Test your wine knowledge with quiz questions from our expert.
True or False: The Spanish DO Rías Baixas in Galicia was once officially known as Albariño?
True
The white Albariño grape, which makes up about 90 percent of the plantings in Rías Baixas, gave its name to the region, which was officially changed in 1986 when Spain entered the EU. About 99 percent of all wine produced in Rías Baixas is white (and much of that is made from Albariño).
What nickname has been bestowed on the The Lewis-Clark Valley American Viticultural Area?
Banana belt
The Lewis-Clark Valley AVA has been called the “banana belt” because because of its temperate climate, which supports the growth of high quality fruit, including peaches, apples, and grapes.
True or False: The Lewis-Clark Valley American Viticultural Area is housed completely within the borders of Idaho?
False
While the The Lewis-Clark Valley American Viticultural Area is the only AVA in the Bitterroot Mountains area, 72 percent of its 307,000 acres are in Idaho. The rest fall within the borders of Washington State (requiring some modifications to that state’s Columbia Valley AVA borders).
True or False: The Coombsville AVA is the coolest AVA in Napa Valley?
False
Technically, Carneros is Napa’s coolest AVA. Coombsville is the coolest Napa Valley AVA with the exception of Carneros, however, ranking a low Region II on the Winkler heat summation scale.
Coombsville, a relatively new California AVA, can trace its wine history back to what year?
1880
Coombsville became an official AVA in December, 2011. It can trace its history back all the way to 1848, when pioneer Nathan Coombs founded the town of Napa on eighty acres purchased from Nicholas Higuera. Its wine history, however, begins in 1880, when Antonio Carbone opened a winery on Coombsville Road.
Antonio Carpene, widely regarded as the father of Prosecco, named some of his children after terms from what field of study?
Chemistry
Carpene, one of the pioneers of Prosecco, studied chemistry at the University of Pavia. He named one of his sons Rubidium, and a daughter Etile (Ethyl), who went on to manage his wine company. Another daughter, Mary, named her first son Iridium, in homage to her father.
True or False: Italian red grape variety Sagrantino gets its name from the Latin word for “blood?”
False
The name Sagrantino can be traced back to “Sacrament,” from the Latin sacer, meaning “sacred.” This is due to the fact that the grape was farmed by monks to produce raisin wine, used primarily for religious rites and Communion wine.
Lugana Riserva must meet which of the following conditions?
All of the above
Lugana Riserva is a category introduced in 2011. To qualify, Lugana wines must be aged for 24 months (6 of which need to be in bottle), have brighter colors, and more eveolved and complex aromas than wines in the Lugana Superiore category.
In Lugana, Verdicchio is known as Trebbiano di Lugana, which makes potentially long-lived white wines with tropical fruit aromas when young. Other Verdicchio synonyms include Trebbiano di Soave, Marchigiano, and Turbiana.
