Wine Trivia for You

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Vino things you probably never thought of. If you did, you might be a lot like me? • In 1801, Thomas Jefferson spent 12%!o(MISSING)f his $25,000 Presidential salary on wine.• There are over 5,000 wine grape varieties in the world—many of which have multiple names.• The Book of Jonah is the only book in the Old Testament that contains no reference to wine or the vine.• The Romans mixed lead with wine to improve preservation, flavor, and texture. Unfortunately, lead is poisonous.• Of the wine sold in restaurants, 55%!<(MISSING)/a> is red wine.• Red wine becomes lighter in color as it ages, but white wine becomes darker.• There are more chemical compounds in wine than in blood.• 90%!<(MISSING)/a> of wine produced in America comes from California.• Airén is the world’s most widely planted grape variety in terms of area planted; it is grown primarily in Spain where it is used to make white wine and brandy.<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;" />• And finally, a Latin proverb: “It is well to remember that there are five reasons for drinking: the arrival of a friend; one’s present or future thirst; the excellence of the wine; or any other reason.” More trivia: It takes 2.5 pounds of grapes to make a glass of wine. California produces over 17 million gallons of wine annually. A glass of red wine contains 85 calories. An acre typically contains 400 grape vines. Wine bottles come in twelve different sizes. A typical wine is 86% water, 11.2% alcohol, and 2.8% other. Over 250 different compounds have been identified in "other". American wine drinkers consume more wine on Thanksgiving than any other day. Luxembourg leads the world in per capita wine consumption, leading the U.S. by 7.5 to 1! Mexico has the lowest per capita wine consumption with less than one glass of wine per person per year. (Happy I was not born there!) The California wine industry provides over 150,000 jobs. More than 160 countries import California wines. Napa Valley passed Disneyland as California's number 1 tourist destination with 5.5 million visitors per year. Sparkling wine contains 49 million bubbles per bottle, Champagne contains 250 million bubbles per bottle. 98%!o(MISSING)f all commercially produced wine is consumed within one week of purchase and 90%!o(MISSING)f the world's wine is consumed within two years of its vintage date. A cork tree is first harvested at about 25 years of age, subsequent harvests are every 9 years for 15 harvests. (No winder there is a shortage of cork!) Top quality Napa Valley vineyard land sells for $100,000 per acre. Well, in conclusion, you know me. I like the bubbles. Bonzai!!!!

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