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Problems Facing The European Wine Industry – And Some Bottles To Try
Tesco Finest Saint-Chinian, Languedoc, France 2020 (£9, Tesco) Convoys of protesting farmers have been one of the features of the year so far across Europe, with scenes of tractors blockading cities and motorways, and angry protestors setting fire to hay bales and battling with police from Brussels to Barcelona. Among other things, the Continent's agricultural sector is in revolt over rising production costs, shrinking margins, cheap imports and a set of new EU rules aimed at helping the bloc meet its environmental targets, plus a range of country-specific issues, all of which, they say, are making farming unviable. That French winegrowers have been among the protestors might try the sympathy of some, given that, according to French Ministry of Agriculture statistics, their average annual income is €78,590 – one of the highest in French farming, and a good deal higher than the circa-€40,000 average French annual salary. As ever, the average doesn't tell the full story, however, with great inequalities within and between regions, and with many growers in, for example, the Languedoc – home to Tesco's hearty spicy Saint-Chinian red – earning considerably less than that.
Château Pey La Tour, Bordeaux, France 2021 (£8.99, Waitrose) Southern French winegrowers have been at the forefront of sometimes violent protests since way before the current wave of demonstrations, with a militant group known as CRAV (Comité Regional d'Action Viticole) and its local branches (CAV), behind a string of direct actions over the past 40 years, which have ranged from stopping and sabotaging trucks bringing in cheaper wine from Spain (a particular bugbear) to destroying offices and tanks of wine at a wine importers to, in January, setting off an explosion at the offices of the regional government's environment, development and housing department. But the desperation that has fuelled CRAV can be found all over la France viticole. That includes Bordeaux, where the presence of a top 10% of luxury goods (single bottles change hands for four-figure prices) sometimes obscures the reality that most of the region's producers trade in much more everyday fare, such as the suave, ripe cassis-scented Chateau Pey La Tour. In recent years, some producers have struggled to compete with cheaper or better marketed rivals from around the world.
Cosme Palacio Vino de Laguardia Crianza, Rioja, Spain 2018 (£22, Reserve Wines) One of the ways the French government has attempted to helped winegrowers deal with unsold or under-priced wine, is to pay subsidies to uproot vines. Some €38m of French government money has been put towards a €57m plan to pull up as much as 10% of Bordeaux's vineyards, for example. Similar issues are affecting Spain's most important wine region, Rioja, where a vast oversupply has brought widespread hardship to local growers, with grape prices plunging and much of the 2023 harvest going unsold, and with the regional government investing in an emergency distillation of tens of millions of litres of wine into industrial ethanol. With one of the region's biggest names, Marques de la Concordia, having gone into administration earlier this year, it's no wonder some believe Rioja's future will inevitably be focused on its higher-priced, higher-quality wines, such as Cosme Palacio's gloriously complex Laguardia Crianza. However, as anyone in the Languedoc will tell them, that kind of transition, with its inevitable, enormous social cost, is somewhat easier said than done.
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Health Benefits Of Rutabaga
Rutabaga, also called Swedish turnip, is a root vegetable that is similar to a turnip. It belongs to the same plant family as cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, radish, turnip, and cauliflower.
Like all cruciferous vegetables, rutabaga is loaded with nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. It's great for your health, and it's easy to add to your diet.
Rutabaga is a root vegetable that is often said to be a cross between a turnip and a cabbage. Although it has a strong, pungent flavor and an earthy smell, it tastes milder than a turnip when raw. When cooked, rutabagas taste slightly sweet, savory, and buttery like sweet potatoes but with a little bitter flavor.
Rutabagas look similar to turnips. They are brownish-yellow or purple on the outside and yellow or white on the inside. They are generally seen in Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Scandinavian, European, British, and American cuisines, and they are widely used vegetables because of their high nutrient content.
Rutabagas are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, and much more. One medium-sized rutabaga of about 386 grams (a little less than a pound) has:
Rutabaga has no trans fat or cholesterol. It is also rich in antioxidants and glucosinolates, which can help prevent health conditions like heart disease and cancer.
Rutabagas offer plenty of health benefits, including:
High in fiber. They're an ideal source of roughage in your diet. Eating rutabagas can regulate your bowel movements and help you maintain a healthy gut. Including high-fiber foods in your diet can also help prevent colorectal cancer.
