Wine Quiz

On Wine

Wine Quiz
Queen of Sheba, Joan of Arc and Other Wine Lovers

by Fred McMillin

Wine

Can you get an A on at least one part of this three part quiz?

Match the person (1-3) with the event (A-D) below.

Two correct = A, one correct = B.

Part One of Quiz

Names

1. Napoleon
2. Joan of Arc
3. Queen of Sheba

Events

A. Switched from Pinot Noir to Cabernet Sauvignon.
(Hint: When in exile.)
B. Liked bread dipped into red wine.
(Hint: The wine was French.)
C. Planted a grape from the Muscat family.
D. Drank fermented honey instead of wine from grapes.

Answers

1-A: Napoleon switched to Cab.
2-B: Joan dipped her bread into wine.
3-D: Sheba drank fermented honey.

Postscript

Noah made wine from a Muscat.

Part Two of Quiz

Names

1. Ernest Weir
2. Jacob Beringer
3. Ernest Gallo

Events

A. Killed when the tractor he was driving overturned.
B. Makes kosher wines. (Hint: In the Napa Valley.)
C. Was a basketball star at Gonzaga University.
(Hint: Winery is in Lake County.)
D. Learned how to make wine and barrels in Germany
before coming to Napa Valley

Answers

1-B: Weir makes kosher wine.
2-D: Beringer was from Germany.
3-A: Gallo died in a tractor accident.

Wine

Postscript

The basketball star is Jed Steele of Steele Wines.

Part Three of Quiz

Names

1. Genghis Khan
2. Charles Darwin
3. Charles Dickens

Events

A. Was first to call aged port wine "tawny."
B. One of the first admirers of the wine made in Shiraz.
C. Reported that the first wine vines in New Zealand
(planted by British missionaries from Austalia)
were looking good. (Hint: On the good ship H.M.S. Beagle.)
D. Named Sauvignon Blanc Fumé Blanc.
(Hint: Inspired by visit to France.)

Answers

1-B: Khan liked Shiraz.
2-C: Darwin saw vines in New Zealand.
3-A: Dickens called port wine "tawny".

Postscript

Sauvignon Blanc was renamed by Robert Mondavi.

We hope you got at least one B while contemplating the wonderful world of wine from Noah to Napa. Here is some good sipping while you are thinking.

Contemplation

California wines to enjoy while contemplating the answers:

Noah—Black Muscat-Elysium, Quady Winery, California, 2007, $20
Sheba—Raspberry Mead, Chaucer's Cellars, California, NV $15
Napoleon—Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Supery Estate, Napa Valley, 2003, $38
Basketball Star—Cabernet Franc Rosé, Steele Wines, Lake County, 2005, $15
Gallo—Pinot Noir, Gallo of Sonoma, MacMurray Ranch, Sonoma Coast, 2003, $17
G. Kahn—Shiraz, Little Boomey (Sutter Home), Australia, 2004, $8

And a Final Wine Smile

An affluent vintner's wife lost her Mastercard. When he was asked by a reporter why he had not stopped payment on the card, he replied, "Whoever found the card spends a whole lot less than my wife did."

Credits:
Tasting: Edgar Vogt
Statistics: Ophelia Mercado

Fred McMillin

About the Writer

Fred McMillin, a veteran wine writer, has taught wine history for 30 years on three continents. He was voted one of the U.S.A's 22 Best wine writers by the Academy of Wine Communications. For information about the wine courses he teaches every month at San Francisco City College (Fort Mason Division), please fax him at (415) 567-4468.

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