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Weekly Wine Quiz #63: Grape Trivia – Malbec
Malbec grapes, picture from Wikipedia
Welcome to the weekend and your new wine quiz!
Believe it or not, but we are still continuing the Grape Trivia series, and our subject for today is Malbec.
Malbec has one of the most dramatic fates out of many other red grapes, going from being one of the most popular among royal families and even the Pope, to becoming literally non existent. Today it is mostly grown in Argentina (50,000 acres) and France, but winemakers experiment with Malbec more and more all over the world. Use of Malbec ranges from being one of the five noble grapes in Bordeaux (but rarely being a star of the blend) to the single grape wonderful wines of Argentina.
Malbec grapes are black in color and have thin skin, however capable of accumulating a very substantial amount of tannins. Malbec is unfortunately prone to various grape diseases and viticultural hazards, such as frost, mildew and others. But the grape worth the effort as it can produce some of the most versatile red wines, ranging from very soft and approachable to the tannin monsters requiring long ageing. Now, to the quiz!
Here are the questions:
Q1: Explain the meaning of the name Malbec.
Q2: In France, Malbec is known under a number of different names, used in the different regions. Can you name at least two of those “other names”?
Q3: About 200 years ago, Malbec was widely planted in France, and it was considered to be one of the major grapes. Two events lead to severe decline in plantings and almost disappearance of Malbec as a grape of any importance. Do you know what events were those?
Q4: Some of the best Malbecs in the world come from Argentina. The quality of Malbec grapes in Argentina is also often associated with high altitude at which grapes are growing. Do you know what is the highest altitude of Malbec vineyards at the moment?
A: 1,500 feet
B: 5,000 feet
C: 7,000 feet
D: 3,000 feet
Q5: In its best times, Malbec was the grape made into so called Black Wine, very popular among Royal families. One Royal family went as far as even associating health benefits with consumption of Black wine. Now, do you know what Royal family was that and where the Black Wine was made?
Have fun, have a great weekend and cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Wine and Pregnancy, Impossible Food and Wine Pairings?, Don’t Diss The Chardonnay
Meritage time!
Let’s start from the answer to the Wine Quiz #62, Grape trivia – Nebbiolo. In the quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions about Italian grape called Nebbiolo. Here are the questions, now with the answers:
Q1: Explain the meaning of the name “Nebbiolo”
A1: The name “Nebbiolo” comes from the Italian word nebbia, which means “fog”, by association with foggy hills of Piedmont.
Q2: In one of the regions outside Piedmont, the wines are produced from Nebbiolo grapes in the style of Amarone – with grapes drying on the straw mats before they are pressed. Can you name that region?
A2: Valtellina in Lombardy. I was lucky to attend a special seminar on Sfursat di Valtellina Nino Negri wines where I learned for the first time about this type of production (here is the link to my post). There was also a mention of Nebbiolo-based Recioto wines from Veneto – as this was really an experimental effort by one of the winemakers, I can’t count that as a right answer.
Q3: True or False: Blending is not allowed for any of the wines produced from Nebbiolo grape in Piedmont region.
A3: False. While blending is prohibited for Barolo and Barbaresco wines, it is allowed in Ghemme and Gattinara (however, many winemakers prefer to make wines with 100% Nebbiolo grapes).
Q4: White grape used to be such a traditional blending partner for Nebbiolo that it was sometimes called White Barolo. Do you know the name of this grape?
A4: Arneis. Arneis was a popular blending partner for the Barolo wines in the past, and that gave it a name of White Barolo.
Q5: In the blind tasting setting, the wines made out of Nebbiolo can be very distinguishable even before you take a first sip. Do you know what is this distinct feature of Nebbiolo wines?
A5: Orange hue. It is very indicative feature of Nebbiolo wines, especially as they gain any amount of age. You can also distinguish young Barolo by tremendous amount of tannins ( typically), but that is only a feature of particular style of wine and not the grape, and it is whole another story.
There were lots of responses this time! We have two winners (drum roll, please): VinoInLove and Mika ( no web site) get unlimited bragging rights. Also Stefano, Jeff TheDrunkenCyclist and Oliver TheWineGetter all get honorable mention with 4 correct answers out of 5. Thank you to all participants! We have one more red grape to cover for now, and then we are switching to whites. Oh yes, you can start guessing now, what will be this last red grape – you will find out if you are right or not on Saturday.
And now, to the interesting stuff around vine and web!