Low in calories. Adding rutabagas to your meals can help with weight loss, which can help prevent long-term (chronic) conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disorders.
High in potassium. Your body needs potassium to keep your nervous system and muscles working as best they can. It also helps maintain blood pressure, protect against stroke, and prevent kidney stones.
Rich in vitamin C. Vitamin C is essential for your immune system and nervous system. It also assists in collagen formation, which helps maintain your skin and slows aging.
Contains antioxidants. Rutabagas are rich in antioxidants such as carotenoids and vitamins C and E. Antioxidants can help reverse oxidative damage to your cells and prevent chronic health problems. They help you stay healthy by protecting your immune system and organs from free radicals.
Helps prevent cancer. Rutabagas have glucosinolates, chemical compounds with sulfur that give cruciferous vegetables their distinct flavor. In your body, they break down into compounds that help fight cancer.
Although rutabagas have many health benefits, they must be eaten in moderation. They can cause discomfort if you have irritable bowel syndrome or allergies related to cruciferous vegetables. If this is the case, talk to your doctor before adding them to your diet.
Rutabagas are a great low-calorie substitute for foods in your regular diet. Try:
Make sure that you wash them and remove the skin before cooking or eating.
Michael Jackson Had History Of Health Problems
(CNN) -- Pop icon Michael Jackson, 50, who died Thursday afternoon after being rushed to a Los Angeles hospital in cardiac arrest, had a long history of confirmed health problems, in addition to rumored conditions.
Michael Jackson, seen here in 2005, was taken to UCLA Medical Center in cardiac arrest Thursday.
In 1984, Jackson was burned while singing for a Pepsi-Cola commercial in Los Angeles, when a special-effects smoke bomb misfired. He had to have major surgery on his scalp and said that because of the intense pain, he developed an addiction to painkillers.
He also was reported to have a form of lupus in the 1980s, but it was later said to have gone into remission.
Jackson also had had numerous plastic surgeries, including rhinoplasty and a chin implant.
In 1993, Jackson's dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein, released a statement saying that Jackson had a skin disease called vitiligo. The condition causes a person to lose melanin, the pigment that determines the color of skin, hair and eyes, in patches or all over the body. Vitiligo affects 1 million to 2 million people in the United States, according to the National Institutes of Health, and no one knows what causes it. Learn about the difference between heart attack and stroke
He was also hospitalized with chest pains in 1990 and postponed a concert because of dehydration in August 1993. A concert tour was cut short in November 1993 because of an addiction to prescription painkillers amid allegations of child molestation.
During a rehearsal at the Beacon Theater in New York in December 1995, the entertainer collapsed onstage from apparent dehydration and low blood pressure and was hospitalized.
While jurors deliberated in a case in which he was accused of child molestation in June 2005, Jackson went to a hospital for treatment of what his spokeswoman said was recurring back pain. He had complained of back problems before.
Rumors circulated in December that Jackson was ill and in need of a lung transplant because of Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a rare genetic condition.
More rumors emerged in May that Jackson had skin cancer. But Randy Phillips, president and CEO of AEG Live, told CNN at the time, "He's as healthy as he can be -- no health problems whatsoever."
Jackson apparently collapsed in his home in Los Angeles on Thursday and was taken by ambulance to UCLA Medical Center. 
Jackson family attorney Brian Oxman told CNN on Thursday that Jackson's use of medications had gotten in the way of doing rehearsals.
"His injuries, which he had sustained performing, where he had broken a vertebra and he had broken his leg from a fall on the stage, were getting in the way. I do not know the extent of the medications that he was taking," he said.
Cardiac arrest, distinct from heart attack, affects about 300,000 Americans every year, Dr. Clyde Yancy of the American Heart Association told CNN. Without immediate efforts to resuscitate a person, the survival rate is usually 5 percent to 15 percent, he said.
If resuscitation takes longer than three to five minutes, a person could experience profound impairments, particularly neurologically, he said. Beyond five minutes, the likelihood of success falls quickly, especially in older people. Younger people can tolerate cardiac arrest somewhat better, he said.
All About Michael Jackson
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