Test your wine knowledge with quiz questions from our expert.
True or False: Germany is the second largest market for sparkling wine in the world?
False
The German wine consumer is seriously devoted to bubbly: the country is the single largest market for sparkling wine, consuming almost one quarter of all bottles of bubbly made worldwide.
True or False: Germany ranks third worldwide in vineyard area devoted to Pinot Noir plantings?
True
France and the USA take the top spots, but Germany is number three in the world when it comes to vineyard area for Pinot Noir (Spatburgunder). Eleven percent of the country's vineyard area is planted with Pinot Noir, equivalent to over eleven thousand hectares.
In 1794, shortly before it was to be auctioned, Burgundy’s now most famous vineyard - Romanée-Conti - received its name, in homage to its owner the Prince of Conti. Only one other official Burgundy climat has been named after one of its owners. What is it
Clos des Cortons Faiveley
According to the book "Le Domaine de la Romanée-Conti" by author Gert Crum, the Grand Cru monopole Clos des Cortons Faiveley (of Domaine Faiveley), is the only other official Burgundy climat named after a former owner. It was authorized in 1930.
True or False: The component in plants that creates tannin wasn't discovered until 2013?
True
According to ScienceDaily.com, an international team of scientists discovered the plant organelle that creates tannins (which give wine structure and astringency, and serve to protect most land plants) in 2013. The scientific team that isolated the source was headquartered at INRA in Montpellier, and dubbed the organelle "tannosome."
Modern winemaking in Japan dates back to what year?
1874
Japanese researchers visited Europe to study viticulture and procure vines in the 1870s. One of the country's largest wine producers, Mercian, can trace its history back to 1877.
Between 2000 and 2011, China's total vineyard area almost doubled to how many acres under vine?
Over 1 million
In just over ten years, it's estimated that China has increased its vineyard acreage to 1,384,000 making it (unofficially) the sixth largest wine producer in the world since the year 2000.
True or false: Chenin Blanc has been grown in South Africa since the eighteenth century?
True
Chenin Blanc has been a mainstay of South African winemaking in the Cape for a few hundred years; it was one of the grape varieties grown in Constantia dating back to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
What is the most planted wine grape in South Africa, according to total plantings?
Chenin Blanc
Accordign to Tim James' "Wines of the New South Africa," although its numbers have decreased in recent years, white wine grape Chenin Blanc still reigns supreme in vineyard plantings, constituting just over 18 percent of South Africa's area under vine. Cabernet Sauvignon comes in at number two, with 12 percent, and Colombard next at 11.8 percent. Pinotage makes up only 6.5 percent of the country's plantings.
South Africa's Ko-operatieve Wijnbouwers Verenigingvan Zuid Afrika (LWV) was established in what year?
1918
The KWV was first established as a cooperative producer in 1918, with a Dr. Kohler elected as chairman. Over the decades, the KWV came to oversee the majority of South Africa's wine business, its wine prices, and production standards. Now, the KWV functions again as a cooperative, producing more than 100 products.
