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Movie goers support African village
Oct.15 - An African eco village in South Africa's wine region receives funding from a surprising source.
2008-10-26 22:04:20
Is This Bottle Corked exposes the secret life of wine
Books: This little tome of whimsical questions and answers is a repository for fascinating and frankly not so fascinating facts about wine...
2008-10-26 13:00:00
Catherine Bennett: When they ask for sponsorship, tell them to get on their bikes
If, as seems likely, they have survived their South African motorcycling holiday, princes William and Harry should soon be enjoying their second heroes' welcome in two days. The first was scheduled by their tour operator to occur this weekend, on the last leg of their eight-day journey, with the town of Port Elizabeth required to supply 'a police cavalcade' and 'pomp and ceremony to welcome you home'. For the second, we can surely count on the BBC, which has repeatedly expressed keen appreciation of the skill and valour this holiday will have demanded from William and Harry.Or 'the young princes' as its royal correspondent Peter Hunt poignantly calls them, as if they will soon be confined, once again, to a shared chamber in a doomy Tower, their hoodies replaced with black velvet suits by Millais and their return to the shimmering veldt about as likely as a conjugal visit from Chelsy Davy.Amid all this idolatry, it has not always been clear what made their Enduro Africa expedition any different from, say, a long motorbike trip organised by an obscurish tour business which has now, thanks to unstinting media repetition, branded itself a global charitable endeavour. One gathers, from 'Enduro', that hardships of a noisy, mechanical nature will have been overcome, and from 'Africa', that this was the price of helping the needy. But in interviews, Enduro's lucky beneficiaries have stimulated less interest than the princes' sang-froid. Just 'how gruelling,' asked one correspondent, did they expect this journey to beAnd yet, as the Enduro Africa website indicates, the world is full of hobbyists who would like nothing better than to experience this agony for themselves. Former travellers testify to the awesome, life-changing nature of an isolated biking holiday, accompanied by no more than around 100 like-minded white folks and a few locals to mend stuff. 'People can be very happy with very little,' concludes one traveller. Even before they had set off, one prince - it might have been the other - averred that 'there may be an opinion that we're just riding bikes, but we're not'. On the first day, they also wore tribal-style face paint.Interested Then sign up, pronto, for a place on the 2009 trip, since recent stories about catastrophic climate change appear to have done little to discourage the truly idealistic biker. 'This challenge offers you the opportunity to learn about yourself and push your limits,' tantalises Enduro-whatsit. 'The aim of the rally is to raise at least &amppound;150,000 to the charities we support.' Best not to be too ambitious. But how much does it cost to follow in the exhaust fumes of the princes Here is the splendid thing: because this holiday is also a personal challenge which benefits poor people, it need not cost the holidaymaker anything at all.Here's how. 'Riders will need to raise a minimum of &amppound;4,995 in sponsorship,' say the organisers, requesting that this be sent to them direct. 'For each participant, we promise to donate a minimum of &amppound;1,500 from your overall sponsorship target.' This year, the charities benefiting, once the business has subtracted its share, include Harry's Clarence House-based Sentebale, in aid of Aids orphans, whose first accounts were published last March. These showed that of &amppound;1.15m raised for the charity, a dismal fraction - &amppound;84,000 - had been distributed to the children.But many other longer-established charities are eager to profit from similar arrangements, from, say, Devon's Donkey Sanctuary, with its moderately gruelling three-day Spanish hike minimum donation &amppound;1,500, to Scope, the cerebral palsy charity, which is currently inviting able-bodied adventurers to sign up for a 'life-changing experience', such as its Everest expedition &amppound;3,500: 'You'll spend 13 days trekking in the footsteps of Sir Edmund Hillary...'Once the tourists have signed up, the charity provides advice on fundraising the full amount and, perhaps more importantly, reassurance that it is perfectly ethical to ask donors - in Scope's name - to fund life-changing experiences for people who are lucky enough not to have cerebral palsy. 'Not only are you dedicating all your spare time to fundraising the minimum sponsorship, which is a challenge in itself,' it soothes, 'you are also undertaking a difficult and intense physical challenge which will require lots of training and mental courage whilst on the trip itself.'Credit for the astonishingly low death rates on these adventures, which are now offered by all but the greenest charities, should probably go to the challenge organisers, usually dedicated adventure-tourism businesses which are themselves familiar with the challenge of guiding puffing tourists up and down the worn slopes of Kilimanjaro, dragging them round the ice on dogsleds or applying their blister plasters on the Great Wall of China. Indeed the choice of challenges is such that many aspiring altruists now find it simpler to approach a travel company first, pick a holiday and only then choose from a drop-down list of charities prepared to endorse their outing. Meningitis or colonic cancer Cats or people Cats with meningitis Clearly, it makes fundraising sense to pick the most affecting combination.Once the charity has endorsed your trip, it is a simple matter to contact a local paper, promise to shave your head and set up a Justgiving page, where the rigours and privileged nature of this expedition can be shamelessly puffed up, in the manner of modern charity, and the question of its funding readily obscured. 'Every penny goes to charity x,' the trippers might say or: 'The money goes straight to y' - neglecting to point out that, in these arrangements, the travel company will routinely bill the charity for the cost of fundraisers' holidays.Understandably, given its popularity, some would-be fundraisers are beginning to wonder if this emphasis on adventure does not discriminate against more delicate and hedonistic vacationers. It would make no difference to Harry's Aids orphans, after all, if their money came on the back of a free wine-tasting trek round South African vineyards, a gondola safari round Venice or a paid poisoning tour of Corfu 'in the footsteps of Lord Mandelson'. The only challenge would be passing the jaunts off as altruism.For as much as both charities and their licensed holidaymakers insist that the ethics of free holidays are an irrelevance, considering the sums they raise for good causes, their determined misrepresentation of these trips as 'challenges' only betrays an acute sensitivity about the arrangement. Why are extreme heights, extreme dust, extreme temperatures routinely involved So that even the participants won't realise that the trips are as polluting and as spurious as any old trek, though more morally offensive, given the routine abuse of donors' generosity. With the charities' blessing, they are persuaded to plough half their gift into tourism.Committed, as royals, to a lifetime's sponsorship, it was no surprise to see William and Harry balancing, in exemplary style, both their charitable commitment and the challenging, yet bonding aspects of yet another futile charity trip. 'We never get to spend any time together,' added the littler of the young princes. So tragically that, for once, you wondered what was wrong with Boujis.Adventure travelCharitable givingMonarchyInternational aid and developmentguardian.co.uk &ampcopy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
2008-10-26 12:12:22
Mourvedre: California's warm climate is conducive to this rich, velvety wine
TRUCKEE - Last week's column discussed two of the three grapes used in some of the tastier blends, known as GSM blends, Grenache and Syrah. This week we will find out a little more about the lesser-known alternative red grape, Mourvedre Moo-Vehd.
2008-10-26 09:00:00
Italian Wine Farmer Vows Green Revolution
Italian wine, oil producer hopes to cut his farm&aposs C02 emissions to 0 by 2009.
2008-10-24 11:50:12
Santa Cruz Mountain vintners expect smaller yields, bigger flavors this year
Napa and Sonoma County may get all the hype, but many premium wines are grown right in Los Gatos" back yard. Santa...
2008-10-24 11:28:37
Fine Wine, Autographs Good Investments!
In a struggling economy, experts advise thinking long-term and outside the box.
2008-10-19 03:09:13
Fifteen California Wines for Under $25