First, I want to bring to your attention an interesting article about wine and pregnancy from Vinography blog. I don’t know if there are right and wrong here, my personal theory that everything is good in moderation – and any good thing taken out of proportion can and will become your enemy. Still, it is an interesting read, and don’t miss the comments section.
Now, two of the bloggers I follow posted “impossible food and wine pairing” questions. Dr. Vino asked about pairing of wine with anchovies, and the TheArmchairSommelier had a very interesting question about pairing of the summer salad (which contains among other ingredients watermelon, blueberries, honey and feta), which sounds delicious by itself, but presents a substantial challenge of finding the right wine. Visit both blogs and offer your advice, if you will – of course if you want to comment here, I will be very happy to have the discussion in this blog.
Last but not least – a murder story and the warning to those who diss the Chardonnay, as presented by W. Blake Gray – read it here, it is short…
This is all I have for you – the glass is empty. But refill is coming, as usual – and don’t forget that today is Wine and Whiskey Wednesday (like you need a reason to drink, ha). Cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #62: Wine Trivia – Nebbiolo
Nebbiolo grapes, picture from Wikipedia
Welcome to the weekend! Your new wine quiz has arrived.
Today our subject is the Italian grape called Nebbiolo – a power grape of Piedmont, solely responsible for some of the world’s best wines, Barolo and Barbareso.
As I’m working on this series of quizzes, I’m of course learning a lot myself. It was very interesting for me to realize, that unlike any other major red grape we talked about so far, Nebbiolo is pretty much confined to the 6 or so areas in Italy, where it makes wonderful wines – its world-wide spread is non existent, not even in the form of clones, like Zinfandel. And this is all despite the fact that Nebbiolo is quite an old grape, with first mentions going all the way back to the 13th century.
Nebbiolo is a very tricky grape to work with. It has the longest ripening cycle out of many grapes – buds early, ripens very late, prone both to mutation (there are about 40 known clones) and grape diseases. But – the resulting wines, like Barolo and Barbaresco, clearly worth the trouble, with wonderful aromatics, power and concentration. Also the ageing potential of the Nebbiolo wines is almost unlimited.
Now, to the quiz!
Q1: Explain the meaning of the name “Nebbiolo”
Q2: In one of the regions outside Piedmont, the wines are produced from Nebbiolo grapes in the style of Amarone – with grapes drying on the straw mats before they are pressed. Can you name that region?
Q3: True or False: Blending is not allowed for any of the wines produced from Nebbiolo grape in Piedmont region.
Q4: White grape used to be such a traditional blending partner for Nebbiolo that it was sometimes called White Barolo. Do you know the name of this grape?
Q5: In the blind tasting setting, the wines made out of Nebbiolo can be very distinguishable even before you take a first sip. Do you know what is this distinct feature of Nebbiolo wines?
Good luck, enjoy your weekend and cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, WTSO Cheapskate Wednesday in Progress, How To Taste Wine and more
Meritage Time!
Let’s start with the answer to the wine quiz #61, grape trivia – Tempranillo. In the quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions about Tempranillo, the noble Spanish grape. Here are the questions with the answers:
Q1: What is the meaning of the name Tempranillo?
A1: Name Tempranillo comes from Spanish word temprano, which means “early”. Tempranillo typically ripens two weeks earlier compare to many other grapes.
Q2: Name 3 grapes, traditional blending partners of Tempranillo
A2: Traditionally, in Rioja wines, Tempranillo is blended with Mazuello, Grenache and Graciano.
Q3: What is common between Bodegas Muga, La Rioja Alta, Lopez de Heredia and Vina Real outside of the fact that all four are very famous Rioja producers and of course make wines out of Tempranillo?
A3: This was definitely a difficult question. What this four wonderful Rioja producers have in common is … location. All for wineries are located within walking distance from each other around old train station in Haro.
Q4: Tempranillo is used in production of the wine outside of Spain, which is at least equally famous to Rioja. Do you know what wine is that?
A4: Port. Tempranillo is known in Portugal under the name of Tinta Roriz, and it is one of the essential grapes in Port production.
Q5: Name two producers of Tempranillo wines – one is the most famous and another one is probably the most expensive.
A5: Another pretty difficult question. Vega Sicilia is definitely the most famous producer of Tempranillo wines with their flagship wine called Unico. And while it is quite expensive at $500+ per bottle, Dominio de Pingus makes probably the most expensive Tempranillo wines. Both wineries are located in Ribera del Duero region.
