In a world where we’ve made wine so untouchable and scary, I’m lightening things up with my favorite five funny facts about wine. Now that’s a tongue twister! There are thousands of wine facts about wine tasting, red wine, white wine, wine production, and grape varieties. While these are interesting facts, they don’t make me giggle!
Here are a few of my favorite funny facts about wine:
1) OENOPHOBIA, the utter fear or hatred of wine, exists! While I know no one reading this post can relate, I’m told this is equally as debilitating as a fear of spiders or sharks. My heart goes out to anyone who may suffer from this malady. Can you imagine being afraid of wine bottles?
Growing up, I hated grape juice. For whatever reason, it did not agree with my palate. Thankfully, this did not turn into an intense hatred for fermented grape juice! But this does remind me of one thing I was truly afraid of as a child. The basement of our creaky old house, especially the dark corners where lightbulbs did not reach. Translate that to a wine cellar, and I can understand how someone with a fear of basements might not appreciate the dark, dusty, musty places where the oldest bottles of a winery may be stored!
That’s fun, tell me more funny facts about wine!
2) Prohibition may have started the garage winemaking process and movement! Cult wines of California or the Garagiste wines of Spain are not the first small-batch, homemade wines. During Prohibition when the U.S. government banned alcohol, individual households could produce up to 200 gallons for their personal consumption! Check out the full story at GrapeCollective. One gallon is equal to 5 bottles. Count me in! I’d sign up to having an allotment of 1,009 bottles of wine a year!
This phenomenon, while great for wine lovers, did dastardly deeds to the evolution of the United States wine industry’s recovery. Making homemade wine started with “wine bricks” sent from California across the U.S. and widely used by households. HIgh yielding varietals were needed to meet demand. Growers favored these grapes over higher quality Cabernet Sauvignon or other varietals common today in the U.S. wine country. I think you’ll agree we’ve definitely made up for the errors in our ways!
3) Sommelier as a profession may have a high-risk origin! Years of studing, blind tastings, late nights, stress, and exhaustion seem like childs-play compared to the job of a “Pocillator”. According to Bogati Bodega’s website, a Pocillator is an ancient Roman servant responsible for testing wine before it is served to royalty, dignitaries, or other important persons.
Pocillators are not looking to evaluate the wine’s quality, fine aromas, flavors, or subtle nuances. Nope, their job was to ensure the wine wasn’t poisoned! While I adore wine tasting, this is not a job posting I will ever apply for! Funny facts about wine or not, I think we all agree this is not a career path any of us would want to take.
Somm vs. Pocillator? I’ll take Somm!
4) Biodynamics isn’t just for vineyards, the alignment of the Earth and cosmos also influences how wine tastes! I’m totally serious! And, I have had conversations with revered winemakers including Russell Bevin to back up my belief. I even have an app on my phone called WHEN WINE to help guide my best wine-drinking experiences.
Bottom line, there are 4 different “days” associated with the lunar cycle: Fruit Days, Flower Days, Leaf Days, and Root Days. Not surprisingly, Fruit and Flower Days share the spot of the best days to drink wine. Fruit and floral flavors and aromas shine on these. Leaf and Root Days make wines taste earthier, even dull. Obviously, these are not ideal for the wine lover’s palate! Plan your wine events accordingly. Drat, darn, shucks today is a Root Day!
5) Wine cellars are haunted. I’m not one to try and dispel any beliefs in supernatural beings. However, I love the origin of some wineries formerly believed to be haunted! The source? Corks mysteriously popping out of bottles stored in wine cellars or the bottom, or punt, of Champagne exploding off the bottle. Scary, if not dangerous, to experience, but caused by ghosts, ghouls, or gremlins? Definitely not.
I’m for popping corks, not bottles!
How do you explain these events then? Pressure, simple pressure. For example, sparkling wine while undergoing second fermentation in a bottle, creates CO2. With no escape, pressure builds in the bottle to a level equivalent to tire pressure. Thicker, carefully designed bottles eliminate 99.9% of potential explosions. But the rare one still occurs. I don’t know about you, but experiencing one might make me a believer in the other-worldly!
I hope you’ve enjoyed these fun facts about wine. Regardless of their validity or origin, they do make for great stories to enjoy while drinking red wines, white wines, or whatever you have in your wine glass.
Here are a few other wines and wine facts you might find supernatural in my previous blog posts!:
- There’s Something Very Supernatural About This Silver Ghost!
- A Few Great Wines Shared With Smiling Faces, Zodiac Signs, and Exploring New Places
Cheers!
Kristi
YES! According to Marveling Blog, early Roman women were forbidden to drink wine, and a husband who found his wife drinking was at liberty to kill her – YIKES!
Studies show (Marveling Blog) it would take drinking 7 glasses of orange juice or 20 glasses of apple juice to get the same amount of antioxidants in wine – I say drink more wine my friends!
