Test your wine knowledge with quiz questions from our expert.
What volatile compound imparted by oak barrels is responsible for giving a wine aromas of coffee or toasted hazelnuts?
Dimethyl pirazines
Dimethyl pirazines, from phenolic aldehydes, impart the toasted hazelnut and coffee aromas. Furans tend to give toasted almond aromas, Eugenol imparts clove-like aromas, and acetic acid makes a wine smell like... vinegar.
Oak used in wine barrels generally belongs to the genus Quercus. What is the name of the "True White Oak" used for wine barrels made from American oak?
Quercus alba
Quercus Alba is the name given to "True White Oak," one of at least 24 species of oak grown in the U.S. and the only one used for wine barrel making. Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee and Kentucky are the main production areas.
The Greek island of Crete houses Europe's oldest known throne room. It also is the home of some of the world's most ancient wine presses, believed to be how many years old?
3500
According to winesofcrete.gr, Crete has known systemic cultivation of vines for winemaking for 4000 years, with its wine's praises having been sung by the likes of Homer. The currently oldest-known wine presses were discovered on Crete in the region of Vathipetro, dating back approximately 3500 years. Evidence found at Minoan Palaces on Crete, such as the remains at Knossos, also provide evidence of wine’s role in daily life there.
Either A or B could be correct - no one knows for sure, and according to Ana Fabiano's The Wine Regions Of Rioja there are no fewer than 22 competing theories about the origin of the region's name (A & B are thought to be the most credible of the 22).
Rioja experienced a boost as a winemaking region when growers from what country came to Navarra in the 1870s?
France
Mildew and phylloxera outbreaks in France forced growers to seek their fortunes outside of the withering vines in France. One of the areas that they visited was Rioja, bringing with them different fine winemaking techniques (and spurring Spanish entrepreneurs in the area to visit Bordeaux to learn more about their production methods).
Which city in Spain's Rioja winemaking region is famous for its annual ritual in which attendees douse each other with wine?
Haro
Haro's main tourist attraction is called the Wine Battle, taking place June 29 with a short pilgrimage to the Bilibio Crags, followed by a mass in honor of Saint Felices and then total chaos as everyone douses one another with wine. It's been called the Wine Battle since 1949, but the pilgrimage dates back to the 16th century.
What Australian wine region was discovered in the early 1970s, after research by Professor Harold Olmo and Dr. John Gladstones identified it as a potentially great grape growing region?
Margaret River
One of the most geographically isolated wine regions, and bounded on the west by the Indian Ocean, Margaret River saw European settlements as early as the 1800s; but it didn't see much in the way of premium viticulture until the work spearheaded by Olmo and Gladstones in identifying its potential for growing fine wine grapes. The region now boasts some of Australia's best-known Cabernet Sauvignon, Semillion and Chardonnay producers.
How many hours of sunshine does the Australian winemaking region of Clare Valley typically see from October to April?
1770
Roughly 5.9 hours of sunshine per day during the growing season (1250 hours) is needed for viticulture. Australia's Clare Valley, where some of the country's best Riesling and Shiraz wines are made, sees an average of 1770 sunshine hours (about 9 hours per day during the growing season) - one of the highest such figure for any premium wine-growing region.
True or False: Australia is home to what may be the oldest continuously producing Cabernet Sauvignon plantings on the planet.
True
According to Penfolds, their Barossa Valley ten-acre "Block 42" plot of Cabernet Sauvignon vines comprise what are believed to be the oldest plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon continuously produced in the world. The vines were established in the mid-1800s at what is called their Kalimna Vineyard, when Grover Cleveland served his first term as U.S. President (and only thirty years after the famous 1855 Bordeaux Classification).
