Facts Facts Glorious Facts....

In my career so far I’ve been asked countless questions from serious wine lovers and haters, connoisseurs and newbies to wine and I thought it about time to begin thinking of some of the oddest, most common or interesting things I’ve learned so far in my quest to be able to answer as many questions as possible. For those of you with different experience levels these might be simple or very new. Always feel free to ask me any questions or email me :)

In an immaculately clean, scratch, dust  microbe free glass – fizzy wine wont bubble! Sparkling wine needs these impurities to release its fizz. We would feel it in our mouths but not see it in the glass.

Never let someone elses expertise of one particular area bother you, in wine it will never be possible to know everything as it is always changing – for example Italy alone has around 1700 different registered and non registered native grape varieties alone! It would be a challenge to master a fraction of those varieties, so find an area you are particularly interested in and enjoy finding out more about it, then at the next party or tasting you can freely show off your passion and love for that area.

Fridges are too cold for white wine! Even on the warmest setting most fridges cool whites to the level of masking the delicate aromas and flavours. Instead of drinking straight from the fridge try taking it out for half an hour or so and letting it get to a better temperature. The trick to keeping it cool in the glass is to only pour a small amount, and top up as the wine goes down with the cooler liquid from the bottle

Decanting can be a challenge to time right, if you want an excellent red to open up properly or you don’t have time to give it at least 24 hours try this little trick, plain and simple – decant the wine more than once! you won’t damage it, you can’t ruin it – but by increasing the amount of air circulation by pouring the wine more than once you allow it to develop a little quicker

This one always comes up in pub quizzes for some reason – but here is the definitive guide to bottle sizes!

A Standard wine bottle holds 0.75 litre (750ml) = the equivalent of 1 standard wine bottle
A Magnum wine bottle holds 1.5 litres (1500ml) = the equivalent of 2 standard wine bottles
A Jeroboam wine bottle holds 3 litres (3000ml) = the equivalent of 4 standard wine bottles
A Rehoboam wine bottle holds 4.5 litres (4500ml) = the equivalent of 6 standard wine bottles
A Methuselah wine bottle holds 6 litres (6000ml) = the equivalent of 8 standard wine bottles
A Salmanazar wine bottle holds 9 litres (9000ml) = the equivalent of 12 standard wine bottles
A Balthazar wine bottle holds 12 litres (12000ml) = the equivalent of 16 standard wine bottles
A Nebuchadnezzar wine bottle holds 15 litres (15000ml) = the equivalent of 20 standard wine bottles

We’ve all heard stories of people being blackeyed by an unruly flying champagne cork, but definitely do be careful! The record for longest cork flight was set in New York and shot up an impressive 177ft 9 inches, which shows an impressive force behind the cork of roughly 8 times the pressure of earth’s atmosphere at sea level

If a wine you thought you really would like doesn’t taste as good as you wanted, have a think about how hydrated you are, if you are dehydrated you lose the ability to taste as well as if you rehydrate yourself well beforehand.

To “Toast” actually refers to a tradition of ancient Rome, by dropping a piece of toast in a glass of wine was believed to rid it of any impurities, to do this while pouring somebody else’s wine showed them great respect.

There are roughly 250 Calories in a glass of wine, This is just on average! Reds are slightly more calorific than the whites but not by far! The sweeter or more alcoholic the wine the more the calories

If you’re interested in the health benefits of red wines – the particular reds to be drinking are Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Syrah. For those who prefer a white wine – studies show that the Muscat grape has a similar level of resveratol to Pinot Noir giving it similar cholesterol reducing characteristics.  

But, before glugging it away remember that one 250ml glass is as much as you're allowed a night! According to the allmighty NHS

          "An Alcoholic has been lightly defined as a man who drinks more than his own Doctor"

-Alvan L. Barach