10 Facts About Wine (So You Can Impress Your Friends)
10 Wine Facts You Can Use to Impress Your Friends
You certainly don’t need to know these 10 facts about wine to go about your daily life and enjoy a refreshing glass of wine. But as wine enthusiasts ourselves, we know how important it is to have a few interesting wine facts in your back pocket to be used at a social gathering.
We hope you can remember a few of these facts to impress your friends on your next wine tour!
1. You’re Holding it Wrong
On your next wine tour, don’t be surprised if you get some funny looks for holding your glass by the bowl, rather than the rim. Holding your glass by the bowl will cause your body heat from your hand to heat the class. That is assuming, of course, that the wine will be in your glass long enough to be heated by your hand.
2. Don’t Be Such a Cork-Tease
Yes, you read that correctly. A cork-tease is the term applied to an individual who brags about a certain vintage of wine they have in their cellar, but they never seem to open it. If you’re willing to name-drop a wine from a specific winery, you’d best be willing to share with your guests – or else, you’re risking adopting this endearing moniker.
3. Wine Can, In Fact, Make a 5 a 10
It’s been suggested by multiple studies that women who have two glasses of wine per day enjoy better sex than those who don’t drink at all. I will not elaborate on this fact any further.
4. That’s a LOT of Grapes
How much wine does one ton of grapes get you? Not as much as you may think. One ton of grapes turns into sixty cases of wine. That’s roughly 720 bottles of wine, and each bottle of wine consists of about 2.8lbs of grapes.
5. Which American States Drink the Most Wine?
Obviously, state populations vary wildly across the US, but California, New York are the top wine drinkers in the country – for now. Michigan is working diligently to upend this trio.
6. What Makes a Red Wine Red, and a White Wine White?
An excellent question that has a very simple answer. Red wines get their color during the fermentation process, as the color comes from the skin and influences the final color of the wine. White wines go through the fermentation process without their skins, so they don’t get the same color.
7. The Old Testament is Really Into Wine
Out of the entire Old Testament, the Book of Jonah is the only section to not mention wine on at least one occasion. The rest of the sections? Pretty much entirely soaked in wine.
8. The Origins of Ice Wine
Ice wine is very popular here in Northern Michigan, and plenty of vineyards wait all winter for perfect, frigid conditions to harvest fully-frozen grapes to make ice wine. The Germans were the first to make ice wine, which they call Eiswein. Yep, they pronounce it just like we do!
9. “Women Age Like a Fine Wine” Might Not Be a Compliment
Despite the positive sentiment behind this age-old saying, red wines will actually lose color over a long period of time. Wine, in general, doesn’t actually get better with age – most will hit their prime taste and aroma the day they enter the bottle. In fact, wine usually goes downhill after about a decade, even if stored in excellent conditions.
If you’re going to use this phrase as a compliment, compare your lovely lady to a white wine. White wine, unlike reds, actually does improve in color with age.
10. If You’re Watching Your Weight
If you’re worried about calories, try to go for a dryer wine over sweet. A glass of dry wine is about 100-120 calories. The sweeter the wine, the more sugar involved. Thus, a higher caloric density per glass.
So, what did we miss? If you have any other wine facts that the world should know, be sure to share them with us on our Facebook page. Thanks so much for reading – cheers!
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