The Ultimate Wine Quiz

A variety is a type of grape while a varietal is wine made up of a single grape variety.

A Bordeaux wine is any wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France, centred on the city of Bordeaux and covering the whole area of the Gironde department, with a total vineyard area of over 120,000 hectares, making it the largest wine growing area in France.

Wine has been produced for thousands of years. The earliest evidence of wine to date was found in the country of Georgia, where 8,000-year-old wine jars were uncovered. Traces of wine have also been found in Iran with 7,000-year-old wine jars and in Armenia with the 6,100-year-old Areni-1 winery, which is by far considered to be the earliest known winery. The earliest form of grape-based fermented drink however, was found in northern China, where archaeologists discovered 9,000-year-old pottery jars. Wine had reached the Balkans by 4500 BC and was consumed and celebrated in ancient Greece, Thrace and Rome. It has been consumed for its intoxicating effects throughout history and the psychoactive effects are evident at normal serving sizes.

Wine has been described as the perfect beverage because the grapes contain all the ingredients necessary to create their transformation: yeast, grapes, and sugar. Put grapes in a vat, and over time the yeasts coating the skins set alchemy in motion, converting the sugar in the juice into alcohol.

Pour yourself a glass of your favorite syrah or shiraz and relax…they're exactly the same grape varietal. The only difference is that this dark, luscious grape is called shiraz when it's grown in Australia and it's called syrah pretty much everywhere else.

A new world wine is any wine produced outside of the traditional wine growing areas of Europe and North Africa.

The whole concept of letting wine breathe, or aerate, is simply maximizing your wine's exposure to the surrounding air. By allowing wine to mix and mingle with air, the wine will typically warm up and the wine's aromas will open up, the flavor profile will soften and mellow out a bit and the overall flavor characteristics should improve.

The United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world after France, Italy, and Spain – so out of this list of possibilities, the correct answer is Italy.

The United States consumes the most wine per capita, unseating France as the world's leader in wine consumption by volume in 2013. Americans in 2013 downed nearly 30 million hectoliters of wine, according to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine.

Wine is a popular and important beverage that accompanies and enhances a wide range of cuisines, from the simple and traditional to the most sophisticated and complex. Wine is important in cuisine not just for its value as a beverage, but as a flavor agent, primarily in stocks and braising, since its acidity lends balance to rich savory or sweet dishes. Wine is also an important part of several religions including Judaism and Christianity.

Most wines are sold in glass bottles and sealed with corks (50% of which come from Portugal).

An enologist a specialist in the science of wine making.

There is indeed proper etiquette when it comes to holding a wine glass. While more casual wine drinkers may find themselves cupping the bowl of the glass while conversing with friends, this is actually very improper and frowned upon. This is due to three reasons. First, by holding the bowl of the wine, you will likely put fingerprints on the bowl. This can detract from the fine appearance of the wine itself. Second, it can actually warm the wine up and change the flavor characteristics. Your body heat from your hand will warm the wine. When served at the proper temperature, wine enthusiasts can enjoy the best flavor and aroma of the wine. However, when warmed, this can greatly affect the taste. Third, by holding the wine glass in your hand, it can be difficult to distinguish the true color of the wine, especially with the greasy fingerprint marks.

A 5-ounce glass of wine -- red or white -- has 120 to 125 calories and 3 to 4 grams of carbs. Champagne (or sparkling wine) is about the same.

A Chianti wine is any wine produced in the Chianti region, in central Tuscany, Italy. It was historically served with a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called a fiasco; however, the fiasco is only used by a few makers of the wine now; most Chianti is now bottled in more standard shaped wine bottles.

Cuvée is a French term, meaning vat or tank. On wine labels it is used to denote wine of a specific blend or batch.

A wine that is lacking the perception of sweetness is typically described as dry.

Fruit wine is made from non-grape fruit juice which may or may not include the addition of sugar or honey. Fruit wines are always called "something" wines (e.g., plum wine), since the word wine alone is often legally defined as a beverage made only from grapes.

Fortified wine is wine to which alcohol has been added, generally to increase the concentration to a high enough level to prevent fermentation.

Wine that is spiced, heated, and served as a punch is often called mulled wine.

The nose is another name for the aroma or bouquet of wine. It is said that through the aromas of wine that wine is tasted.

In vino veritas is a Latin phrase that means "in wine, there is truth." Similar phrases exist across cultures and languages.

Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-colored (black) grape varieties. The actual color of the wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and brown for older red wines. The juice from most purple grapes is greenish-white; the red color comes from anthocyan pigments (also called anthocyanins) present in the skin of the grape. Much of the red-wine production process therefore involves extraction of color and flavor components from the grape skin.

As late as the mid-17th century, French vintners did not use cork stoppers, using oil-soaked rags stuffed into the necks of bottles instead.

The large indent in the base of wine bottles is known as a punt. It is intended to strengthen the bottle and not to give the impression that the bottle contains more liquid than it really does.

It is said that toasting started in ancient Rome, a piece of toasted bread was dropped into wine.

Let's start in the vineyard with an average of 3 tons per acre, or 6000 pounds. This will yield 495 gallons of juice which will be fermented and fill about 8 barrels. Each 60 gallon barrel will fill about 285 bottles or 24 cases. This equates to 2.4 pounds or about 600 grapes needed to fill one bottle.

A Nebuchadnezzar is a bottle that contains 20 liters of wine.

California produces an average of 3.4M tones of grapes crushed for wine each year. The next highest producers are Washington state (145,000 tons), New York (45,000 tons), Oregon (40,000 tons) and rounding out the top five is Pennsylvania (13,200 tons).

Chardonnay is the top selling varietal in the United States. California has more Chardonnay grapes than anyplace in the world. It has been the most successful white grape in the state, yielding a wine of tremendous character and magnificent flavor.