15.03.2018
10 things you may not know about wine.
What do the sommeliers have to do with draught animals? In which country is the most wine is consumed? Evil spirits in the bubbles? These and other curiosities about wine that a true wine lover must absolutely know.
1 - Sommelier. From where does this term come from? French comes to the rescue: ‘somme’ (beast-of-burden) and ‘lier’ (to tie), literally "driver of the beasts-of-burden". Why give a name like this? In the past to transport the wine it was the custom for Napoleonic soldiers to tie the wine barrels onto the draught animals. The person who took care of the transport then started to follow it in another ways, until becoming the expert we all know of today.
2 - Wine and Olympic swimming pools. Every year, Italy produces about 50 million hectoliters of wine and is enough to fill more than 2,000 Olympic sized swimming pools. Of course, the dives would have another flavor...
3 - Sparkling wine and teaspoons. Have you ever put a teaspoon in an open bottle of sparkling wine, recommended by someone? If so, stop doing it: it's completely useless. The air has no fear for your cutlery; it can safely pass around it.
4 - Why is the most popular wine bottle in 0.75 cl? Essentially for two reasons. The first is physical: the lung capacity of the ancient glassblowers seemed to allow them to create bottles only of this capacity in a single breath. The second reason is bureaucratic: in the Anglo-Saxon world, for matters of port taxes and transportation costs, a crate of wine had to contain a maximum of 2 gallons (1 gallon is equivalent to 4.5 liters): each crate could host 12 bottles or 9 liters divided in 12 bottles, therefore 0.75 cl each.
5 – Having to do with the nose. Floral, fruity, mineral, fragrant, aromatic and so on and so forth. There are more than 500 wine scents classified. Train your nose to discover more and more!
6 - Quick as a cork. In the history of Tennis, even if there is not a single record and accepted by all the circuits, the fastest serve stopped the tachographs at 251 km / h. The fastest kick in the history of Soccer is won by the Brazilian Ronny Heberson, at the Sporting Lisbon in the 2005/2006 season: at 221 km / h. And, in third place the sparkling wine cork: it can reach the respectable speed of 106 km / h.
7 - Bubbles and evil spirits? In ancient Rome, the presence of bubbles in the wine was not much appreciated: it was attributed to nefarious influences of the Moon and the intervention of evil spirits. Therefore there were no happy hours in the Ancient Rome ...
8 - Wine is a serious matter: Hammurabi’s words. The Hammurabi code is the oldest written example of rules for regulating public life and justice. The Babylonian ruler cared about wine so much that the penalty for a fraudulent sale of wine, (for example, watered down or improperly stored wine) was drowning.
9 - The country where the most wine is drunk? It is not Italy. It is not even France. The highest consumption of wine per capita in the world, is recorded ... in the Vatican!
10 - "Do not be fooled". The term "infinocchiare" means "trick, cheat." What does it have to do with wine? Simple: in the past centuries when an innkeeper had very bad wine, he served it together with dishes made with fennel. In fact this vegetable, especially if consumed raw, sweetens the flavors and alters the perception of the flavors that are unpleasant.
