Time for Wine Trivia Wednesday once again.Last week, the elections were just completed (well, most of them anyway) and I decided I would do a politically themed wine quiz (answers below).  This week, for some bizarre reason, I decided to start playing basketball again with a few people here at work.  I was on the basketball team in college (notice I did not say ‘played basketball in college’–that would involve actually getting into the game). Why is this important? Well, after playing yesterday, it is shockingly obvious that I am old.  Long gone are the days when I could play all day long and suffer no ill effects the following day.  Yesterday I played for an hour and injured at least three body parts, making walking, sitting, and even sleeping rather difficult.  Finally, my point: trivia today is about wine and age….

First, last week’s question:

1. Which of the following ‘Founding Fathers’ is linked to wine?

a. George Washington
b. John Adams
c. Thomas Jefferson
d. John Hancock

This was a bit of a trick question and I realized it was not a very good question perhaps after all the answers started coming in. Certainly, many people know that Jefferson was a big fan of the vino and tried to start a vineyard on his Monticello estate. The fact is, that all of the above were somewhat linked to wine: Washington was a huge Madeira and drank it frequently.  He went so far as to order some vine cuttings from Portugal in order to start his own vineyard at Mount Vernon, but that apparently never came to pass.  Adams, by most accounts was a drunk and also was a fan of Madeira, but he actually preferred the wines of Bordeaux (and would accompany Jefferson on a few trips to the region).  Last, Hancock was a ship owner and an importer of wines (including Madeira). He was once arrested by the British for smuggling and got off on a bit of a technicality.  He had a very clever lawyer: John Adams.

2. Which current politicians are directly associated with wine?

a. Mark Warner (Senator, VA)
b. Bob Casey, Jr. (Senator, PA)
c. Nancy Pelosi (Former Speaker of the House, CA)
d. John Boehner (Speaker of the House, OH)

Another question with multiple answers. Most of you that answered knew that former Madame Speaker Pelosi owns a couple of vineyards (although sells all her fruit–she does not make any wine commercially).  Mark Warner also owns a vineyard and sells his fruit to a winery in Virginia.  He also keeps some of the fruit and bottles some wine which he gives to charity auctions.

3. Of the original 13 colonies, which had the largest wine production in 2011, and who is second?

By far, the largest producer of wine from the original 13 colonies is New York. A distant second, at least according to the statistics provided by the U.S. Government, is none other than the Garden State, New Jersey.

On to this week’s quiz:

1. What is the average amount of time that a wine is aged in the United States?

2. What is the minimum amount of time a vintage champagne age on the lees before being disgorged?

3. An older red wine often has sediment.  What is sediment? How does it get there?

4. My younger son was born in 2008, if I wanted to age some wine for him which of the following would be the best choice?

a. Napa Zinfandel

b. Barolo

c. Hermitage

d. Austrian Riesling

Good luck–answers next week!