Talk-A-Vino

Meritage Time!

First of all, Merry Christmas!

Let’s start with the answer for the wine quiz #85, What is it? In the quiz (a very difficult one!) you were supposed to guess an object shown in the picture. This was the picture you had:

and here is the answer:

Champagne Tsarine

Until a few days ago, I didn’t even know that Champagne Tsarine exists. When I saw a beautiful case and the bottle, the idea of the quiz was born. It appears that Champagne Tsarine was created in 1730, with the square aim on Russian Tzar (Tzar = Tsar, hence the name “Tsarine”, meaning “belonging to Tzar”) and his royal court, and their insatiable appetite for all things French. You can find more details at the Champagne Tsarine web site. No, I didn’t try this champagne yet, it is in the plans for the New Year celebration.

As I said, this was a very difficult quiz. A number of people suggested that this was a bottle, which was definitely the right direction. I was hoping that all the curves will point in the direction of Russian architecture – this was a purposeful design behind the bottle. In case you will not care going to the Champagne Tsarine web site, so here are few sentence which describe the design: “Its exclusively designed, long, curved bottle bears certain similarities to the architecture of the great Russian monuments. Its emblematic colours, its rounded label and its evocative name are all redolent of the period of the great Russian dynasties.”

Anyway, we don’t have a clear winner today, but I have to give honorable mention to Wine And History, who came in the closest, only suggesting that this was a bottle of Prosecco, and not the Champagne. Well done!

Now, to the interesting stuff around the vine and the web.

I have a few interesting reads to bring to your attention. First, have you ever heard about 27-liter ( 3 cases worth) bottle of the wine called Primat? I personally have not. Here is a link to the article from Mike Veseth,  where he is talking about his extreme wines of the year – that Primat bottle sounds very extreme to me, but there is a lot more to read there.

Next I want to bring to your attention a few posts from Dr. Vino, where is covering latest happenings around the counterfeited wines, Rudy Kurniawan trial and more. Just go and read (and watch) them – CBS Sunday Morning episode, Outtakes form the trial, the verdict.

Last but not least – a great collection of Christmas wine cartoons, as presented in the Wine Wankers blog. No other comments needed here.

And we are done! The glass is empty, but the refill is on the way. Open some great bottles tonight! Happy Holidays and Cheers!