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This Book Should Come with a Free Promotional Corkscrew!

“I drink between one and one-and-a-half-bottles of wine a day,” says Gerry Facciani, who is both a friend and now an author – of the book above.

Gerry’s self-published book, The Drinkers Guide To Healthy Living, makes the case that one can drink as much wine as you like as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Citing the cardio-protective ability of wine, and resurfacing many of the things we’ve read about resveratrol, anthocyanins, flavinoids and antioxidants in the press... and stringing together hypotheses and test data, Gerry makes a case about the positive, physiological aspects of wine early in the book.

In many respects, the earliest chapters of Gerry’s book aren’t so much a persuasive thesis about the benefits of moderate drinking; they are more like a collection of clippings from numerous, informed sources, which support a common hypothesis. The Gerry Facciani Clipping Service has plumbed the depths of newspapers, medical research libraries, and scientific studies. 

I started out highlighting all the salient arguments why wine is good for me  with a yellow marker...  and by page 37 decided that so many pages were solid yellow... that it was far easier to dip the book in a pail of yellow watercolor paint and then use white-out to un-highlight the very few sentences which I DIDN’T want highlighted!

Resistance is futile!

There are so many references in the book about the health- and performance-boosting properties of wine that it sounds like wine may just be the magic Elixir of Life. (Good thing that I have a cellarful of the elixir...)

Results of some of the cited clinical tests are hard to believe: for example, one clipping’s insistence that even the common cold can be warded off by drinking sufficient quantities of wine:

According to a 2002 Spanish study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, “when individuals consumed 14 or more glasses of wine per week, the relative risk of developing the common cold was reduced by 40 percent, compared to teetotalers, with red wine providing superior protection against the common cold.”

What’s not explained here, of course, is whether the wine drinkers in this study also partook in extraneous activities, when they weren’t drinking, which possibly strengthened their resistance from catching a cold (jogging, running, etc.).

This is either Gerry Facciani, or this is Jerry Facciani. It depends on which page of the book you reference.

Specialists and friends who wrote an endorsement for the author in this book, spelled Gerry’s name both with a G (Gerry) and with a J (Jerry). Sometimes using both spellings in the same paragraph!

Even Robert Parker, the esteemed wine critic, who is one of Jerry’s closest friends, spells his name two different ways in the foreward of the book.

In fact, Gerry’s name is so blatantly misspelled throughout the book, that I’m beginning to think that, to be considered a good friend it is essential to misspell his first name. So I’m raising a glass to you tonight, Sherry Facciani!

One other copy editor’s question: Where’s the apostrophe in the title?

If the book were aimed at one drinker, the title should be The Drinker’s Guide to Healthy Living. If Gerry meant to speak to ALL the drinkers out there, it should have been The Drinkers’ Guide to Healthy Living.

Speaking of healthy living, Gerry does a good job of summarizing present thoughts about diet, nutrition, and the need for exercise and stress management in the middle chapters. As well, he speaks about the health detriments of immoderate drinking.

Gerry in his wine cellar.

Given his passion for wine and the sheer quantity, which he enjoys daily, I asked Gerry about his favorite wine regions.

“For sure, my favorite regions include California, especially those producing Cabernet, Zinfandel, and Syrah. I also love the Rhone and Bordeaux wine regions of France. I’m also a big fan of Shiraz from Australia.” 

Gerry has had a colorful career in – of all things – pension actuaries! He was the founder of an actuarial firm, which he sold in 1991 when it had become the largest individually owned firm of its type in the country. 

In 2010, Gerry and his wife Karen moved to New Haven, CT, so that he could enroll as a full-time student in the Yale Divinity School. Three years later, Gerry graduated with a Masters Degree in Religion. (There must have been a run on altar wine in that three-year period, although there is no clipping in the book to support this hypothesis...)

The Drinkers Guide to Healthy Living is $14.95.

To purchase a copy, go to drinkersguidetohealthyliving.com

This Chocolate Bar Belongs in the Museum of Modern (Edible) Art!

If edible luxuries qualified, the new Askinosie Peanut Butter Chocolate Bar would be selected for the collection at MOMEA –the Museum of Modern Edible Art. 

The Askinosie bar, or tablet, presents a dark, rich, unctuous Tanzanian chocolate, which borders on velour in texture; it has a lingering, haunting finish that goes on for minutes, like a stunning 100-point, Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine; there are hints beneath the dark cocoa layers of freshly roasted, ground peanuts.

The whole eating experience is like being presented with a multi-course, chef’s tasting menu... each bite is so complex, so perfectly balanced, that you can’t wait to have another bite. The chocolate is as sophisticated, subtle and sensual as a $300 bottle of wine – and each bite brings you more pleasure than the last.

The Askinosie Peanut Butter Chocolate Bar has zero relationship to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, so put this comparison out of your mind.

This bar is the single best expression of dark chocolate blended with peanut butter that I have ever tasted. As I have brought to market many hundreds of chocolate- and peanut-based products in my 40-year food development career – this is a professional opinion, not that of a hobbyist.

