Italy Has A Free 24-Hour Wine Fountain In The Abruzzo Region Just Outside Rome

While February 18 is observed annually as National Drink Wine Day, it would be a shame to celebrate only one day a year.  Perhaps this day is just a reminder to drink wine.

• Moderate drinkers of wine have lower risks of liver disease, type II diabetes, certain kinds of cancers, heart attack and stroke.  It also can reduce the bad cholesterol (LDL) and increase the good (HDL).
• It takes around 2 1/2 pounds of grapes to make one bottle of wine.
• Before corks were broadly used in wine bottles, wooden stoppers wrapped in oil-soaked rags were common. These would need to be changed at least once a year.
• Even though corks were commonly used since the 1600’s it wasn’t until 1795 that the corkscrew was patented. Before then the corks would have caps, similar to champagne corks.
• An average bottle of wine is about 25 fluid ounces( officially 750 milliliters)
• Most ancients urns found in greece, egypt, and the Mediterranean are ‘casks’ that held wine.  The sealed elongated box that holds them are called ‘caskets’
• “Remember gentlemen, it’s not just France we are fighting for, it’s Champagne!” ~ Winston Churchill
• “Come quickly, I am drinking the stars!“~Dom Perignon upon drinking Champagne the 1st time
• “Age is just a number. It’s totally irrelevant unless, of course, you happen to be a bottle of wine.”~Joan Collins
• The fear of wine is called “oenophobia”.
• How do you hold a wine glass? There is a right and wrong way. Wine glasses should be held by the stem, so that way the hand does not raise the temperature of the wine.
• Bottles that have animals on the label are known as “Critter Wine”.
• To get the same amount of antioxidants you find in a glass of wine, you would need to drink 20 glasses of apple juice or seven glasses of orange juice.
• “Drinking to one’s health” came from ancient Greece. The host of dinner would take the first sip to assure his guests the wine was not poisoned.
• People have been drinking too much wine for centuries. Everything from the Odyssey to the Bible mentions the perils of overconsumption.
• Thomas Jefferson may be responsible for the California wine boom. After being sent to France, Jefferson brought vine cuttings back to the United States.
• There are around 1,300 varieties of grape that are used to produce wine.
• The most widely planted variety in the world is Cabernet Sauvignon, closely followed by Merlot, Airén (a Spanish sherry grape), Tempranillo and Chardonnay
• Experts only fill their wine glasses a third of the way. This leaves plenty of room in the glass for aromas to develop.
• A 750ml bottle of wine contains the juice of 600 to 800 grapes
• Most corks originate from Portugal’s many cork forests, though they have dropped in popularity with the arrival of screw caps and synthetic corks.
• Champagne bottles contain more pressure than the tires of a car.
• Women and Asians are more likely to feel the effects of wine because they have lower amounts of the enzymes needed to break down and clear alcohol from the body
• Italy has a free 24-hour wine fountain in the Abruzzo region just outside Rome.
• The world’s oldest bottle of wine dates back to 325 A.D. and is found in Speyer Germany.
• The act of toasting started in ancient Rome when the Romans sustained the Greek tradition. They would drop a piece of toasted bread into the wine glass to soften unsavory tastes.
• Prince Charles has an Aston Martin that runs on biofuel made out of wine. Queen Elizabeth gave Charles the original car when he turned 21. Then in 2008, it was converted to run on old wine.
• Vatican City drinks the most wine per capita at 74 liters of wine per person per year. That’s a full two times more wine per capita than Italy.
• Putting ice and salt in a bucket will chill wine much faster than just ice alone.
• The first known illustration of wine drinking is found on a 5,000-year-old Sumerian panel known as the Standard of Ur.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Foodimentary

Goose Neck Vineyards

Vincarta

Last Bottle Wines