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Time to see what you know and what you've learned.

As they say, life is a journey and not a destination. That old adage couldn't be more true than for the world of wine. Each and every year brings a new vintage worldwide. Wine law changes constantly, and if you are in France even more frequently than that! A wine lover is a perpetual student, never a master. Wine is an unconquerable subject.

Yet still, let's see what we've internalized. We are another year older and another year wiser. No?

1. True or false? Always use the same wine in the sauce that you will serve with the meal.

a. True

b. False

2. What is the most widely planted grape variety in Champagne?

a. Pinot Noir

b. Chardonnay

c. Pinot Meunier

3. How many appellations d'origine controllée (AOCs) does Burgundy possess?

a. 1

b. 10

c. 100

4. Which of the three Loire Valley rosés listed below is the driest (i.e. possesses the least amount of residual sugar)?

a. Rosé de Loire

b. Rosé d'Anjou

c. Cabernet d'Anjou

5. When Christopher Columbus inadvertently discovered America, he sailed from which Mediterranean port and carried which wine on board?

a. Sicily: Marsala

b. Monemvasia: Malvasia

c. Sanlucar de Barrameda: Sherry

6. True or false? Recent research indicates that potent components of red wine will mitigate certain conditions that are brought about by low estrogen levels such as menopause, osteoporosis and breast cancer.

a. True

b. False

7. True or false? Cooking wine, available in grocery stores, will substitute for red or white wine in any recipe.

a. True

b. False

8. Fetzer Vineyards of Mendocino, Calif., made an eco-friendly decision to switch to lightweight glass bottles in 2009. Their decision to drop from a 20.3-ounce bottle to a 17-ounce bottle by weight will reduce their production of greenhouse gases by what percent?

a. 7 percent

b. 10 percent

c. 14 percent

9. Who introduced muscat a petit grains to France?

a. No one. It is indigenous to France.

b. The Phoceans (ancient Greeks)

c. Romans

10. Which wine region bottled more "Pinot Noir" from 2005 to 2008 than it had acreage to produce it?

a. Sonoma

b. Languedoc

c. Burgundy

11. Biodynamics, a form of "homeopathic," ultra-organic viticulture was envisioned by ...

a. Lucy Morton

b. Rudolf Steiner

c. Philip Wagner

12. Statistics have shown that the first drink is consumed within how many minutes?

a. 5

b. 15

c. 25

13. Wine is mostly ...

a. Water

b. Alcohol

c. Acid

14. What do the British call "sherry"?

a. Hock

b. Sack

c. Malmsey

15. True or false? It's the sauce, seasoning or preparation technique, not the principal ingredient, that makes the match.

a. True

b. False

Answers will be posted next week.


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