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Weekly Wine Quiz #53 – Grapes Trivia: Cabernet Sauvignon
And the has come for our weekly wine quiz!
I like to organize things, when possible. So far my quizzes where a little bit (just kidding – really a lot) all over the place – from auctions to riddles to history; left, right and beyond. At the same time, I really would like to run a series of quizzes somehow related to each other. So I thought of this grape series, and that is the best I can come up with at the moment, so let me run with this.
This will be a series of posts dedicated to different grapes. Don’t wait for any substantial gotchas – at this point, there no plans for quizzes solely dedicated to Fiana or Romorantin (hmm, on the other side…). Instead, the quizzes will be dedicated to the mainstream grapes majority can attest to, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and so on.
Today we are starting with the Cabernet Sauvignon grape. Cabernet Sauvignon needs no introduction – it is a mainstream grape in production of many of the best (and not) red wines in the world. In a few words Cabernet Sauvignon can be described as late ripening variety with thick skin and somewhat of a small berry. Flavor profile of Cabernet Sauvignon wines often includes eucalyptus, green bell peppers, mint and black currant (cassis). Cabernet Sauvignon has great affinity to oak and the wines are usually age very well. Cabernet Sauvignon is grown all over the world with most famous wines coming from Bordeaux, California, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Italy and Washington.
Here come the quiz questions:
Q1: Which two grapes are the parents of Cabernet Sauvignon?
Q2: The world’s oldest Cabernet Sauvignon vines are located in (name winery and/or vineyard for extra credit):
A. Bordeaux
B. Chile
C. California
D. Australia
E. Georgia
Q3: True or False: Since 2000, plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon increased in Bordeaux?
Q4: The second largest in the world plantings (by area) of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are located in:
A. Australia
B. California
C. Chile
D. Hungary
E. Moldova
F. South Africa
Q5: Absolute majority of Bordeaux wines are blends. Name four grapes which are traditional blending companions of Cabernet Sauvignon in Bordeaux
Have fun and good luck! Enjoy your weekend and cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Better Blog Writing, Useful Blogging Links amd more
Let’s start from the answer for the Wine quiz #52, The Oak Trivia. In the quiz, you were supposed to answer 5 questions related to the oak usage in the wine making.
Q1: True or false: American oak typically imparts stronger flavor than the french oak?
Correct answer: True.
Q2: There are 5 major forests in France from which the oak is used in the wine making. Oak from which forest is considered least suitable for use with the wines and more used in production of the Cognac?
A. Allier
B. Never
C. Limousin – correct answer. Limousin oak is often used for production of Cognac
D. Troncais
E. Vosges
Q3: Troncais forest was planted by the order of Napoleon. Do you know what was the intended use of the oak trees from that forest?
Correct answer – shipbuilding. Yes, this is what oak originally was intended for.
Q4: True or False: The use of Oak chips is illegal in France?
Correct answer: False. in 2006, European Union approved usage of the oak chips in winemaking process, and it also became legal in France. Here is the link to one of the articles on the subject.
Q5. True or False: When barrels are made from the trees in the same forest by the same cooperage, all the barrels will be identical and will impart flavor of the wine in the same way?
Correct answer: False. It is possible that every plank used in the barrel will be coming from different side of the forest. When charred, all the planks can be charred unevenly. Thus there can be significant difference in the impact on the wine between the different barrels.
There were quite a few answers provided, and it seems that everybody did a very good job. Question #4 proved to be the culprit – nobody expects that oak chips can be used instead of oak barrels in France, right? But they actually are – since 2006 adding oak chips is legal in France. The armchairsommelier got closest to the winning with 4 correct answers. Both armchairsommelier and foodandwinehedonist also correctly answered bonus question – the logo in the picture belongs to the Williamsburg Winery, which makes very good wines (if you ever in the Williamsburg area in Virginia, make sure to visit it). Eatwithnamie gets an honorable mention as she participated in the quiz for the first time.
