Wine Wednesday Quick Quiz Answers

Here are the correct answers for the Quick Quiz:

QUESTION 1 ANSWER

According to Popular Mechanics, how fast has a Champagne Cork been measured, flying out of a bottle?

• 25km/h
• 33km/h
• 40km/h
• 52km/h

The speed at which a cork flies out of a champagne bottle can vary depending on several factors such as the temperature of the bottle, the amount of carbonation, and the force applied when removing the cork. It is challenging to provide an exact speed measurement, as it can range widely.

However, it is important to note that a cork can be expelled from a champagne bottle at a significant velocity, potentially reaching speeds of up to 40 kilometers per hour or even higher in some cases. Therefore, it is crucial to exercise caution and follow proper safety guidelines when opening a bottle of champagne to prevent accidents or injuries.

In the milliseconds after you pop a champagne bottle (in the ice, like a blizzard, obviously) the pressurized mixture of gases within produces a supersonic shockwave.

A team of scientists in France and India have created a series of computer simulations that map the patterns of these ultra-fast shockwaves. The team first announced their findings in 2019, when they published the initial results in Science Advances.

First, time for a little bottle-poppin’ primer: Each bottle of champagne contains dissolved carbon dioxide gas, which generates pressure that slowly builds and pushes radially against the cork. In a resting bottle of champagne—in other words, one that is ripe for the drinking—this outward pressure exerted on the cork is balanced by the static frictional force between the cork and the bottle’s walls.

QUESTION 2 ANSWER

How many people are said to be killed by a Champagne cork every year?

• 11
• 16
• 24
• 34

Drinking a bottle of Bubble tonight? Maybe take out some insurance before going ahead! An average of 24 deaths a year are caused by flying Champagne corks, with more than a third occurring at weddings.

QUESTION 3 ANSWER

How old is the oldest bottle of wine in existence?

• 800 years old
• 1 150 years old
• 1 400 years old
• 1 650 years old

The Speyer wine bottle (or Römerwein) is a sealed vessel, presumed to contain liquid wine, and so named because it was unearthed from a Roman tomb found near Speyer, Germany. It is considered the world’s oldest known bottle of wine.

The Speyer wine bottle most likely holds wine, and was originally found in 1867, in what is now the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany near Speyer, one of the oldest settlements in the area. The artifact has since become known as ‘the world’s oldest existing bottle of wine’. The bottle has been dated between 325 and 350 AD and is the oldest known unopened bottle of wine in the world. Since its discovery, it has been exhibited at the Wine Museum section of the Historical Museum of the Palatinate in Speyer, always displayed in the same location within the museum. The ‘Römerwein’ is housed in the museum’s Tower Room.

QUESTION 4 ANSWER

According to the Guiness Book of Records, the world’s largest wine glass was made in Malta in 2012. How many bottles of wine can it hold?

• 30 000
• 50 000
• 80 000
• 95 000

The largest wine glass measured 3.87 m in height and 2.04 m at its widest point and was created by the Kumitat Festi Esterni San Gorg Hal Qormi (Malta). It was presented and measured in Hal Qormi, Malta, on 21 April 2012. The wine glass was made from acrylic (plexi glass), just as the regular sized wine glass they used as a basis for this attempt.

QUESTION 5 ANSWER

A bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grand Cru 1945 is the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold (in 2018). What price was is sold for?

• R4 923 312
• R6 203 002
• R8 040 896
• R10 853 992

Domaine de la Romanée – Conti 1945 is the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold. It was sold in 2018 to an Asian collector for a price of R10 853 992 ($558 000) at a Sotheby’s sale in New York.

There were only 600 bottles made of the 1945 vintage and at this point very few are left. It is heralded as “the unicorn vintage”. The vineyards of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti are renowned for their highest quality standard of burgundy wines.