Some interesting wine facts found while floating around on the Internet for all to enjoy!

According to Irish folklore, fairies are extremely fond of good wine. The proof of the assertion is that in the olden days royalty would leave a keg of wine out for them at night. Sure enough, it was always gone in the morning.

There are about 400 species of oak, though only about 20 are used in making oak barrels. Of the trees that are used, only 5% is suitable for making high grade wine barrels. The average age of a French oak tree harvested for use in wine barrels is 170 years!

1 grape cluster = 1 glass
75 grapes = 1 cluster
4 clusters = 1 bottle
40 clusters = 1 vine
1 vine = 10 bottles
1200 clusters = 1 barrel
1 barrel = 60 gallons
60 gallons = 25 cases
30 vines = 1 barrel
400 vines = 1 acre
1 acre = 5 tons
5 tons = 332 cases

How big can a wine bottle get?
Capacity (Liters) followed by the number of standard size bottles contained:
Standard (.75)  1
Magnum (1.5)  2
Jeroboam (3)  4
Rehoboam (4.5)  6
Methuselah (6)  8
Salmanazar (9)  12
Balthazar (12)  16
Nebuchadnezzar (15)  20

Cork was developed as a bottle closure in the late 17th century. It was only after this that bottles were lain down for aging, and the bottle shapes slowly changed from short and bulbous to tall and slender.

California produces over 17 million gallons of wine a year.

Wine has no fat and no cholesterol
Wine has approx. 90 calories per 4 oz serving
U.S. Dietary Guidelines list moderate wine consumption
(1 glass per day for women and 2 glasses for men)
as part of a healthy diet

Thomas Jefferson helped stock the wine cellars of the first five U.S. presidents and was very partial to fine Bordeaux and Madeira.

France and Italy produce 40% of the world’s wine and consume all but 1% of their wine production themselves. Australians drink the most wine in the English-speaking world!

In 2000 for the first time in history, more wine was imported to the United Kingdom from Australia than in France.