And now, to the interesting stuff! Today, it is not so much about the actual news, as much as it is really an interesting information around the net which deserves attention.
First, this past Monday was April Fools day, so [rather as expected] there were a number of interesting posts of all kinds. I liked (sorry!) my own post with various wine news, including new Target and Walmart wines, CocaTour cocktails and DudeChuk joint venture. Then there was an excellent piece from OmNomCT blog about Munchies Brewery ( I think those guys are onto something). And then there was a story from Wining Daily about Billionaire’s Vinaigrette, which I pretty much believed…
Next I want to bring to your attention a couple of very useful resources for all of us bloggers. I follow the blog called Eat and Sip in the City which is written by Michelle Levine and it is all about food and wine happenings in the city of Boston. Michelle also has a regular post called “Worthwhile reads from the web this week”. In her last post, I found two interesting references. One of them is called “33 Unusual Tips To Being A Better Writer“. You might jump at the tip number two, but overall, I think those tips make a lot of sense, and I’m definitely aware of some which I clearly need to enforce for my own good.
Another link in Michelle’s post was for “Food Bloggers: 150+ Links to Everything You Need to Know” – I didn’t have a chance to go over it in detail, but it seems to be a great collection of useful information.
Here is an interesting piece of infographics for you – Corkage fees facts and figures – you can compare corkage fees in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, as well as by the type of cuisine – I think this is very interesting info.
And the last note for today – profile of Amarone producers in Decanter magazine. I understand that this is an article from 2007 – but if you are an Amarone junkie like myself, it is very interesting to see all the different producers being presented in this article.
That’s all I have for you for today, folks. The glass is empty. Until the next time – cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Round and Around WBC and more
Meritage Time!
Let’s start fromt he answer for the Wine Quiz #51 – Hiding in the plain sight, part 2.
In that quiz, you were supposed to identify as many wines/wineries as possible in my fictional writing. Here is the same fragment, with the actual wines shown in bold and underlined:
– Hey, Gloria, Mr. Giribaldi is here. You really have to tell me if you are going to Sicilia with him. The ticket will cost only $890. Your aunt Elena and cousin Ben will be excited to see you. Your great-grand aunt Olga is turning hundred! Everybody will be there. Remember Livio, the blue eyed boy? He was such a little angel… Anyway, he is coming with Virginia, and I’m sure you will have lots of catching up to do.
– okay, mom, I will go. By the way, if you see Kay, tell him that I’m through with him.
Now, in the order of appearance:
Chateau Gloria – Famous French winery from Saint-Julien
Mario Giribaldi – winery and winemaker in Piedmont
Vega Sicilia – legendary winery from Ribero del Duero, Spain
La Rioja Alta “890” Gran Reserva – one of the top wines from La Rioja Alta
Elena Walch – great winery and winemaker in Alto Adige region
Olivier Cousin – rebel natural wines wine maker in Anjou area of Loire
Ben Ryè – spectacular sweet wine produced by Donnafugata in Sicily
Olga Raffault – great winery in Chinon
Turning Leaf – Vineyard in California
Hundred Acre – a cult wine from California
Livio Felluga – great Italian producer from Friuli
blue eyed boy – name of the Shiraz wine from the great Australian producer Mollydooker Wines
Ballet of Angels – white wine produced by Connecticut winery Sharpe Hills
Virginie de Valandraud – second label of legendary Château Valandraud (had a mistake in the spelling – should be Virginie and not Virginia, sorry about that)
if you see Kay – red wine from Lazio region in Italy, produced by Jason Woodbridge
Whew, this was a very long answer. I guess it was a tough quiz, as there were not that many players, but – I can tell you for sure I had lots of fun putting it together. VinoInLove came up with 10 good answers, even though many of the names he came up with didn’t match my intended answers, but as I mentioned in the description of the quiz, this will be still qualified. Thus VinoInLove is our winner, and Frank from WineTalks get honorable mention for coming up with 5 right answers. Great job!