Based on the low participation in this quiz I can only say – people, you have to drink more Spanish wines (see, I’m only using bold font instead of capitalizing = screaming)! Especially from Rioja and Ribera del Duero. Anyway, as I said, at least two questions were quite difficult. We don’t have clear winner today, with Emil ( he doesn’t have a blog) coming the closest with about 3.5 points, so he definitely gets an honorable mention.
And now to the interesting stuff around vine and web!
First – don’t miss the WTSO Cheapskate Wednesday which is taking place today, June 19th. Yes, it is not super convenient to keep WTSO open in the browser and hit refresh all the time, but you have very few alternatives to that. You can also follow WTSO on Twitter – the only medium where new wine information is updated in real time. Make sure you have all your correct information on file with WTSO – shipping address and the credit card – otherwise you are risking to miss on the wine you want while you will be filling up the details (being there, done that). I posted many times before about WTSO events – if you are interesting in taking the look at the past sales, use this link.
Next, I want to bring to your attention an interesting article by Master Sommelier Tim Gaiser, called “How to taste wine”. I’m sure that many of you tried at various occasion to figure out what exactly is in your glass – it is a fun challenge to take random glass of wine, look, sniff, swirl, sip – and confidently say “Shiraz, Barossa, Penfolds, 1998 or 1999” and then find out that you’ve been right, or may be it was actually an Argentinian Malbec. Using techniques offered as part of any serious wine education (Master Sommeliers, WSET, Master of Wine, etc.) can actually increase your chances of being right. This article explains in good detail the approach to the blind tasting taken by Master Sommeliers.
If you are a Pinot Noir aficionado, this article might be for you. Written by Jay McInerney for Wall Street Journal, it is dedicated to David Hirsch of Hirsch Vineyards, one of the pioneers of Sonoma cool climate Pinot Noir.
Last but not least, here is an interesting blog post by W. Blake Gray, where he is talking about the study regarding cork taint. According to that study, 10% of the people actually prefer corked wines! For the first 10 minutes after I read it, I had mostly expletives roaming through my head – then I was able to compose myself and leave a [decent] comment. Yeah, well, no further comments – read it for yourself…
That’s all I have for you for today – the glass is empty! Refill is coming, and until the next time – cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #61: Grape Trivia – Tempranillo
Tempranillo grapes as captured in Wikipedia
Welcome to the weekend! Here is your new wine quiz you’ve been waiting for so hard (yeah, okay, I know I’m pushing it, but may be at least a bit?)
And yes, we are continuing the grape trivia subject – by the way, if you are tired of it, do tell me – I will come up with something else. Just to let you know, we have two more red grapes to go through, and then we will switch to the whites for may be 8 different white grapes – then will see where we will end up.
Today’s subject is – Tempranillo! Just saying the word Tempranillo makes me very excited, as Rioja, one of the most well-known wines made out of Tempranillo grapes, are some of my all time favorites.
Tempranillo is indigenous grape originating in Spain, with more than 2000 years of history. It is black, thick-skinned grape, capable of surviving temperature swings of Mediterranean climate, with very hot days and cool nights. Tempranillo grapes are naturally low in acid and sugar content, so they often rely on blending partners to complement on both. Flavor profile of Tempranillo typically includes berries, leather (so famous in Rioja wines) and tobacco. Most famous Tempranillo wines come from Spain, from Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions, but Tempranillo is successfullygrowing in many other regions, including Portugal, California, Texas (up and coming star), South Africa, Australia and others.
And now, to the quiz!
Q1: What is the meaning of the name Tempranillo?
Q2: Name 3 grapes, traditional blending partners of Tempranillo
Q3: What is common between Bodegas Muga, La Rioja Alta, Lopez de Heredia and Vina Real outside of the fact that all four are very famous Rioja producers and of course make wines out of Tempranillo?
Q4: Tempranillo is used in production of the wine outside of Spain, which is at least equally famous to Rioja. Do you know what wine is that?
Q5: Name two producers of Tempranillo wines – one is the most famous and another one is probably the most expensive.
Enjoy the weekend and good luck with the quiz. And don’t forget to celebrate Dad tomorrow – Father’s Day, yay! Cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #60: Grape Trivia – Sangiovese
Sangiovese grapes close up from Wikipedia
Welcome to the weekend! Yep, it is the time for the new wine knowledge test.
