I was having a glass of wine a few nights ago and decided wine would make a great topic for a Thursday Thirteen. So, here goes…
Thirteen Interesting Facts About Wine
1. The Irish believe fairies are extremely fond of good wine. They have come to this conclusion because in the olden days royalty would leave a keg of wine out for the fairies at night. It was always gone in the morning – Irish Folklore
2. Cork was developed as a bottle closure in the late 17th century. It was only after this that bottles were lain down for aging, and the bottle shapes slowly changed from short and bulbous to tall and slender.
3. Poor soil quality tends to produce better wines. The trick is to “challenge” the vines by making them “work” harder.
4. Although red wine can only be produced from red grapes, white wine can be produced from both red and white grapes.
5. The wreck of the TITANIC, holds the oldest wine cellar in the world and despite the depth and wreckage, the bottles are still intact.
6. Wine is considered more complex than blood serum because it has so many organic chemical compounds.
7. A glass of wine (about 4 oz.) contains about 85 calories.
8. The lip of a red wine glass is sloped inward to capture the aromas of the wine and deliver them to your nose.
9. In King Tut’s Egypt (around 1300 BC), the commoners drank beer and the upper class drank wine.
10. When Mount Vesuvius buried Pompeii in volcanic lava in A.D. 79, it also buried more than 200 wine bars.
11. Grapevines cannot reproduce reliably from seed. To cultivate a particular grape variety, grafting (a plant version of cloning) is used.
12. Rose bushes are often planted at the end of a row of grape vines to act as an early warning signal for infestation by diseases and insects like aphids. A vineyard manager who notices black spots or root rot on the roses will spray the grape vines before they are damaged.
13. Labels were first put on wine bottles in the early 1700s, but it wasn’t until the 1860s that suitable glues were developed to hold them on the bottles.
And a final quote because it made me smile – “”Men are like wine – some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age.” — Pope John XXIII
Sources:
www.800wine.com
www.greekwine.gr
www.articledashboard.com
www.beekmanwine.com
Fun topic, Shelley! I’m not much of a wine drinker, but I do like a nice strawberry zinfindel.
#9 might still be true. Do you have a vineyard? I thought the fairies drank ale or mead.
Fun TT!
*hugs*
Paige
My TT is at http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com/
That is so weird about red and white wine and the grape color. You’d think it would be the other way around.
My favorite thing about wine is when they harvest the grapes. There’s something incredibly sensuous about bunches of fat grapes, still warm from the sun… Just the sight of them gives you a thirst for wine – even if you don’t actually drink it! :)
Happy TT!
I knew some of these but definitely not about the rose bush. Cool!
Cool, now I know how to catch fairies.
And #3 is interesting to know …
What a fun list! Thank you for sharing your research!
And I thought I knew a lot about wine. Enjoyed that – and very informative.
Wine has been around for so long there are hundreds of interesting tidbits. The hardest thing was actually choosing 13.
Didn’t know that about the soil.
Have a great day!
http://harrietandfriends.com/2010/05/memorial-day-weekend-starts-when/
I do like the imported European wines best. American wines just don’t have the ‘umph’. LOL
Love the quote too.
Mine is HERE if you’d like to make time to visit with me!!
Interesting but I don’t drink wine or any alcohol of any kind.
I’ve never acquired a taste for red wine. I do like a nice glass of white, as long as it isn’t too dry. Interesting list. Happy T13!
I’m not a wine drinker – I have a raging sulfa/sulfite allergy. but…I enjoy the pomp of it. Fun list.