FACTS & FIGURES OF INTEREST
Irish Folklore:
The Irish believe that fairies are extremely fond of good wine. The proof of the assertion is that in the olden days royalty would leave a keg of wine out for them at night. Sure enough, it was always gone in the morning.
Clones:
The Pinot Noir grape has more clones (over 100 registered) than any other wine grape variety.
Oak Barrels:
There are about 400 species of oak, though only about 20 are used in making oak barrels. Of the trees that are used, only 5% is suitable for making high grade wine barrels. The average age of a French oak tree harvested for use in wine barrels is 170 years!
Record Breaking:
The longest recorded champagne cork flight was 177 feet and 9 inches, four feet from level ground at Woodbury Vineyards in New York State.
Drink to your Health:
• Wine has no fat and no cholesterol
• Wine has approx. 90 calories per 4 oz serving
• U.S. Dietary Guidelines list moderate wine
consumption (1 glass per day for women and
2 glasses for men) as part of a healthy
diet
Aging:
Most wines do not improve with age.
Oldest Wine Cellar:
The wreck of the TITANIC, holds the oldest
wine cellar in the world and despite the
depth and wreckage, the bottles are still
intact. Happy diving!
How far does a grape go?:
75 grapes = 1 cluster
1 grape cluster = 1 glass
4 clusters = 1 bottle
40 clusters = 1 vine
1 vine = 10 bottles
1200 clusters = 1 barrel
30 vines = 1 barrel
400 vines = 1 acre
What's your wine drinking G.P.A (Glasses Per Acre)?:
One acre of land averages:
5 tons of grapes (10,000 pounds)
13.51 barrels of wine at 7,552 ounces each
797 gallons of wine at 128 ounces each
3,958 bottles of wine at 25.6 ounces each
15,940 glasses of wine at 6.4 ounces each
One barrel of wine contains:
740 pounds of grapes
59 gallons of wine
24.6 cases of wine
295 bottles of wine
1,180 glasses of wine (6oz. pour)
One case of wine contains:
30 pounds of grapes
307.2 ounces of wine
12 bottles of wine
48 glasses of wine (~6oz. pour)
One 750 ml bottle of wine contains:
600 to 800 (2.4 pounds) grapes
25.6 ounces of wine
4 glasses of wine(~6oz. pour)
Bottle Names by Size:
Split holds 375 milliliters or half a standard bottle
Standard Bottle holds 750 ml of wine (also called a "fifth")
Magnum holds same as 2 bottles, or 1.5 liters
Double Magnum equals 4 bottles, or 3 liters
Jeroboam equals 6 bottles for wine or 4 bottles for sparkling wine
Imperial equals 8 bottles, or 6 liters
Salamanzar equals 12 bottles (one case), or 9 liters
Balthazar equals 16 bottles, or 12 liters
Nebuchadnezzar holds same as 20 bottles, or 15 liters
Treading Lightly:
Foot treading of grapes is still used in
producing a small quantity of the best port
wines.
Old School Wine Appreciation:
•The bill for a celebration party for the
55 drafters of the US Constitution was for
54 bottles of Madeira, 60 bottles of claret,
8 bottles of whiskey, 22 bottles of port,
8 bottles of hard cider, 12 beers and seven
bowls of alcohol punch large enough that
"ducks could swim in them." Now
that sounds like a hell of a party!
•Thomas Jefferson’s salary was $25,000
per year - a princely sum, but the expenses
were also great. In 1801 Jefferson spent
$6,500 for provisions and groceries, $2,700
for servants (some of whom were liveried),
$500 for Lewis’s salary, and $3,000
for wine.
•Thomas Jefferson helped stock the wine
cellars of the first five U.S. presidents
and was very partial to fine Bordeaux and
Madeira.
Bad Dirt = Great Wine:
Poor soil quality tends to produce better
wines. The trick is to "challenge"
the vines by making them "work"
harder.
Evolution of the Bottle:
Cork was developed as a bottle closure in
the late 17th century. It was only after
this that bottles were lain down for aging,
and the bottle shapes slowly changed from
short and bulbous to tall and slender.
Cash Crop of the Century:
The Napa Valley crop described in 1889 newspapers
as the finest of its kind grown in the U.S.
was for hops not wine.
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