Pub trivia: Wine
Wine
A bottle of wine can cost you anything from a few quid to a small fortune, depending on quality, vintage and how pretentious you are. Impress your friends with some fascinating facts about grape juice.
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Fact
Wine was first made in the area covered by present-day Georgia, on the coast of the Black Sea. Evidence suggests that it was made in the region over 7,000 years ago.
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Fact
'Hot wine' may sound like mulled wine gone wrong, but the phrase actually refers to plonk which tastes too alcoholic. A fat wine is one that's too full-bodied, but don't get confused and call it flabby, because that actually denotes a lack of acidity. Oh, and if you think the wine isn't fruity enough you can stroke your chin and call it hollow.
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Fact
That dip in the bottom of a wine bottle is called a punt, and noone really knows why it's there. The general consensus is that they had a stabilising purpose in ancient, rocky, handblown bottles, but that they're kept today for prestige value (leading to the popular belief that more expensive bottles have deeper punts).
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Fact
Although the Ancient Greeks and Romans did sometimes use corks as stoppers, their favoured way of sealing wine was to pour a layer of olive oil over the surface of the plonk. Lovely.
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Fact
A lot of wine isn't actually suitable for vegetarians and vegans. That's because of "fining" – the process by which wine is cleared of excess yeast and other floating matter. Gelatine, egg white and fish extracts are often used to do this. Believe it or not, cow's blood was even frequently used in the not-too-distant past.
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Fact
The world's most expensive bottle of wine is a 1787 Chateau Lafite Bordeaux that was sold for £105,000 in 1985.
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Fact
Red grapes can make white wine, but white/green grapes can't make red wine. That's because the red colour comes not from grape juice but from the skins, which are left in the mix when red wine is being fermented. So if you want to make white wine from red grapes, you just leave the skins out. Indeed, most Champagne is made using red grapes.
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