Surprising Wine Facts

Is that your wine list or a phone book?

Restaurant Chiggeri in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg holds the Guinness world record for largest wine list at 1,746 varieties commercially available.

Don't follow your nose

Contrary to popular belief, smelling a wine's cork doesn't reveal anything about the quality of the wine. Instead, if handed a cork by a sommelier or waiter, inspect it for mold or cracks; two tell tale signs that the wine may be off.

A Drink to Remember

An American study of nearly 12,500 nurses published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that women who enjoy a drink of beer or wine daily have sharper minds into old age than women who abstain.

Sometimes you have to steal a taste

A Wine Thief is a small device consisting of glass or metal pipette attached to a syringe used for taking wine samples often directly from the barrel during the fermentation process.

We all age differently.

White wine actually becomes darker as it ages. Red wine on the other hand becomes lighter in colour over time. Maybe they'll meet in the middle.

Some Juicy Real Estate

Thinking about getting into the business? Some of the vineyards in the Bordeaux region of France can sell for as much as €1.2 million ($1.6 million Canadian) per hectare. Or why not make your start in Italy? The Chianti region will only set you back a measly €250,000 ($340,000 Canadian) per hectare, which is a steal by comparison.

It takes a lot to be Canadian Icewine

As the name implies, grapes for icewine must be frozen. Although some producers artificially freeze their grapes, Canadian icewine must be made from grapes that are naturally frozen on the vine and picked at -8 degrees or colder, and immediately pressed while frozen, in order to earn the title.

A Sweet Celebration of Nuptials

Initially a honeymoon wasn’t a vacation at all. Instead it was a ritual for drinking wine. In northern Europe, wine made from mead and honey brought good luck to the newlyweds as long as it was consumed every day for one month. Back then, one month was known as one moon. Hence the name Honeymoon.

One Woman's Influence on Wine

During the late 1940s and 50s, wine had become very unpopular in the U.S. However, John F. Kennedy's election in 1961 sparked a change. Jackie Kennedy, with her immense popularity and love of all things French, helped to boost sales of wine and champagne in the States.

Removing wine from history

Prohibitionists in the early twentieth century fought to remove any mention of wine from school and college texts, including Greek and Roman literature. They also attempted to remove medicinal wines from the United States Pharmacopoeia and to prove that Biblical praises of wine were for unfermented grape juice.

Discovering Grapes in Canada

When Viking explorer Leaf Ericson landed in Newfoundland in 1001 CE, he named it Vinland after he found an abundance of grape vines growing there. Also, in 1535, Jacques Cartier found many grape vines growing on Ile d’Orleans, or as he called it, Ile de Baccus.

To Decant, or Not to Decant

Decanting is only beneficial for some wines. An aged red wine that has been sitting in a cellar for years can have its flavours drawn out by decanting, while a young bold red can be mellowed by it. However, white wine does not benefit from the process at all.

Too much of a good thing

In AD 92 the Roman Empire was faced with a surplus of wine. The emperor, Domitian, decreed that half the vines outside Italy be uprooted. Finally, when replanting was permitted, the demand was so great that vineyards extended as far north as France and southern England.

Sideways Moves Sales

In October 2004, the movie Sideways was released featuring Miles, a neurotic and lovable writer with a fondness for Pinot Noir and a hatred for Merlot. This film had an interesting effect on the wine industry in the US. Merlot saw a 2% decrease in overall sales, while Pinot Noir sales shot up by 16%.

The Nectar of the Gods

In ancient Greece, the deity Dionysus was attributed to the grape harvest, wine and winemaking. Actors, musicians, artists and philosophers predominantly worshipped him due to his association with pleasure, festivity and the finer things in life.

It Was A Cosmic Year

In 1811, The Great Comet was visible to the naked eye for roughly 260 days. Oenophiles believed that this phenomenon altered the flavour of the grapes harvested that year and named it "The Comet Year", which gave winemakers an excuse to charge astronomical amounts of money.

A good year for cider

1927 was a good year for cider. That's the year that the Growers Cider Company took root in Saanich B.C. and started selling what would become Canada's #1 cider.

Don’t get bent out of shape

Contrary to popular belief, the shape of a wine bottle has little consequence when it comes to enhancing the flavour of wines. Champagne or sparkling wine should however, be contained in a thick walled bottle due to the pressure associated with carbonation.

A sweet slip-up.

In 1749, a German winemaker was forced to press his grapes while frozen due to an early winter. The result was the birth of ice wine, a pretty sweet discovery.

Pairs well with Canada

Grapes grown in Canada’s cool climate naturally contain a greater amount of the chemical compound resveratrol. This antioxidant in grape skins not only protects the fruit against fungal attacks, but appears to reduce fat and cholesterol in human blood which contribute to heart disease. So go ahead, order the steak.

Wine that heals

Hippocrates, widely considered the father of medicine, included wine in almost every one of his recorded remedies. He used it for cooling fevers, as a diuretic, as a general antiseptic, and to help convalescence.

Sense of a woman

Women tend to be better wine tasters than men. This is because women, especially of reproductive ages, have a better sense of smell than men, and wine tasting is really about wine smelling.

Pinot the Pine Cone

The word pinot, which comes from the word "pine cone" in French, could have been given to it because the grapes grow in small pine cone-shaped clusters.

It finally stuck

While labels were first put on wine bottles in the early 1700s, it wasn't until the 1860s that suitable glues were developed to keep them from falling off.

Wait before you brush

Never brush your teeth right before drinking wine. In fact, it can take up to an hour for our taste buds to return to normal after brushing.