We are continuing our Grape Trivia series, and today we will talk about Sangiovese – one of the most famous Italian grapes. Sangiovese is typically associated with Chianti, but in reality, Sangiovese is one of the most planted grapes all over Italy. One of the interesting issues is that Sangiovese, similarly to Pinot Noir, is very clone-prone, so it is known in different places under different names, such as Sangiovese Grosso, Prugnolo Gentile or Calabrese, to take a few.
Sangiovese is black skinned grape with cherry-dominant, earthy and savory profile. Sangiovese is capable of a wide range of expressions, starting from simple food friendly wines from Chianti to the oak-loaded monsters requiring long ageing and long decanting, coming from different regions in Tuscany and beyond. Absolute majority of Sangiovese plantings are located in Italy, but the grape is also slowly becoming popular in the other regions such as United States or Argentina.
Now, to the quiz! I thought that Zinfandel was not a simple quiz to compose, but then I realized that it is even more difficult to create an interesting quiz all around Sangiovese. For what it worth, 5 questions are below.
Q1: Grape, blending partner mostly of the past, typically leading to Sangiovese wines becoming dull and unexciting.
Q2: What is Fiasco, and how is it related to the Chianti wines?
Q3: On some of the bottles of Chianti, you could see an image of the black rooster. What is the meaning of it?
Q4: Tuscany no doubts is the major source of Sangiovese wines. Can you name 4 sub-regions in Tuscany, producing great wines with Sangiovese as the main variety?
Q5: Name 3 leading regions in United States producing Sangiovese wines. For an extra bonus, add your favorite producer(s).
Have a great weekend, have fun and cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Le Féret, En Premeur Tales, 1WD Giveaway and more
Meritage time!
Let’s start from the answer to the wine quiz #59, Grape Trivia – Zinfandel. In the quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions about California’s star grape, Zinfandel. 
I know many people prefer to answer quizzes in the Google-free form – however, this Zinfandel quiz was somewhat of an exception. Let’s move on to the answers.
Q1: It was established recently that Zinfandel existed in Croatia under a different name, at least from the 15th century. Do you know what was that name?
A1. This was actually a tricky question. People, I mentioned Crljenak Kaštelanski right in the text of the quiz – I was hoping that this would be enough of a hint that this will not be a right answer. If someone will look into Wikipedia, you will be able to find that “After years of research and DNA testing of vines from vineyards across the globe, a single 90 year old grape vine from the garden of an elderly lady in Split, Croatia, provided the evidence to show that Zinfandel was a Croatian grape that has been known as Tribidrag since at least the 15th century.” So the correct answer for the question #1 is Tribidrag.
Q2: While Zinfandel typically listed on the label, very often some other grapes are added to the blend. Name one grape which can be considered a traditional blending partner of Zinfandel
A2: Petite Sirah. Look at the information on many Zinfandel wines, and you will often see at least some percentage of Petit Sirah to be a part of the blend.
Q3: Pink Zinfandel was discovered by accident. Can you explain how that happen, and possibly use the proper winemaking term for the “accident”
A3: Oops, sorry, I should’ve being checking my writing. It is actually White Zinfandel, not Pink, of course – pink is just a color… Anyway, I see that many of you figured out what I meant ( I will still correct the question) – yes, White Zinfandel was discovered as a result of the accident, which is called “stuck fermentation” – all the yeast dies and fermentation stopped before sugar was fully converted into the alcohol.
Q4: Two California winemakers are largely credited with putting red Zinfandel wines on the wine map. Can you name them?
A4: Most of you mentioned only the wineries – and the question was actually about the winemakers. But thedrunkencyclist was correct mentioning Ridge and Ravenswood – Paul Draper of Ridge and Joel Peterson of Ravenswood are largely considered the pioneers of California Zinfandel.
Q5: Most of the well known Zinfandel producers still make other wines from the different grapes. But there is one winery in California ( at least that I know of), which make nothing but Zinfandel wines. Can you name that winery?
A5: Yes, this was a tough question too. Most of the famous Zinfandel producers – Turley, Ravenswood, Rosenbloom, Seghesio, Robert Biale, and so on – are all producing other wines in addition to their great Zinfandels. The only winery I know of which produces Zinfandel and nothing but Zinfandel is Wine Guerilla – it is not for nothing they are calling themselves “An Art and Soul of Zinfandel”. Take a look at their line up – they are currently offering 13 different kinds of Zinfandel – and nothing but Zinfandel.
