Wine Trivia

Hello Wine Lovers!

This month has been very busy for me! My Daughter is getting married next Saturday so you can just imagine my life right about now... lots and lots to do! I am so looking forward to next Saturday! It will be an absolute blast!

I thought I would have a little fun with today's entry and share a bunch of wine info / trivia I have compiled over the years. Some of it you may find interesting, and some you may find useless, but after you read this blog... at the very least you will have some trivia you can pass on. Here goes...

It takes approximately 2 1/2 pounds of grapes to make a bottle of wine

800 gallons of wine is produced from 1 acre of vines

There are over 10,000 varieties of grapes in the world today...

Over 17 million gallons of wine is produced in California per year

Approximately 400 grape vines make up an acre

Wine was first made by the Mesopotamians around 6000 B.C.

20 million acres of grapes are planted worldwide

It takes 4-5 years to harvest a grape crop from newly planted vines

It takes .90 cents per bottle to age wine in a barrel

An empty wine barrel weighs around 120 pounds

A bottle of opened wine will last 6 times longer than an opened bottle at room temp

CA, NY and then FL are the top three states of wine consumption in US

5% of adult Americans consume wine on a regular basis

The average cost of grapes to produce a $20 bottle of wine is $2.64

Wine has more organic chemical compounds than blood serum

The average age of a French oak tree to make wine barrels is 170 years

A bottle of Chateau-Lafite Rothschild costs about $13 to make and sells for $500

Corks close 69% of wine bottles, plastic corks 20% and 11% are screw caps

Cork is made from a bark of a tree

(go to You Tube and search for 100% cork campaign, First date)

The cork industry spends 22 million dollars on ad campaigns per year

A rough idea for grape costs is $3500 per ton

A cork oak must be at least 25 years old to strip away the bark to make cork...

It can then be stripped away every 8 to 14 years

Cork has been used as bottle stoppers for over 400 years

A wine barrel holds 59 gallons of wine

The cost of an oak barrel is over $600

Whew! And I still have more... a later date!

Hope you had fun!

Cheers!

J

Storyteller Chenin Blanc

Hello Wine Lovers!

Today's entry is a wine from South Africa, Storyteller Chenin Blanc. Available at Binny's for $6.99 (are you kidding me?) It still surprises the heck out of me how you get a bottle of wine to market for this kind of money! An aromatic nose of melon, lemon and pear are followed by a slight honey and pear on the palate. Very approachable with a lot of complexity for a wine at this price point! Pair with poultry dishes and seafood with cream bases.

Let's discover Chenin Blanc. Known also as Pineau de la Loire, is a white wine grape variety from the Loire valley of France. Its high acidity means it can be used to make everything from sparkling wines to well-balanced dessert wines. Outside the Loire it is found in most of the New World wine regions; it is the most widely planted variety in South Africa, where it is also known as Steen. The grape may have been one of the first to be grown in South Africa. The Chenin Blanc grapevine buds early in the growing season and ripens late—traits that would make the vine more ideal in warmer climates rather than the cool Loire Valley. However, in warm years, the balance between the Loire's marginal climate and the warmth needed to attain full ripeness has the potential of producing wines with some depth of complexity and finesse.It provides a fairly neutral palate for the expression of terroir, vintage variation and the winemaker's treatment. I think you will find what they did to this grape in the Western Cape is quite enjoyable and a very nice wine to sip on the patio in the summer!

Cheers!

J