Les Kincaid's Lifestyles

This site encompasses Kincaid's triple passions of golf, food and wine. On the homepage some colourful oval buttons down the left-hand edge of the screen will take you into the section of the site dealing with each, which can be thought of as discrete sites. Within Wine, the entire contents are presented as a long list of articles which scrolls down the centre of the page, added to simply by slotting in new articles at the top. Click on any article and it is presented as a single page, with navigation back to the Wine index at the bottom of the page.

Just as there is something a trifle old-fashioned about the style, sometimes Kincaid's opinions are similarly text-bookish and don't always agree with latest research (for example, his statement that ‘it is clear that younger wines benefit most from decanting,' which at least one recent study disproved). But that is nit-picking, as the vast majority of the advice and opinion on offer is correct, sensible and reliable.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Restaurant Wine List Debockle (sic) Though a good spell-checker wouldn't go amiss, the article itself is far from a debacle, being full of rather good advice, like, ‘Most wine lists are heavy on France's snob areas like Bordeaux and Burgundy, and the more famous wines of Italy. If your carte des vins offers multiple selections from a region such as Alsace, the Loire Valley, South Africa or Argentina, chances are that there is someone on the premises who genuinely appreciates these wines and would like you to enjoy them as well. Their prominent position is a message that the restaurant feels these wines go well with the house cuisine.'

Wine & Women. Not, as you might expect, another of Mr Kincaid's lifestyle passions, but a fascinating paper by Dr Phillip Norrie, a Sydney-based physician, into the particular risks run by women who abuse alcohol. Issues surrounding drink and pregnancy, breast feeding and breast cancer are examined (the jury is still out on the latter as to whether excessive drinking fractionally increases risk).

The Great Cork Controversy The humble cork is a very popular subject amongst wine writers on the web (and in print). Kincaid joins the fray with a fine essay that looks at the precursors of cork, and presents a full account of the historical reasons why the bark of the Quercus suber become the closure of choice for wine makers. The real focus of course is not on cork as such, but on corked wines: those that have been tainted by a compound in faulty corks. This essay looks at the statistics and the alternatives and tries to draw conclusions from the evidence on offer.

OTHER FEATURES

There are many, many more genuinely interesting articles in the list, dealing with all sorts of wine and wine-related issues. Other favourites include: Serving Champagne With Style, How to Cellar and Serve Wine and Rating of Wines. There is also a useful Links page. You may also consider signing up for Les Kincaid's Lifestyles Newsletter which will be emailed to you once a month with news on wine, food and golf.