Essential wine facts
Compiled from various sources, some are unique, some are fun, and others are amusing, but they’re all essential wine facts.
- The most planted wine grape in the world is Cabernet Sauvignon.
2. After planting, it takes about 3-5 years for a grapevine to start bearing fruit that can be made into wine.
3. Grapevines can usually bear fruit for about 40 years.
4. The three largest wine-producing countries in the world are France, Italy and Spain, and between them, they produce almost half (49%) of the world’s wine.
5. Spain has the largest area of vineyards – about 1,154,000 hectares throughout the country.
6. European wines are named after their geographic locations, while non-European wines are named after different grape varieties.
7. Wines from western Europe and the Middle East are known as ‘Old World’, while others are called ‘New World’, which comprises the Americas, Australasia, Africa and Asia.
8. The average number of grapes it takes to make a bottle of wine is 2.5 pounds of grapes.
9. A 750ml bottle of wine contains the juice of 600 to 800 grapes.
10. A 750ml bottle contains about six glasses worth of wine, or 12 smaller glasses for tastings.
11. There are usually 12 bottles in a case of wine.
12. A ‘vintage’ wine is one made only with grapes harvested in the same year.
13. ‘Non-vintage’ wines are blends of several years’ grapes.
14. As it ages, white wine gets darker but red wine gets lighter.
15. Wines sealed by cork still make up the majority of bottles in the world at 64 percent.
16. A “cork-tease” is someone who constantly talks about the wine he or she will open but never does.
17. Screw caps don’t make a wine cheap but make each bottle consistent.
18. Screw caps were popularised by Australian and New Zealand winemakers, who were not satisfied with the quality of the corks they were being given.
19. Wine glasses are tulip-shaped, curving inwards at the top so that aromas aren’t able to escape.
20. There are about 49 million bubbles in a bottle of Champagne!
21. The cork of a Champagne bottle can fly out as fast as 50 miles per hour – which is why you should cover the cork with your hand after you twist off the cage.
22. Champagne bottles contain more pressure than the tyres of a car, hence, they are made from thicker glass.
23. The original Champagne glass was a shallow coupe said to have been modelled on the breast of Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France and Navarre from 1744 to 1792 and held almost half a bottle.
24. The custom of bumping glasses with a “cheers” greeting came from old Rome. The “Cheers” ritual started back in the Middle Ages when poisoning was a favourite way to get rid of an enemy. To be sure their glass was poison-free, drinkers would first pour a bit of wine into each other’s glass, so if there was poison in one, it was now in both.
25. Over 24.7 billion litres of wine are consumed throughout the world each year, with Vatican City leading the world in wine consumption per capita. Cheers!
Also, do check out our extensive selection of fine wines.
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