Now, to the interesting stuff around the vine web. I got an e-mail from Wine Bloggers Conference, and it lead me to the collection of noteworthy information on Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC) web site. First, a few weeks ago I got an invitation from WBC to complete the wine blogging survey, which I did. Preliminary results are already available here, and you can learn there a few interesting things. For instance, it appears that average wine blogger has 3,418 follower on twitter – I guess I’m well below of an average wine blogger, as I have less than one third of that number. Another interesting fact is that less than 19% of the wine bloggers had being blogging for 6+ years. Anyway, check it out for yourself, and if you didn’t take the survey, you still have time to do it ( you can found the link on that same page with preliminary results). WBC site holds other interesting links – for instance, here is the link for so called Citizen Wine Blogs in America ( which includes both US and Canada) – the WBC web site is definitely worth exploring.
Another important news is that the call for nominations for 7th Annual Wine Blog Awards is now open! It will be open until Sunday, March 31st, so if anyone thinks this very blog worth a nomination, you can do so using this link (needless to say that I will be forever grateful).
Moving on, I still have a few interesting things for you. There are new wines on the market from the state of Washington, produced by Paul Gregutt, who you might know by his blog called Unfined and Unfiltered. The wines are produced under the label of Waitsburg Cellars. While I’m sure it will be difficult to find those wines, at least you can enjoy the descriptions coming under the theme called The Aromatics.
While this might be an old news for many of you, but it is interesting to see that now Parker is suing Antonio Galloni for the breach of contract. The world of wine, as everything else under the sun, becomes anything but boring once the big money start talking. Not sure if wine lovers will benefit, but the lawyers will be able to afford a few extra bottles of Petrus.
Last for today is a local update. I added a few links to the blogroll for the blogs I follow, and I also created a new link category called Wine Travel. American Winery Guide, To-Tuscany, Winerist and Napa Now are the four web sites listed there. If you have a blog or site dedicated to the wine travel, please let me know and I will be glad to add it to the blogroll.
It was a long post – but the glass is finally empty. Enjoy your Wine Wednesday and until the next time – cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #51 – Hiding in the Plain Sight, Part 2
It is Saturday again, therefore, it is time for the wine quiz!
I want to continue the theme of the previous wine quiz #50, where you were supposed to find as many wine and winery names as possible in a small fragment of [poorly written] fictional dialog. The quiz seemed to be successful, but it happened to be focused mostly on California wines. Below you will find the text where I really made an effort to include the wines from all over the world. Just to give you some clues – it is possible that some of the words will lead to multiple wine/winery names – you will need to name at least one. Also, a lot of words (but not all) below will be a part of the two-word wine/winery name – you will need to name the full two-word name for it to count. To give you an example – if you would see the name Phelps in the text, the right answer would be Joseph Phelps, as it is an official name of the California winery. Capish? I thought so. Last note – it is okay to use Goggle – I think it will be a fun game in any case. Let’s proceed.
– Hey, Gloria, Mr. Giribaldi is here. You really have to tell me if you are going to Sicilia with him. The ticket will cost only $890. Your aunt Elena and cousin Ben will be excited to see you. Your great-grand aunt Olga is turning hundred! Everybody will be there. Remember Livio, the blue eyed boy? He was such a little angel… Anyway, he is coming with Virginia, and I’m sure you will have lots of catching up to do.
– okay, mom, I will go. By the way, if you see Kay, tell him that I’m through with him.
Again, there should be more than ten wines (and I will also wait for someone to tell me about the wines I even didn’t know exist) – but even if you can’t find any – your comment will be loved in any case.
Good luck, have fun, have a great weekend and cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Following Steve Heimoff, and more
Meritage Time!
Let’s start from the answer to the wine quiz #50, Hiding in the plain sight.
In the quiz, you were presented with the little fragment of fiction where you were supposed to find as many wine names as possible:
– Hey, Justin, see that skinny girl standing there?
-Which one, the one in the “to the rescue” t-shirt, almost naked?
– No, the other one, with the cupcake in her left hand.
