestic consumption,'' Mr Brasher said. ''You're not at the vagaries of exchange rates here. ''In the past there's been a cultural cringe around Australian wine - there's cooler or more obscure regions, whether it's Austria or Hungary.''The industry wants to increase awareness of Australia's 65 wine regions, he said. ''When you look at Australia, we've got as much diversity as Europe.''

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Australia’s wine lovers are embracing European bottles as never before, exacerbating a decline in the local industry already suffering from plummeting exports.

With the Australian dollar at record levels against the euro, imported wine has rarely been more affordable. Prices for some labels have dropped by 30 percent. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA’s Moet & Chandon Champagne is now sometimes cheaper than the French company’s locally produced Domaine Chandon sparkling wine.

“It’s absolutely fantastic,” said Jeremy Oliver, a Melbourne-based wine critic. “If you have A$100 ($104) in your pocket, that will get you a top bottle of Australian cabernet or shiraz. Today it also buys you a pretty serious Bordeaux, a very good Italian from any region or a sensational Spanish red.”

The shift is harder on local wine producers. Australia, the world’s largest wine exporter by volume outside of Europe, saw the value of exports decline to their lowest level in a decade in 2011, falling 10 percent from a year earlier to A$1.89 billion, according to government export agency Wine Australia.

At Melbourne-based Treasury Wine Estates, the world’s second-biggest publicly traded vintner and owner of the Lindemans and Penfolds brands, sales in the U.S., its largest market, fell 15 percent to A$803 million in the year through June. The effect is more pronounced in Europe, where the euro has fallen 7.8 percent over the past three months to make it the worst-performing major currency against the Australian dollar, compared with a 1.4 percent decline in the greenback.

“It’s not just the strength of the dollar, it’s the economic climate in Europe,” said John Ellis, who stopped European sales from his Hanging Rock Winery two years ago to focus on the Asian market. “We’ve basically abandoned that as a market.”

Exporters Struggle
The wine business is a microcosm of the broad effects of the strong dollar on Australia’s industries. The country’s largest steelmaker, BlueScope Steel Ltd., shut its export operations in August, citing the currency’s strength as a major reason. Retailers led by Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd. Chairman Gerry Harvey last January called on the government to limit competition from overseas rivals by raising the sales tax on some imports.

“These days, if you’re not at the top of your game, then you’re going to struggle in Australia,” said Stephen Walters, chief economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Sydney.

Five years ago, Australia’s wine industry was an international sensation. Driven by signature brands such as Yellow Tail and Jacob’s Creek and support from influential critics such as Robert Parker, exports rose more than fourfold in the decade to 2007, when they peaked at 786 million liters. Australia overtook France as the U.K.’s top supplier of imported wine in 2005 and was briefly in 2008 the frontrunner in the U.S.

Competition, Bushfires
Then things turned. Competition had for years been increasing from other emerging wine areas such as Argentina, Chile and South Africa. A domestic wine glut prompted complaints from Jacob’s Creek producer Pernod-Ricard SA that the image of Australian wine was being damaged by too much low-quality product. In 2009, bushfires swept through the wine country of Victoria state, incinerating vineyards and tainting grapes with smoke. Exports have dropped 11 percent over the past four years, to 703 million liters in 2011.

Alongside the strength of the currency, the high price of labor and land plus the small-scale nature of middle-market wineries in Australia make it hard to compete with imports, said Oliver. “You can get seriously interesting, diverse wines from Europe, South America and South Africa for A$25 a blow retail,” he said. “In Australia today the small guys trying to do the equivalent are finding it very hard to get anything in the bottle for under A$45.”

Importers Gain
Every six weeks, John Baker ships a refrigerated container carrying about 10,800 bottles of French wine to his 270 square meter (2,900 square foot) refrigerated warehouse in the Sydney suburb of Artarmon. That represents a doubling of import volumes over five years for his business, Bordeaux Shippers. The Australian dollar is worth 81 euro cents now compared with 54 cents when he started in 2003, transforming the value of imported wines.

“I’ve been selling a 2001 vintage Chateau du Haut Moulin, that’s a 10-year-old wine from Bordeaux, and it’s A$39 retail; that wine really should be A$80,” he said. The price of whites from Chateau Magneau, in France’s Graves region, have fallen 30 percent over the past two years, he said.