Summing it up, we don’t have winners this week, and Jeff, a.k.a. thedrunkencyclist gets an honorable mention with 3 correct answers out of 5.
Now, to the interesting stuff around vine and the web!
Have you heard of Editions Féret? I have to admit that I didn’t, not until I read a Wine Spectator article called “The Book that Defined Bordeaux“. It appears that the book, now called Editions Féret, or simply Le Féret, which started exactly 200 years ago as 84 pages travel guide, and had grown to become a 2,296 pages bible, largely defined Bordeaux wines, starting from famous 1855 classification – it was that book which rated the wines simply based on their prices in 1850, which was taken as a foundation of 1855 classification. Read the article, I think it is quite interesting.
According the post on Dr.Vino’s blog, it appears that during En Premeur, a primary Bordeaux event where new vintages are presented, one and the same wine can be “processed ” differently for the different groups of tasters – Americans will get the wine exposed to more of the new oak, and the same wine for the French audience will be finished to have more subtle showing of the fruit. Is it true? I have no idea. But it gets a final product into an interesting perspective – does it mean that one and the same Bordeaux wine can taste differently depending on where you will buy it ( in US or in Europe)? Hmmm…
Do you like giveaways? Of course you do, who doesn’t? So assuming that you do, please go and check this post at 1WineDude web site – if you leave a comment there, you will get a chance to wine one of the 5 memberships in the French Wine Society. I think it is not a bad deal, huh?
Last but not least – mark your calendars for June 19th – and make room in your wine cellars and their equivalents. Yep – WTSO is doing it again! Famous Cheapskate Wednesday is coming into town on June 19th – for more information please visit WTSO web site (you can find link in the “Buying Wine section to your right) or click this link.
That’s all I have for you for today, folks – the glass is empty. But refill is on on its way. Until the next time – cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #59: Grape Trivia – Zinfandel
Traditional gnarly look of old Zinfandel vines. Picture from Wikipedia.
And the new weekend is upon us, together with the wine quiz.
We are continuing the grape trivia, and we are continuing exploring the red grapes (let me know if you think it is the time to switch to the whites). Today’s subject is Zinfandel, an American star.
Zinfandel is the black-skinned grape, known as an early ripening variety and capable of accumulating very high levels of sugar – this is one of the reasons why you can often see Zinfandel wines with alcohol by volume levels easily exceeding 15%.
Story of Zinfandel is one of the most fascinating ones compare to many other grapes you can think of – considering the amount of genetic research which went into establishing the origins of Zinfandel, the amount of attention this grape received is pretty mind boggling. After many years of back and force, it is now established that Zinfandel and Primitivo (an Italian grape from Apulia) are two individual clones of Croatian grape called Crljenak Kaštelanski. As The Drunken Cyclist, a regular winner of these quizzes, pointed out in his own quiz a while back, both Zinfandel and Primitivo are considered independent varieties and should be listed as separate varieties on the wine labels of the wines in US.
Another interesting part of the Zinfandel story is that actual powerful and seductive Zinfandel red wines as we know them now, almost became extinct at some point due to the success of sweet and insipid Pink Zinfandel wines (but please pay some respect – Pink Zinfandel still accounts for almost 10% of wine sales in US).
And now, to the quiz! As the subject is very narrow (Zinfandel is not growing all over the world), enlisting Google as your helper is totally fine (not that it was not with any of my quizzes before) – but this is up to you, of course. In any case, even if you can only answer a few questions – please do!
Q1: It was established recently that Zinfandel existed in Croatia under a different name, at least from the 15th century. Do you know what was that name?
Q2: While Zinfandel typically listed on the label, very often some other grapes are added to the blend. Name one grape which can be considered a traditional blending partner of Zinfandel
Q3: White Zinfandel was discovered by accident. Can you explain how that happen, and possibly use the proper winemaking term for the “accident”
Q4: Two California winemakers are largely credited with putting red Zinfandel wines on the wine map. Can you name them?
Q5: Most of the well known Zinfandel producers still make other wines from the different grapes. But there is one winery in California ( at least that I know of), which make nothing but Zinfandel wines. Can you name that winery?
Good luck, enjoy your weekend and cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Ageing of California Cabs, Is 0.05 an answer?, and more
Meritage time!
As usual, we are starting with the answer to the wine quiz #58, Grape Trivia – Syrah. In the quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions about Syrah, a.k.a. Shiraz.