– Ahh, that is Patrina, she is one of the three girls in the Bryant family, the middle sister. Let me introduce you.
– Hey, Patrina, please meet my friend Kris – he is the worshiper of Orpheus, the poet.
As you can see above, now all the wine names are bold and actually linked to the available wine info, so you can check them out. There are 14 wine names plus a little curve ball – Left Hand is the name of the beer brewing company. And I have to honestly admit that I learned that Ahh is the wine name only from thedrunkensyclist‘ s answer, so I guess that should make him a double-winner here. I’m glad to mention that this was a very successful quiz, with many answers.
And the winners are (drum roll, please)… thedrunkensyclist, who identified 15 wines and gets double-award for exceeding expectations. Both armchairsommelier and Zak get honorable mentions – they both did very well. Now, I can’t decide if I want to repeat this quiz trying to focus on European wines, or the wine names with the numbers in them – but you will be the first to know. Decision, decisions…
And now, to the interesting stuff around the web. This time around I came across a number of interesting posts by Steve Heimoff, an editor for Wine Enthusiast magazine. The first one is about the coveted subject of the wine world – terroir. In this post, called The End of Terroir, he is talking exactly about the whole concept of “terroir” and whether it is real or not. The debate is endless, but for me, terroir, or “sense of place” is something I always look for in the wine (I rarely find it for real, in most cases I only think I do) – and looking for that “sense of place” is a part of enjoying the wine, so I will continue doing that no matter what the general consensus is.
His next post is about the California wines and whether they can taste too sweet, which I’m sure they do for many of us, at least from time to time. No need for me to comment here, but it is an interesting read.
And the last one from Steve Heimoff posts relates to the restaurant experience, and the power of Sommelier’s suggestion (or not). How many times have you being in the restaurant, asking for the wine recommendation? How many times did you actually end up taking that suggestion? Did you enjoy the pairing after all or did you dislike it? Hmmm, I think this might make it for a nice poll (note to self). Anyway, read the post, I think it is interesting.
And that now leads us to the last post I want to share with you for today – this one is written by W. Blake Gray and it talks about unwanted but related part of the restaurant experience – corked wines. What do you do when you come across corked wine in the restaurant? Do you actually drink it? Enjoy it? Send it back? Again, I think this is an interesting subject for the whole blog post.
Okay, we are done here. The glass is empty. But another pour is on the way. Until the next time – cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #50 – Hiding In The Plain Sight
And yet another week is becoming a history – but – the weekend is still mostly ahead of us, and – the new wine quiz is here!
As you probably noticed, my wine quiz themes are usually pretty random. Very often, I have no idea what the quiz will be all about before I sit down to write it. Or in many cases, I think I know what the quiz will be all about, only to change the idea completely right before I will start writing it.
This was the case today – I actually had the idea, which I thought was somewhat decent – but then different idea came to mind, and now the first one will have to wait for its time.
In today’s quiz, you will need to look for some wines – the wine names, to be more precise. Below is a little fragment from he unwritten fiction, which I’m sure will help you to appreciate that I’m only writing the wine blog and not the novels. In this fragment, there are many wine names, hiding in the plain sight. Can you find them?
– Hey, Justin, see that skinny girl standing there?
-Which one, the one in the “to the rescue” t-shirt, almost naked?
– No, the other one, with the cupcake in her left hand.
– Ahh, that is Patrina, she is one of the three girls in the Bryant family, the middle sister. Let me introduce you.
– Hey, Patrina, please meet my friend Kris – he is the worshiper of Orpheus, the poet.
I’m sure SAHMmelier would execute this better, considering her writing talents (take a look at her poem), but I honestly tried.
I will give you a hint – there are at least ten wines ( actually more, but okay) hiding in that little dialog – so get your magnifying glass and start looking. But please, don’t feel bad if you will find only one or even none – it is your comment that matters, even if you only want to say “hi”.
Good luck and enjoy both the quiz and your weekend! Answers are coming on Wednesday. Cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Lighter Wines from California?, WBC2013 and more
Meritage time!