China, Hong Kong
Since 2007, import volumes have risen 95 percent, to 73 million liters, or 97 million standard bottles, in the 12 months ended September. French wine imports have risen 58 percent, paralleling a movement of France’s export market to Asia, where increasing wealth is leading more people to drink premium wines.

China overtook Germany last year as the top importer of Bordeaux wines. Hong Kong, which sold $225 million of wine in auctions last year, has displaced New York and London and become the premier center of the global wine trade.

Moet Hennessy is seeing more than 10 percent growth in Australia for all of its premium sparkling wines, from Chandon and Moet & Chandon to expensive Dom Perignon, said Jonathan Coles, marketing director at LVMH’s local unit. Set up by the luxury-goods group in 1986, Domaine Chandon has traditionally offered a more affordable local alternative to imported French Champagne.

Moet & Chandon
Cellarbrations, a wine shop in the inner Sydney suburb of Newtown, sells Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial for A$49.99 in six- bottle cases, compared with A$52 for LVMH’s Chandon Green Point Cuvee 1995, a sparkling wine produced in Australia’s Yarra Valley at Wine House, a Melbourne-based online store.

Franck Moreau, who sets the wine lists for Sydney restaurants Est and Uccello as sommelier for Merivale, a closely held restaurant group, said imported wines now make up half of the offerings, up from 30 percent previously. The biggest discounts are on French wines that haven’t yet become highly popular, such as Chablis and Sancerre, while Italians such as Barolo are as much as 20 percent cheaper than a year ago, he said.

“I see more people importing wine now,” he said. “The value with the dollar is so good, and the Champagne is very good at the moment.”

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If you want to put your money where your mouth is in this precarious age, an investment in good wine pays dividends far faster than a musty stock certificate. But if you want to know exactly what’s in the bottle, you have to put blind trust in winemaker David Enns, a former financial consultant, because each year he has carte blanche to change the blend.

The 2009 is a meaty Bordeaux-style (mostly merlot) red that’s affordable and dependable. It has rich colour, flavours of oak and commendable intensity. Enjoy with grilled or smoked meats and earthy wild mushroom dishes, especially ones with fresh herbs such as rosemary. Good aging potential. Available at BC and VQA Liquor Stores; also private wine shops. Kasey Wilson is food editor of Wine Access magazine and editor of Best Places Vancouver.

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A University of Connecticut researcher known for hyping the health benefits of red wine has been accused of at least 145 instances of fabricating and falsifying data with image-editing software, according to a three-year investigation made public by the university Jan. 11.

The researcher, Dr. Dipak K. Das, is director of the Cardiovascular Research Center at the University of Connecticut and a professor in the department of surgery.

Some of Das' articles, as many as 26 in 11 journals, have reported positive effects from resveratrol, an ingredient in red wine thought to increase longevity in laboratory animals.

The university said in a press release that it has frozen all externally funded research in the Indian American researcher's lab and will return a total of $890,000 in two new federal grants awarded to Das by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

The university also said it has initiated proceedings to fire Das, who has tenure. A special review board set up by the University of Connecticut allegedly found evidence of fraud in published papers dating from 2002 and in three grant applications. The findings of a 60,000-page report have been sent to 11 journals that originally published the articles for possible retractions.

The probe of Das began in January 2009, two weeks after the university received an anonymous allegation about irregularities in his lab. The U.S. Office of Research Integrity also told the university in 2008 about alleged fraud in a 2007 article in Free Radical Biology and Medicine and co-authored by Das.

The ORI is now conducting its own probe of Das' research, the university said. Other members of the CRC research team are also under investigation by the university.

"We have a responsibility to correct the scientific record and inform peer researchers across the country," Philip Austin, interim vice president of health affairs at the University of Connecticut, said in a statement.

Das had not been reached for comment at his university e-mail by press deadline. Several reports said that he is in India. Das said in a letter to the university after being made aware of the report last May that he believes he is being singled out for blame because he is Indian American.

Das alleged in the letter that the accusations against him are part of an effort to rid the university of the "Indian community," since most of those being investigated are Indian American researchers.

"I became the Devil for the Health Center, and so did all the Indians working for me," he wrote. "The evidence for conspiracy and racial hatred is overwhelming."

Das also indicated serious health problems that he attributed to the investigation.

