Gyropalette

Also called a girasol, Spanish for “sunflower,” gyropalette is a piece of equipment used in the production of sparkling wine made by the traditional method (where the second fermentation takes place in the bottle) like Champagne. To remove the yeast sediment (lees) left in the bottle, riddling (aka remuage) is performed. This machine automates the riddling process for bottles.

There are only four basic tastes humans can detect and experience in our food and wine: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.

Answer: False.

In addition to these four tastes, there’s at least one more that’s known—umami (oo-MA-mee), a word that translates to "deliciousness" in Japanese. Discovered in 1908 by Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda, umami is based on the presence of glutamates (aka glutamic acid), the most abundant type of amino acid in certain foods—and, thus, indicators of protein. In 2000, University of Miami researchers found receptors in our taste buds designed to receive the umami compounds. Umami is present in foods such as blue cheese, meat juices, mushrooms, and fermented soy products like soy sauce. Beyond sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami, there may be even more tastes scientists haven’t yet discovered.

Your Wine Horoscope

A Silicon Valley-based company has developed StarSip, a wine-horoscope app that makes wine recommendations for each sign of the zodiac. Based on an interdisciplinary approach the company calls Biodynamic Astrology, the app’s algorithm aligns solar… Continue reading

Gyropalette

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