Q1: Where is Shiraz?
A1: Shiraz is a town in Iran (previously Persia) where supposedly Syrah was originated.
Q2: Which white grape often plays a role of blending companion for Shiraz?
A2: Viognier is often added to both Syrah (Côte-Rôtie) and Shiraz. In many cases you can see Shiraz Viognier written on the labels of Australian wines.
Q3: One of the appellations below can be removed from the list – can you tell which one and why? For the answer to count, “why” explanation is required
A. Cornas, B. Côte-Rôtie, C. Crozes-Hermitage, D. Hermitage, E. Saint-Joseph
A3: Cornas. While Syrah is the only red grape allowed to be used in all of the appellations above, all appellations except Cornas also allow addition of white grapes (Viognier or Marsanne and Roussanne) to the final wine.
Q4: About 100 years ago, Syrah was a popular addition to the wines of one well known region – now this practice is totally illegal by the appellation rules. Do you know what region was that?
A4: Bordeaux. Syrah was a popular addition to Bordeaux wine, providing the structure and flesh. Of course the practice is illegal according to Bordeaux AOC rules, but it is still quite popular in the other regions, such as Australia, where you can often find Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz wines.
Q5: Where do you think are the oldest in the world continuously producing Syrah vineyards are located? Can you guess the approximate age of the vines?
A5: Australia. It is very difficult to figure out who was first and who was not, as in the wine world, there are always multiple claims to the “first” and “oldest” bragging rights. Based on the information I came across in this forum discussion, the oldest Shiraz vines had being planted in 1846 in the Jacobs Creek area, and Schild Estate is producing the wine called Moorooroo Shiraz from those old vines.
And the winners are… The Drunken Cyclist (I think for 5 times in the row!). He got all 5 questions correctly – great job, Jeff! Very close right behind him (with 4.5 out of 5 points – very close in the area for Shiraz, but named a different country – is Barbie from Blindly Guessing Grapes. If you are not familiar with her blog – check it out, she is constantly challenging herself to taste and learn about different grapes, definitely worth your attention. Honorable mention goes to Red Wine Diva, who correctly answered 3 out of 5 questions. Great job all, enjoy your bragging rights!
And now, to the interesting stuff around the vines and the web!
First I want to mention an interesting post by Steve Heimoff, where he is talking about change in perception of what ageable California Cabernet Sauvignon is, from 1970s to today. Steve’s point is that back in the 70s, to be considered age-worthy, Cabernet was supposed to taste bad on the release – where this is definitely not the point now. Read it for yourself, and as usual, don’t forget to read through the comments section, as it contains a lot of interesting information.
Next subject is currently widely discussed in many alcohol-related blogs – NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) recently came up with recommendation to lower allowed alcohol blood limit to 0.05 (down from 0.08 which is currently the limit). Both Steve Heimoff and W. Blake Gray wrote blog posts about it, which you can read here and here, advocating the idea that just lowering of the alcohol blood level will not be the solution for DUI-related accidents. They both covered the subject quite well, so I’m not going to repeat all of their arguments – but I recommend that you will read their posts, as in the end of the day, this relates to all of us and our ability to have a glass of wine with the meal in the restaurant.
There is also something else I want you to think about here. My friend Emil sent me a very interesting link tot he blog post titled “Survivorship Bias“. The post is very (very!) long and has nothing to do with wine – it is however a very (very!) worthwhile reading. This post is talking about the fact that when we analyze the problem, we tend to focus on successful outcome only, and we forget to carefully look on all the failed results and dead-end paths (it is impossible to give you a good summary in one sentence, you will be better off reading the post). The connection here? I believe that most of drunk-driving accidents were caused by the people whose blood alcohol level was far exceeding 0.08, forget 0.05. Majority of the people involved into DUI accidents never thought of what the allowed blood alcohol level is – 0.08, 0.05 or whatever, so lowering the limit will only allow to collect more fines and get in the way of more people’s lives – but it is not going to address the problem itself and reduce the number of drunk-driving related accidents. By no means I advocate or promote drunk-driving, this is definitely a serious problem which needs to be solved – but in order to solve this problem, it should be analyzed properly first, and this is what I believe this 0.05 recommendation is lacking.
And this is all I have for you for today. I think you are looking at lots of interesting reading, and if you want to discuss any of this “news”, this is what the comments section is for.
The glass is empty – but refill is on the way. Until the next time – cheers!
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