"If you remember, you handed me a report in an envelope [May 10] at 4:12 p.m. in your office," Das wrote to one university official. "As I was extremely sick and I had to undergo treatments until this week. Only yesterday, I got chance to open it, and found a 60,000 pages of electronic documents that need to be addressed within four days."

"As you can realize it is humanly impossible, and totally impossible for a man in my condition. As you know, because of the development of tremendous amount of stress in my work environment in recent months, I became a victim of stroke for which I am undergoing treatment. My right side is affected that restricts my mobility, I suffered several hemorrhages within my brain, and I have brain ischemia/scar, epilepsy and many other complications that prevent me working continuously."

"I consulted my physicians and lawyers and according to them just to read the document may need more than a year. Analysis of the document from the computer results in tremendous stress and likely to cause hemorrhage. The major problem is I don't even remember what happened approximately 10 years ago and who did what, as most of our original documents since 1970 [last 40 years] were confiscated/destroyed by the vice president of the Health Center..."

NutraIngredients.com reported Jan. 17 that they had reached Das in India, where he said he is hospitalized after suffering another stroke. He reiterated his accusations of racial bias and added that "six more Indians" are on the university's "hit list." The accusations, he added, "are all a bunch of lies and Indians are being framed. I happen to be the chief."

University of Connecticut spokesman Chris De Francisco said the university was aware of the racial accusations, but had no comment while dismissal proceedings against Das are underway. He confirmed that the investigation of other researchers in the lab is ongoing.

The review board in its report cited "a pervasive attitude of disregard within CRC for commonly accepted scientific practices in the publication and reporting of research data...Given the large number of irregularities discovered in this investigation...the (review board) can only conclude that they were the result of intentional acts of data falsification and fabrication, designed to deceive."

The alleged fraud involved images of "blots" obtained through gel electrophoresis featured in article figures, Medscape Medical News said. Most figures showed Western blots, designed to study proteins.

Using Photoshop software as a forensic tool, the review board determined dozens of images showed evidence of inappropriate manipulation by "photo imaging software."

The most egregious examples were pasted-up "artificial blots" that "bear no resemblance to any legitimate experiment" and represent total fabrications, the report said.

The report said there were also background erasures, image duplications and images spliced together. Splicing blot images is allowed, but researchers must detail such manipulations, a practice not followed by Das in his articles, Medscape News said.

The report said that as head of the lab and senior author of all but one of the articles, Das "bears principal responsibility for the fabrication and/or falsification that occurred."

The report quoted Das' response saying that he doesn't know who prepared the figures that appeared in the journal articles. It also said he has provided "no substantive information" that could explain the research irregularities.

Resveratrol Partners, a company marketing a resveratrol-based dietary supplement called Longevinex, said in a press release that Das "is attending a scientific conference in India and has not been able to respond to the allegations," Medscape News reported.

Resveratrol Partners' Web site highlights some of Das's studies on the cardiovascular benefits of resveratrol. The company's managing partner Bill Sardi said Das doesn't have any business dealings with the firm and other researchers have confirmed the value of Longevinex, Medscape News added.

The New York Times said last week that the charges, if verified, are unlikely to affect the field of resveratrol research, because Das' work was peripheral to its central claims, several of which are in contention.

"Today I had to look up who he is," David Sinclair, a leading resveratrol expert at the Harvard Medical School, told the Times. "His papers are mostly in specialty journals."

The development, however, could influence research grants. Das was able to get large awards despite the low visibility and lack of rigorousness of his research.

Renate Myles, a spokeswoman for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, told the Times that scientific misconduct "can go undetected for a length of time even under the most rigorous systems of research oversight and review."

The Times said that Das appears in 588 articles listed in Google Scholar, "though some may be by other researchers with the same name and initials."

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A Kutztown wine maker won Double Gold and Best Vinifera at the Pennsylvania Farm Show recently. Brad Knapp of Pinnacle Ridge Winery entered six wines at the Farm Show and all six won awards. “I love wine so obviously I love making it and it’s satisfying to do that, especially when you come up with something that was Double Gold or was particularly good,” said Knapp.

The 2010 Late Harvest Vidal won Gold, the 2008 Veritas won Silver, the 2010 Chardonnay won Silver, the 2010 Riesling won Bronze and the 2010 Traminette won Bronze. The 2010 Pinot Noir won Double Gold and Best Vinifera. “I picked wines that I thought would do well, and they did,” said Knapp. “It feels good to win.”

