Summer is upon us and likely you will be sharing some wines with Friends and Family, at a safe distance of course! Well when in conversation here are some fun and amusing wine facts you can share and discuss with the folks in your safety bubble.
- Wine is made virtually in every country in the world.
- Intense fear or hatred of wine is called “oenophobia.”
- Someone who loves wines is called an “oenophiliac”
- The dark green wine bottle was an English invention, the work of Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-1665). Previously wine had been kept in goatskin bags.
- The average age of a French oak tree harvested for use in creating wine barrels is 170 years.
- The primary fruit crop in Napa Valley during the 1940s was Prunes – Not grapes.
10,000 varieties of wine grapes exist worldwide. - Wine is made with grapes, but it is NOT made with the typical table grapes you would find at the grocery store.
- The “Cheers” ritual started back in the Middle Ages when poisoning was a favourite way to get rid of an enemy. To be sure their glass was poison-free, drinkers would first pour a bit of wine into each other’s glass, so if there was poison in one, it was now in both.
- A crop of newly planted vines takes about four to five years to grow before it can be harvested.
- The wreck of the Titanic holds the oldest wine cellar in the world and despite the wreckage and the depth, the bottles are still intact.
- White wine can be made from red & white grapes.
I hope you enjoy these fun facts and remember, try to support the locals when it comes to your wine drinking. There are some world-class wines grown and made all over this lovely country, most notable are Nova Scotia, Ontario, and British Columbia wines.
Cheers (no poison included)
Kevin