This is Shawn.

I have profiled Shawn Askinosie on this site many times.

Not the least of which include:

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2010/12/there-are-people-who-make-exceptional-chocolate.html

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2008/10/

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2011/11/napaman-is-not-a-shill-for-shawn-askinosie-i-cant-help-it-if-he-just-happens-to-make-the-worlds-best.html

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2010/08/askinosie-hey-hey-hazelnut-spread-best-new-chocolate-product-of-the-year.html

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2009/12/the-best-holiday-gift-you-can-give-a-years-supply-of-askinosie-americas-best-chocolate.html

I mention these articles because I must remind readers that Shawn is quite possibly the best producer of premium chocolate in the United States. Very possibly in the world.

In many respects, Shawn Askinosie is the Elon Musk of chocolate; he makes up his own rules, pays no attention to traditional manufacturing processes and is a leader in his chosen field.

For example, Shawn flies directly to Tanzania, Ecuador, Honduras and the Philippines himself, to contract with cocoa farmers so there are no middlemen. Everything Shawn pays for his cacao goes 100 per cent, DIRECTLY to the producers.

Shawn only uses single-origin cacao – he doesn’t blend beans from one region with those of another. Shawn respects indigenous flavors, which differ among cocoa-growing regions.

Shawn is such a purist, in fact, that he doesn’t even mix the cocoa butter, which is removed from beans, with cocoa from another region – the cocoa butter gets reintroduced to the same regional cocoa later in the process of production.

With respect to the new Peanut Butter Bar; the beans have come from Mababu, Tanzania. The woman on the package is Miama Rahabu, the lead farmer of a women’s farmer group. Shawn spent a year developing this bar, finally determining that the ultimate taste experience was a bar containing 60% by weight dark, Trinitario chocolate. The remaining ingredients are organic cane sugar, peanut butter and cocoa butter.

As with all Askinosie chocolates, no lecithin is used in the production of this bar (I have only ever found one other producer – in Europe – who does not use lecithin, an emulsifier which gives chocolate its smooth mouthfeel).

And Shawn uses no vanilla, or vanillin, either. I don’t know of another chocolate-maker any where in the world who could make this boast. THAT’S how good Shawn’s chocolate is – he doesn’t need crutches to give his perfectly made chocolate the texture or taste, which other producers require.

For peanut butter, Shawn has chosen a premium, all-natural product from a craft spread maker, Big Spoon Roasters.

Made at the Askinosie Chocolate works in Springfield, Mo., the decadent PB + Chocolate Bar is certified Kosher, vegan, and gluten-free. 

The Askinosie 60% Dark Chocolate + Peanut Butter Bar is $8.50 for an 85 gram bar; it is available at askinosie.com and specialty food retailers.

To order online, visit askinosie.com or call 417-862-9900.

Visiting Napa Valley? Plan your winery visits with this 3-D Map!

A year ago, I discovered a sensational 3-D map of the Napa Valley depicting its 16 sub-appellations.

Produced by the Napa Valley Vintners, the map is an ideal tool to help visitors orient themselves to our demi-paradise; the map depicts landmass, mountain elevations and valley swales on a miniature, plasticized, 10- x 12-inch sheet.

I show the map to first-time visitors to Napa Valley to give them an idea of where I’m sending them when I suggest they go up Pritchard Hill to visit Chappellet, or  Continuum, or when I send them up Spring Mountain to visit Philip Togni, or Pride.

To optimize your time here, you need to visit wineries which are located in the same sub-appellation so that you don’t waste time driving helter-skelter all over the valley, back-tracking your route.

I suggest that travelers concentrate visits to wineries within the same sub-appellation to reduce travel time. It makes sense, for example, to combine visits to three or four wineries in Stag’s Leap District, or in St. Helena, or in Rutherford; this 3-D map helps give you an idea of which sub-appellations are close to one another to further help you draft a strategy to visit wineries.

The NVV, which represents 500 wineries in Napa Valley, started producing this 3-dimensional map about six years ago.

“As Napa Valley has such a varied topography, we created the map to help residents and visitors see -- and feel -- the diversity of our wine region,” explains Patsy McGaughy, communications director of the association.

Because it is expensive to produce the 3-D map, even NVV members must purchase it. Many wineries keep the map handy in their tasting room to give guests an idea of where they are, or where they’re headed.

The cost of the map is $25 – a  good gift for someone you know who may be planning to visit Napa Valley – to help them plot out their visits to different sub-appellations while they’re here.

“The map has become popular in Asia,” adds Patsy. “We’ve been asked to produce maps in Japanese and Mandarin to help Asian friends in the wine business get a better sense of what the Napa Valley is all about.”

If you’re interested in purchasing the 3-D map, you can acquire one online. Napaman doesn’t sell them and doesn’t make any income if you opt to buy one. Go to:

http://www.napavintners.com/trade/store.asp 

Click to purchase the “Napa Valley Raised Relief Topo Map” which is NVV jargon for their 3-D map.