Winning medals means that his palette is still in tune, he said. Knapp explained that a good wine has no flaws, that it has good balance between acidity, sweetness and alcohol. A good wine should also have a depth of flavors and length.

“It should last long on the palette and it just has to taste good,” he said. “It should put a smile on your face when you drink it.” He believes it takes some training to understand the varying nuances for different styles and varietals, “that the wine is exuding the personality of the grape the way it should.”

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A four-bottle wine cooler whose provenance includes the first U.S. president and his treasury secretary could fetch as much as $600,000 this week. The Sheffield-plate bowl, designed to the specifications of George Washington, is coming to the auction block on Jan. 19 as part of Christie’s (CHRS) Americana week in New York. Washington ordered four wine coolers in 1789, the year he was sworn into office and moved into his first official residence on Cherry Street in Manhattan.

“They had just thrown out England and they had to entertain,” said Jeanne Sloane, Christie’s deputy chairman and head of silver. “But they didn’t want to be regal.”The wine cooler was decorated only with lion’s masks and ring handles on the sides. Instead of using solid silver, a layered combination of silver and copper, known as Sheffield plate, was chosen. “Extravagance would not comport with my own inclination, nor with the example which ought to be set,” Washington wrote to Gouverneur Morris in a letter asking his help with supplying the coolers.
‘As a Token’

In 1797, as Washington left office and moved to Mount Vernon, he gave one of the wine coolers to Alexander Hamilton, his friend and the first treasury secretary. He writes in a letter to Hamilton that the gift is “not for any intrinsic value the thing possesses, but as a token of my sincere regard and friendship for you, and as a remembrance of me.” The passage is part of a long inscription that Hamilton’s descendants had engraved on the cooler, while the letter itself is in the collection of the Library of Congress.

The cooler has remained until now with Hamilton’s descendants. Another highlight of the Americana sales is a full-size, complete first edition of John James Audubon’s “The Birds of America” (1827-1838). The four-volume set features 435 hand- colored engravings. It’s offered on Jan. 20 with an estimate range of $7 million to $10 million.

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Coachella Wine Festival's 4-day event at Embassy Suites La Quinta Hotel & Spa featuring boutique wineries, celebrity winemakers, culinary delights from the hottest restaurants and chefs, and cool music February 23-26, 2012.  Festivities kick off with a Winemaker/Chef Golf Tournament and Wine Party & Dinner at the Classic Club February 23rd.  Winemaker Dinners featuring Foley Family Wines Firestone Vineyard, Kristian Story Wines and multi-day passes are advance purchase only and can be bought online at coachella wine festivalor by calling 760.880.5010.

Coachella Wine Festival Winemaker/Chef Golf Tournament February 23Golf & Wine Party/Dinner with acclaimed Winemakers and Chefs. Just Dessert Soiree February 24Friday February 24th features Just Desserts Soiree 7:30 - 10:00 p.m. Decadent desserts from the desert's finest restaurants and chefs along with a selection of still and sparkling wines and music under the stars.

Winemaker Dinners February 24-25Friday February 24th Winemaker Dinner features Foley Family Wines Firestone Vineyard and Kristian Story Wines Saturday February 25th.

Grand Tastings February 25-26Coachella Wine Festival's Grand Tastings Saturday/Sunday February 25th and 26th, 12:00 - 4:00 p.m.  Wineries including Kristian Story, Firestone, Sebastiani, Ahnfeldt, Leoness and many others, offering tastings of vintages as they share their history. Sample cuisine by the Valley's hottest restaurants and chefs as the air fills with cool music. CharityFestival organizers, Kajon Media, donate a portion of proceeds to The Pendleton Foundation.

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 A University of Connecticut researcher who studied the link between aging and a substance found in red wine has committed more than 100 acts of data fabrication and falsification, the university said Wednesday, throwing much of his work into doubt, reported Reuters.

Dipak K. Das, who directed the university’s Cardiovascular Research Center, studied resveratrol, touted by a number of scientists and companies as a way to slow aging or remain healthy as people get older. Among his findings, according to a work promoted by the University of Connecticut in 2007, was that “the pulp of grapes is as heart-healthy as the skin, even though the antioxidant properties differ.”“We have a responsibility to correct the scientific record and inform peer researchers across the country,” Philip Austin, the university’s interim vice president for health affairs, said in a statement.

