Interesting facts about this beautiful beverage we love so much….
How many grapes makes 1 glass of wine?
1 grape cluster = 1 glass
75 grapes = 1 cluster
4 clusters = 1 bottle
40 clusters = 1 vine
1 vine = 10 bottles
1200 clusters = 1 barrel
30 vines = 1 barrel
400 vines = 1 acre
1 acre = 5 tons
5 tons = 332 cases
In the year 121 B.C. Italy had such a great vintage for wine it signaled the end to Greek dominance of the wine industry.
There is a 1600 year old bottle of wine on display in the Speyer Museum in Germany.
In the middle ages wine was used as currency.
The Egyptians attributed the gift of wine to their God, Osiris.
The first commercial U.S. winery, established in 1823, was located in Missouri.
Champagne is at its peak between four and ten years of age.
The Armenians claim Noah planted the first vineyards on earth in their country.
A bit of humor: It is said Noah lived 950 years. If true it proves wine is a healthy beverage.
Grapes were first planted in California at Mission San Diego in 1769.
There were more than 700 wineries in California in 1920.
Louis Pasteur first determined the true nature of fermentation.
The term 'Blanc de Noir' refers to white wine made from red/black grapes.
When pouring wine, the glass should typically be no more than half full.
The descending tears of wine seen on the inside of a glass after it has been swirled are called legs.
The 17th century Benedictine monk, Dom Perignon, is credited with discovering the cork as a means to seal wine and champagne bottles. He is also credited with discovering the process of making champagne. It is said that upon his first taste of champagne he cried, "Come quickly, I am tasting stars.".
A bit of humor: The Bible states that Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding. Our universities are trying to figure out how he did it.
Our Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says it was illegal because he didn't pay taxes on it.
In 1870 the United States unknowingly exported Phylloxera (a louse that attacks roots of grape vines) to Europe which virtually destroyed all of Europe's vineyards. As a consequence, all European vineyards had to be grafted to native American rootstock, which is Phylloxera resistant, and re-planted.
Asked when she drinks champagne, Madam Lilly Bollinger replied, "I drink it when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company, I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise, I never touch it----unless I'm thirsty."
The soil of the famed Clos de Vougeot (A vineyard in the Burgundy district of France) is considered so precious that vineyard workers are required to scrape it from their shoes before they leave for home each night.
According to Persian legend, wine was supposedly "discovered" in what is now Iran, when the wife of Shah Jamshid accidentally drank some spoiled grape juice, got a bit tipsy, and liked it!
During prohibition, an interesting product called the 'Grape Brick' was sold to thousands of wine-parched households across America. Attached to the 'brick' of dried and pressed winegrape concentrate was a packet of yeast, and the stern warning, "Do not add yeast or fermentation will result."
H. G. Wells once said that we Americans have the loveliest wines in the world and don't realize it. He also said that calling them 'domestic' was enough to start trouble anywhere.
Robert Mondavi built Napa Valley's first new winery after the repeal of prohibition.
Prior to the civil war, Ohio was considered America's most important wine producing state.
The 19th century American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, mentions wine more than 300 times in his works.
Robert Louis Stevenson referred to wine as "bottled poetry".
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, once said that "wine is the noblest cordial of nature".
There was a time when wine was frequently prescribed in the treatment of bronchitis and influenza.
Prohibition contributed to the demise of approximately 540 of the 700 wineries that existed prior to prohibition.
Burgundy, Chablis, Sauterne, Rhine, Bordeaux, Champagne: In America these are all generic terms and mean little. In Europe they represent specific areas in which specific types of wines are made.