2008-10-18 21:18:18
The dining in California wine country mellows out
The most inviting new restaurants among the vineyards of Napa and Sonoma counties are small, casual gems.
2008-10-18 14:27:17
Women ' largely unaware' of alcohol linked-breast cancer threat
London, Oct 18 ANI: Women have been oblivious of the biggest threat linked with excessive alcohol consumption-increased risk of breast cancer, according to a survey.The YouGov survey cited that although majority of women associate liver disease or liver cancer with too much drinking, only one in five linked it to breast cancer. The results of the survey involved almost 2,000 men and women.While there are many risk factors behind the development of breast cancer, like family history and obesity, one can easily limit the amount of alcohol consumption to keep it in check, reports BBC. A total of 82 percent of women in the survey were not aware of the connection between alcohol and breast cancer.On the other hand, 95 percent linked it to liver disease, and 71 percent were aware it raised the risk of liver cancer.The "lifetime risk" of developing breast cancer in alcohol addicts is almost one in nine.However, this increase becomes five fold in women who drink one large glass of wine a day, which means 21 units of alcohol a week compared with the recommended 15.Gulping down two glasses a night boosts this risk by one third, while the risk is raised to almost half on having three big glasses of wine. ANI
2008-10-18 06:00:00

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Movie goers support African village

Is This Bottle Corked exposes the secret life of wine

Catherine Bennett: When they ask for sponsorship, tell them to get on their bikes

Mourvedre: California's warm climate is conducive to this rich, velvety wine

Italian Wine Farmer Vows Green Revolution

Santa Cruz Mountain vintners expect smaller yields, bigger flavors this year

Fine Wine, Autographs Good Investments!

Fifteen California Wines for Under $25

The dining in California wine country mellows out

Women ' largely unaware' of alcohol linked-breast cancer threat