The university said an anonymous tip led to an investigation that began in 2008. A 60,000-page report — the summary of which is available at http://bit.ly/xkyS4A — resulted, outlining 145 counts of fabrication and falsification of data. Other members of Das’ laboratory may have been involved, and are being investigated, the report continues.

UConn has “declined to accept $890,000 in federal grants awarded to” Das, according to the statement, and has begun dismissal proceedings. The university has alerted 11 journals that published Das’ work, and has also worked on the case with the U.S. Office of Research Integrity, which investigates alleged misconduct by federal grant recipients.

The journals include Antioxidants & Redox Signaling, where Das was one of the editors in chief, and the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. Although many scientists have been skeptical of various claims made about resveratrol, it has garnered significant commercial interest. GlaxoSmithKline bought Sirtris, a company that worked on the compound in 2008 for $720 million, but later discontinued work on one version of a drug that mimics its activity because of disappointing results.

A Las Vegas resveratrol maker called Longevinex has promoted Das’ research, and he appears in a lengthy video touting the nutrient as the next aspirin. Das also shared a 2002 patent on the use of another compound in grape skins called proanthocyanidin to prevent and treat heart conditions. Other scientists have taken notice of Das’ work, citing 30 of his papers more than 100 times each, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge. Last year, he won an award from the International Association of Cardiologists.

Still, one aging researcher said the impact of the fraud on the field will be minimal. “There are many investigators who are working on resveratrol,” said Dr. Nir Barzilai, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “That doesn’t mean we know the whole truth. But Rome wasn’t built on Dr. Das.”Das, who could not be reached for comment, said in a 2010 letter to university officials that the investigation was a “conspiracy” against him. The work was “repeated by many scientists all over the world,” he wrote. “As you know, because of the development of tremendous amount of stress in my work environment in recent months, I became a victim of stroke for which I am undergoing treatment,” he wrote in a separate letter.

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An unusual request that crossed my desk recently raised questions about wine investments and a quirky take on liquid assets.

There are wines changing hands for thousands of pounds, but they are rare both in numbers and vintages. It has to be an exceptional year for a wine to become an investment; the wine must be stored correctly for its rarity value to be boosted and then it must be made available on the right platform for the market to offer a price.

Locally the annual Nederburg Auction and Nedbank-sponsored Cape Winemakers’ Guild Auction are those arenas, but there are less formal ways such as websites, specialist magazines and maybe even columnists. That is where this piece is heading.

A reader has a collection of older wines he wants to sell, so a little digging reveals their pedigree. Essentially he has no concept of their value, but wants to interact with anyone who may be interested in acquiring them.

The youngest is two bottles of KWV Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 that Platter’s Wine Guide 2004 scored 3.5 stars and believed would benefit from another two years of ageing. The Nederburg Paarl Cabernet Sauvignon 1992 was produced from almost entirely new clone that Platter’s 1996 credited with making a softer, more accessible wine worthy of 3.5 stars, while the Kanonkop Cabernet Sauvignon 1992 received a four-star rating in the same edition.

The L’Ormarins La Maison Du Roi Cabernet Sauvignon 1989 was another four-star wine that Platter indicated had undergone “a bit of a character change” to produce a fruity-minty chocolate bouquet from American oak. The 1994 edition of the guide claimed it was a wine worth keeping,.

The Groot Constantia Cabernet Sauvignon 1988 was another 3.5-star wine whose the fruit quality had improved noticeably on previous vintages, while the Alto Cabernet Sauvignon 1987 was a four-star wine when reviewed in the 1995 edition.

A potential collector’s piece is the Zonnebloem Cabernet Sauvignon 1987. It commemorated the Natal Currie Cup win in 1991, presented as it was at the Natal Rugby Captains’ Banquet. Anyone interested in buying these and other wines, can contact me at jenveyn@telkomsa.net.

* On a different note, there is some good news for those of us who have overindulged during this festive season and now want to face the new year more calorie-conscious but without giving up a favourite tipple. Fleur du Cap has released a Natural Light 2011 (retail price: R32) that has a lower alcohol level (9.6 percent) yet retains a fruity characteristic.

Slightly off-dry, it is a chenin blanc/sauvignon blanc blend that sets the tone for a laid-back, guilt-free summer and pairs with salads and light pastas. - The Mercury

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