Test your wine knowledge with quiz questions from our expert.
True or False: Wines from the Lessini Mountains must be vinified dry?
False
The Lessini Mountains area in the Veneto is home to the Monti Lessini Durello Passito DOC, from which sweet wines are made utilizing the appassimento (grape drying) method.
The Veneto's Durello grape most likely got its name from a word meaning what?
Hard
Durello likely gets its name from duro, meaning "hard" or "tough." In De Agricoltura, Pliny the Elder cites a Lessini Mountains area grape that is "duracinus" (or, "with a tough skin"), and local documents in the region dating back to 1292 mention a grape variety called Durasena.
Which of the following wine grapes cannot be found in Italy's Campania region?
None of the above
While better known for Fiano, Greco, and Aglianico, Italy's Campania permits a wide variety of native grapes in some of its sub-regions, including all of the grapes listed in this quiz question. What Campania doesn't utilize much of, in comparison to its other sister regions in Italy, is international grape varieties.
True or False: Campania's white wine grape Fiano is named after a phrase meaning "vine of the birds?"
False
Fiano was originally known as Vitis apiana, which is Latin for "vine of the bees." The grape has been in use for over two thousand years, however, and in that time its original name has morphed considerably. Fiano now finds what is regarded as its highest expression in Fiano di Avellino DOCG wines.
Italy's Campania wine region takes its name from a Latin phrase meaning what?
Happy land
Campania, near Naples, is one of Italy's oldest wine regions, tracing its history back to the 12th Century BC. It takes its name from the Latin phrase "Campania felix," which translates (approximately) to "happy land."
True or False: One Of Napa Valley's wineries can trace its history back to the first woman to build and operate a winery in California?
True
Philadelphia-raised Josephine Marlin Tychson opened Tychson Cellars winery in St. Helena in 1886. Its name was eventually changed to Lombarda Cellars, and following Tychson's death in 1939 the estate was sold to Charles Freeman, Mark Foster, and Abbey Ahern. Today, that estate is known as Freemark Abbey.
According to Asian Wine Review, archeological evidence shows that wine was first produced in China as early as 212 B.C. As of 2017, there are about 450 wineries in the country.
True or False: U.S. wine consumers under 40 are more likely to purchase wine priced under $12.
True
According to Wine Opinions, a recent study showed that wine consumers who are under the age of 40 will more often buy wines priced under twelve dollars. The same study showed that budget wines are the most likely to be purchased every week by wine consumers.