A Few More Fun Facts About Wine!

I love reading about wine   And when I do I can’t help but come across some really eyebrow-raising interesting facts concerning wine.  Like this one….

I googled it, and discovered mouthwash contains an alcohol level of anywhere between 22% and 26.9%.  Wine on the high end would be 14.5% for some reds while some wines can contain as little as 6%.  Plus it’s no fun to swallow mouthwash and even less fun spitting wine.

Wine has all kinds of fun facts surrounding it.  Did you know, in 1976, there was a wine tasting in Paris that blindly compared Californian wines to French wines. California won and the lone reporter covering the event was blacklisted for reporting it.  That event, also known as the Judgement of Paris, became a movie in 2008, called Bottle Shock.  It’s a great movie starring Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman and really worth seeing.

Wine Fun Fact #2:  During the prohibition, Vintners sold ‘Wine Bricks’, as opposed to wine.  Grape juice mix was sold with the warning “After dissolving the brick in a gallon of water, do not place the liquid in a jug away in the cupboard for twenty days, because then it would turn into wine.”  That’s how they got around the restriction, because at the time selling grape juice was not illegal.

Wine Fun Fact #3:   You can open a bottle of wine with your shoe. Here is the video showing how it’s done.  I always play it safe and carry a corkscrew with me, however, if the shoe fits… why not use it to open wine.

This is one of the strangest things I have read recently concerning wine… and more specifically Seagull wine.

There is an alcoholic drink called seagull wine. That is made purely by stuffing a whole seagull into a bottle of water and leaving it in the sun to ferment.  Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.  In the Arctic Circle because of the cold temperatures, people were limited when it came to making wine.  I can’t see it winning any awards, but apparently it does make you drunk.  Hey they have bacon vodka, why not Seagull wine?  It’s not sold in any liquor store yet, so if you are tempted to try it, you will have to head North to the Arctic Circle.

And on that note, it’s time for my wine of the week…

An Italian beauty from Tommasi, the Poggio Al Tufo Rompicollo is a blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon.   I had the 2013, and it was a fantastic wine that was rich and full-bodied and had dried raisin-like notes.  Given 93 points by many people, it will remind you somewhat of an Amarone.  It’s smooth and well-balanced and just a great wine at a great price, would you believe this wine is only $20 here in Nova Scotia?  Tastes like a much more expensive wine than that.

Well that’s it for me for this week…please feel free to share any zany fun facts about wine that you’ve read about

Til next week, Cheers

Darlene