Wine Trivia (answers at bottom)
1. Another white grape grown in Loire Valley, in addition to Chenin Blanc is:
A. Muscadet (not to be confused with Muscat)
B. Viognier
C. Cabernet Sauvignon
D. Malvasia
2. Which bottle shape are most Chenin Blancs in?
A. Hock
B. Bordeaux
C. Burgundy
D. Trollinger
3. A helixophile is a person who:
A. a person who collects corkscrews
B. a person who steals corkscrews
C. a person who collects corks
D. a person who collects wine labels
4. Which founding father began his day with half a draft of hard cider for breakfast?
A. George Washington
B. John Adams
C. Thomas Jefferson
D. James Monroe
5. Where were the origins of winemaking?
A. France
B. Italy
C. China
D. Mesopotamia
Song of the week:
Send Me No Wine, by the Moody Blues (1969)
“Send me no wine to make an invitation
Leave me no time in your imagination”
Movie of the week:
French Kiss (1995) with Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline written by Adam Brooks.
There’s a scene wherein Kevin Kline’s character has a box of lavender, spices and soils. He asks her to smell and taste the wine. She then smells his different essences and explains, “Wine is like people. The wine takes all the influences in life all around it. It absorbs them and it gets its personality.” She smells and tastes the wine again and is able to elaborate her description of the wine. Saying, “That’s incredible.” Once a person smells different aromas, it’s amazing how many of those same aromas are picked up in the wine.
Painting of the Week:
“La bouteille de vin” or “La botella de vino” (The Bottle of Wine) (1925) is one of the most celebrated works by Cubism master, Pablo Picasso. He spent a lot of time in Touraine, France where this piece was created wherein Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc are almost exclusively grown. Because of the wetness of the soil, the wines are a bit lighter in color and alcohol. In the simplest geometric form, he expressed what he ate and drank while he painted and played the guitar. When having lunch with friends, he drank rosé. When he was in Spain, he drank Sherry. I guess it’s one of those, when in Rome things….
Book of the Week:
Scents & Sensuality by Max Lake. Born in New York, he moved to Sydney, Australia in 1963 where he became known as the Godfather of the Australian Boutique Wine Industry. He established a small boutique winery in Hunter Valley and wrote about the wine industry. He wrote that humans neglect to develop their sense of smell. Through a better understanding of one’s own responses to smells, consciousness are raised and further enjoyment to aromas found in wines (and other….) may be attained.
Poem of the Week:
Instructions
By Leah Beth Canon
Breathe it in, the fragrance full,
Smell the scent of beautiful.
Swirl it in your challis glass,
As people around you and time shall pass.
See the streams melting into chasm
Watch your troubles turn to ashen.
Lure it steadily to the lip,
Rest a moment, then take a sip.
Let it lie on grateful tongue,
Complacent, pondering, passive reaction.
Taste the depths of the great work of art;
Feel every emotion of your memory’s heart.
Chew it up, every drop of bittersweet life,
For all divine wine and intellectual strife.
Swallow slowly, else miss the joy,
Of delectable decadence that can be so coy.
Fill your soul with riches it brings,
Life, grapes, love and all happenings.
Answers to Trivia
- A. Muscadet grows in the Pays Nantais region within the Loire Valley on the Atlantic Coast. It has a strong Maritime influence cooling the grapes producing dry wines with high acidity and m- alcohol with flavors of green apple, lime, and hints of salinity making it a perfect pairing to shellfish. In 1709 frost wiped out many vineyards in the region and King Louis XIV ordered the troops to plant Muscadet Blanc. The grape itself is actually called Melon de Bourgogne (some believe it originated in Burgundy) but probably more likely originated in Netherlands and brought to France by Dutch traders in the 1700’s. The Dutch were looking for neutral wines to distill into brandewijn. Muscadet Sur Lie means that the wine has been left on the lees (dead yeast) to create a creamy texture. Muscadet wines are delicate and meant to be consumed young with 2-3 years.
- C. Burgundy. The bottle shape originally was meant for the viewer to discern where the wine originated. As the belief that Chenin Blanc originated near Montchenon, which is near Burgundy, the winemakers put Chenin Blanc in the Burgundian bottles. Bordeaux bottles were meant for Bordeaux wine styles. And Hock/Alsace bottles were usually for sweeter wines. Trollinger is unique to Germany and Port wines.
- B. A person who collects corkscrews. Helix is a term for a spiral and phile is a term for fondness for a thing. The design may have originated from a gun worm which was a device used to remove unspent cartridge from a musket’s barrel from the 1630’s. The first patent for the corkscrew was granted in England in 1795, but was probably invented 100 years prior. It was referenced in a book called Treatise on Cider by John Worlidge. The book describes using a, “steel worm used for drawing of corks out of bottles”. A person who steals corkscrews is just screwy.
- B. John Adams, our second President of the United States (1797-1801), served as our Ambassador to Great Britain and negotiated our peace treaty. He was devoted to the cause of right to counsel and presumption of innocence. He married Abigail Smith, who made the spiked apple cider that the family brought with them to Great Britain during peace talks as well as to France to secure funds. He was notorious for his drink, so much so, that it was frowned upon by French dignitaries. “Dinner was washed down with cider, weak or strong beer, then white wine….They keep drinking right on through dessert….”
- D. Mesopotamia. Winemaking has been around for at least 8000 years. It didn’t arrive in France until about the 6th Century B.C.E. However, in Marseille (then called Massalia) wine began to be considered as works of art and as part of civilization. It is now part of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
