Wine Wednesday Quick Quiz Answers

Here are the correct answers for the Quick Quiz:

QUESTION 1 ANSWER

What does non-vintage (or NV) mean?

• Non-vintage wines are blends made of grapes from several different years
• Non-vintage refers to wines made without the use of grapes, utilizing innovative synthetic ingredients instead
• Non-vintage wines are aged underground in secret cellars to enhance their unique flavour profiles
• Non-vintage wines are exclusively made from grapes harvested during the full moon, believed to impart mystical properties to the wine

Non-vintage wines are made using blends of grapes from different years and include base wine (‘base wine’ is the still wine made in the first production stage). They are more commonly abbreviated to N.V. Non-vintage wines tend to create a more consistent taste profile or house-style.

Vintage wines are made with grapes from the same year and the year will be displayed on the label. Non-vintage (N.V.) wines are made from grapes of varying years and some base wine. Finally, multi-vintage (M.V.) is another way of describing a non-vintage wine, but with less base wine.

QUESTION 2 ANSWER

Which species of grape vine is responsible for most of the wine made throughout the world?

• Vitis vinifera is the most dominant grape vine in the world
• Purpleius Commonus is responsible for the majority of wines produced worldwide
• Vitis trotteriensis are the primary grape species found in vineyards across the globe
• Grapus Monoplosis is the most commonly used grape species

Vitis vinifera, the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. There are currently between 5,000 and 10,000 varieties of Vitis vinifera grapes though only a few are of commercial significance for wine and table grape production.

The wild grape is often classified as Vitis vinifera sylvestris (in some classifications considered Vitis sylvestris), with Vitis vinifera vinifera restricted to cultivated forms. Domesticated vines have hermaphrodite flowers, but sylvestris is dioecious (male and female flowers on separate plants) and pollination is required for fruit to develop.

Grapes can be eaten fresh or dried to produce raisins, sultanas, and currants. Grape leaves are used in the cuisine of many cultures. The fresh grapes can also be processed into juice that is fermented to make wine and vinegar. Cultivars of Vitis vinifera form the basis of the majority of wines produced around the world. All of the familiar wine varieties belong to Vitis vinifera, which is cultivated on every continent except for Antarctica, and in all the major wine regions of the world.

QUESTION 3 ANSWER

The French term for someone who grows grapes for the purpose of making wine is?

• Vigneron
• Grape-teur
• Enophile
• Vendangeur

A vigneron is someone who cultivates a vineyard for winemaking. The word connotes or emphasizes the critical role that vineyard placement and maintenance has in the production of high-quality wine. The term, French for someone who grows grapes or makes wine, is often used in Australia to describe a winemaker who is also involved as an owner or manager as opposed to a person who is employed only to make wine, who is generally referred to as a winemaker. It is also used when referring to a winemaker from France.

QUESTION 4 ANSWER

What does a vertical wine tasting entail?

• Tasting wines from the same vineyard or winemaker from different years. As you might imagine, it can be difficult to spot the differences
• While blindfolded, tasting different wines to enhance their other senses and appreciation of the wine’s aromas and flavours
• Laying the wine bottles on their sides during the tasting to allow for optimal exposure of the corks to the air and promote better aging
• Sampling wines from various vineyards located at different altitudes to experience the impact of elevation on wine characteristics

A horizontal tasting enables a range of wines from the same year to be compared: the emphasis is on the difference between wines.

A vertical tasting looks at just one wine through a range of different years, emphasizing the difference in vintages. That’s a useful distinction.

QUESTION 5 ANSWER

What does appellation mean?

• The growing region a wine comes from
• The act of blending different wines from various regions to create a unique and complex final product
• The delicate process of gently caressing grapevines during their growth to promote better fruit development and quality
• The process of placing wine bottles in specially designed ornamental displays for aesthetic purposes, often used in upscale wine shops

An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boundaries, such as what grapes may be grown, maximum grape yields, alcohol level, and other quality factors may also apply before an appellation name may legally appear on a wine bottle label. The rules that govern appellations are dependent on the country in which the wine was produced.

History
The tradition of wine appellation is very old. The oldest references are to be found in the Bible, where wine of Samaria, wine of Carmel, wine of Jezreel, or wine of Helbon are mentioned. This tradition of appellation continued throughout the Antiquity and the Middle Ages, though without any officially sanctioned rules. Historically, the world’s first exclusive (protected) vineyard zone was introduced in Chianti, Italy in 1716 and the first wine classification system in Tokaj-Hegyalja, Hungary, in 1730.