This year, Swirl’s back-to-school wine quiz includes beer and spirits trivia, mostly from the past year’s columns—did you bone up or nod off?
1. Which of these sparkling wine designations has the most added sugar?
A) Brut
B) Ultra Brut
C) Extra Dry
D) Extra Brut
2. True or false: Hendry’s rare Napa Valley “Mission” wine is made from an old clone of Zinfandel brought to California in the Mission period.
3. Which of these is not a typical blend of grapes you’d find in a North Coast wine:
A) Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot
B) Zinfandel, Carignane, Petit Verdot
C) Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre
D) Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot
4. True or false: Hallertau Blanc is another name for an old but once widely grown grape called Gray Riesling?
5. A wine made by the “saignée” method is:
A) Stirred with a “baton” during fermentation
B) Drained from the tank and then sprayed over the top to enhance a red wine
C) Partly drained from the tank to make a rosé wine
D) Mixed with fruit and brandy—the French version of sangria
6. Which of these statements is now true about California’s craft spirits?
A) Distilleries are allowed to offer no more than six 1.5-ounce pours of whiskey
B) Visitors may taste up to six quarter-ounce pours of gin
C) Visitors may purchase up to six bottles of spirits per day
D) Distilleries must use only California-grown grains
7. Picture round: you’ll find this wine (pictured above) at . . .
A) Stags’ Leap Winery
B) Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
C) Whitehall Lane Winery
D) Virginia Dare Winery
8. A “cicerone” is:
A) A sommelier specializing in Italian wines
B) Like a beer sommelier
C) A spittoon for winetasting
D) A tool made from a willow branch for stirring barrel-fermented Chardonnay
9. Which of these geeky technical stats indicates a wine gone most truly wrong:
A). 16.1 ABV, 5.8 g/l TA, .4 g/l VA
B). 9.0 g/l TA, 3.18pH, 1 ppt TCA
C). 12.5 ABV, 10 ppt TCA, 1.8 g/l VA
D). 5.2 g/l TA, 3.86pH, 10 g/l RS
10. Saying a wine is “corked” really means:
A) It is tainted with 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole
B) It is tainted with brettanomyces
C) It has too much methoxypyrazine
D) Pinot Grigio
(Answers on next page.)
[page]
Answers: 1. C 2. false 3. B, it’s Petite Sirah with Zin 4. false, it’s a hop 5. C 6. B 7. D 8. B 9. C 10. A
9–10 points, grand vin; 7–8 points, fine vintage; 5–6 points, porch pounder;
4 points or less, more study required