Let’s start with the answer for the wine quiz #49, Once upon a time. In the quiz, you were presented with three well known expressions ( okay, of course “honeymoon” is just a word), and you were supposed to explain the origins of the expressions as it connects to the world of wine (or any other type of alcohol). So the expressions were:
- Honeymoon
- Wet your whistle
- Rule of thumb
To tell you honestly, I wanted to play this quiz for a while. What was stopping me is the fact that all of the “right answers” are just some forms of legend – the exact source of the expressions will stay the subject of prolonged debates. But – I’m glad that I finally decided to ignore my doubts – judging by the number of answers, this was definitely a fun quiz.
Let me give you my version of the answers, which I will call the “correct answers” for the lack of the better term.
Honeymoon: both armchairsommelier and thefoodandwinehedonist provided the correct answer – in the ancient times, when the couple was married, the father of the bride was supposed to provide the month-long supply of the honey-based alcoholic beverage called mead. As months were measured by the lunar calendar in those times, hence the reference to the “moon” – honeymoon.
Wet your whistle: according to the version I like, in the old but not such a distant times, England pubs were serving beer in the mugs with the whistle baked in as part of the mug, like in this modern version shown here – when you want a refill, you just use a whistle. I like this version despite a lot of dismissal over this version on the internet – the other version has to do with one simply being thirsty and “whistle” being used as a reference for one’s throat – this is again what both armchairsommelier and thefoodandwinehedonist offered as an explanation. I still like my version more, so there.
Rule of thumb: I appreciate all the versions offered, however, even if they are true, I can’t connect beating one’s wife with the wine (unless someone way too much of it, but this is definitely way off). Many of you correctly assumed that the thumb is a measuring device, however, not for the size of pour – instead the thumb was used in the beer brewing to measure the right temperature.
To round it up – I was glad to see many people playing, and the honorable mention definitely goes to the armchairsommelier and thefoodandwinehedonist.
Now, to the interesting stuff around the web. Have you heard that there is a new movement in California to make lighter, more food friendly and easier to love wines? Whether you did or not, the phenomena is there, as requested by many consumers. Here is an interesting blog post by W. Blake Gray, talking about an article in Hemispheres magazine, which in turn is discussing the subject of the lighter California wines. As it is the case with many blog posts, be sure to read the comments – that is the most entertaining part.
Next subject – Wine Bloggers Conference 2013, or WBC2013 for short. WBC2013 will be taking place in Penticton, British Columbia, on June 6-8. What I really want to know – who is going? Despite blogging for almost 3 years, I never attended any of the WBCs. But – if there is a good company, I’m ready : ) Let me know if you are planning to attend – that will give me a good reason to do the same : )
Somewhat related subject – Wine Blog Awards. While I respect and appreciate all the Versatile, Creative and all other blogging awards, Wine Blog Awards are something else. They are awarded in the number of different categories, based on both popular vote and decision of panel of experts. Why am I talking about it here? Two reasons. One: Nomination period for Wine Blog Awards 2013 will open on March 25th (very soon!) and will last for one week. Two: Yes, I would love to get a Wine Blog Award, and therefore, would greatly appreciate a nomination!
Last “news” for today – totally not related to wine. Spring is here!
That’s all I have for you for today, folks. The glass is empty. Until the next time – cheers!
Weekly Wine Quiz #49 – Once Upon A Time…
Saturday is here again, therefore it is time for the wine quiz!
This week’s quiz will be very different from the last one – and I really really hope to see more people participating.
Today’s quiz doesn’t really have much of the right answers – but I hope this will even make it more fun.
Below you will find some words and expressions, which are well known – and connected to the world of wine at least as the legend has it. So this is the legend I’m looking for – please tell me how the following words are connected to the world of wine (and here I’m including all things alcohol into the word “wine” – whiskey, sake, beer – all is “wine” in this context):
- Honeymoon
- Wet your whistle
- Rule of thumb
Remember – there are no wrong answers, so unleash your imagination…
Have fun and good luck! Have a great weekend and cheers!
Wednesday’s Meritage – Wine Quiz Answer, Too Hot and Too Cold, Grading Wine Ratings and more
Meritage time!
I think I have a lot of interesting stuff for you , but – let’s start from the answer to the wine quiz #48, Let’s get a little technical. Considering that I got only one response to the quiz, I can only guess that I went too far – even though I really didn’t see it that way – my hope was that everybody will try to answer at least something – it is definitely fine to say “I have no idea” – makes it as good of an answer as anything else.
Anyway, in that quiz you were supposed to match wines in the list with some of the technical terms, and as a bonus part to explain what the terms mean. These were the terms presented: Appassimento, Estufagem, Flor, Malolactic fermentation, Noble Rot, Solera, Vintage. Here is the list of wines with the relevant terms and explanations:
A. Cabernet Sauvignon – this was a curve ball, as I warned you. None of the given terms are really associated with this wine.
B. Champagne – Vintage is only declared in the exceptional years
C. Chardonnay – Malolactic fermentation is often used to produce softer-tasting Chardonnay
D. Jerez – flor, solera
E. Madeira – Estufagem
F. Port – Vintage is declared only in exceptional years.
G. Riesling – Noble rot
H. Valtellina Sfursat – Appassimento – in production of Valtelina Sfursat, Nebbiolo grapes are dried before pressing, sometimes for 100+ days.
I. Vin Jaune – flor
All in all, VinoInLove gets an honorable mention, both for the courage and for providing a number of right answers. Also, this quiz forced me to add a feature to this blog which I wanted to do for the long time – a Wine Glossary! Now, instead of providing explanation for all the terms one by one, I can simply refer you to my new Wine Glossary page. And as it is new feature, I would love to hear from you – comments, yay, nay, suggestions – anything and everything goes!
And now, to the news!
Boy, so much stuff happens when you get away from the Reader for a while. Some of my “news” might not be new for you at all, but – I still would like to share it here.
First, I found this very interesting article by Dr. Vino, who writes for the Wine-Searcher site – the article hits close to home for all of us who gets wine shipped to them ( and who doesn’t nowadays). Do you know how your wine was stored during the shipping? Was it exposed to extreme heat or extreme cold? Both can equally destroy your wine, but for more details go read the article.
The next interesting article again comes from Dr. Vino and it is dedicated to all the number addicts and Champagne aficionados ( I know I have a few among my readers, but I will not name names). Want to know how many bottles were made, consumed and broken (okay, I’m pulling your leg here) – take a look at this post.
Can you name the wines which are produced by the iconic Spanish winery, Vega Sicilia? Unico? Yes, of course. Valbuena 5? Very good. How about some Rioja? No, no Rioja from Vega Sicilia? Well, there is now – two Rioja wines called Macan and Macam Classico from Vega Sicilia, and it looks like they might be even affordable (well, for now, anyway) – but of course, not available in US for now.
Do you know who Antonio Galloni is? If you do, great. If you don’t – you soon will. Antonio Galloni left Wine Advocate (surprise, surprise, after Wine Advocate was essentially sold to the group of Asian investors) to start his own web site. Get ready to look for the new abbreviation next to the wine ratings – AG, I guess. For more details you can click here.
And now, this mention of the wine ratings is a great segway to our last news subject for today – a very interesting Wall Street Journal article by Lettie Teague about the value of wine ratings and overall perception of good and bad wines. Would you actively seek 88 point rated wines, or would you go out of your way to drink only 95+ pointers? Robert Parker alone awarded last year 78 100-point ( perfect! ) scores, where Wine Spectator awarded … zero. Is 100 points losing its value as it becoming a lot more readily available, or famous Robert Parker’s palate is faltering? The article raises a lot of interesting questions and definitely is worth reading.
That’s all I have for you for today, folks. The glass is empty. Until the next time – cheers!











