Wine Quiz Quiz: When Wine Goes Wrong May 26, 2023 1 of 10 RIGHT! WRONG! If you place a bottle of wine in the freezer to chill it quickly, what could happen if you leave it in too long? The wine could freeze, pushing out its cork. The wine could pick up more tannin from being exposed to the cold. The wine could start to taste like cardboard. Trick question; none of these are real risks when chilling a wine bottle. When arriving at a formal tasting of Sauvignon Blancs, what might lead to a less-than-pleasant welcome from the other tasters? You’re putting your nose right into the glass to smell the wine. You’re spitting wine into a spit bucket. You’re wearing a lot of strong perfume. You’re swirling your wine before you taste. Scene: You open a bottle of rare red Burgundy you’ve been storing for a special occasion, but it smells extremely musty, like wet cardboard or a stale water fountain. What most likely happened? The wine was exposed, either in the winery or via the cork, to the chemical compound TCA (2,4,6-trichloroanisole). The wine was a counterfeit. You opened the bottle in the same room as a plate of eggs and asparagus. You did not properly decant the wine. While water is vital to growing grapes for wine, why might a grapegrower worry about too much rain in their vineyard? The water could inflate the grapes to the point of bursting. The water could dilute flavors in the resulting wine. The water could encourage vine canopies to grow too thick, creating too much shade for the grapes. These are all correct. Scene: Following the corked Burgundy fiasco, you decide to cellar a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino for future enjoyment. Which of these should you absolutely not do? Store the bottle in a slightly humid space Make sure the bottle isn’t exposed to rapid temperature swings Place the bottle on a shelf away from any light sources Keep the bottle standing upright to make sure the cork stays dry To keep a bottle of sparkling wine from "exploding" and spraying all over when removing the cork, it’s always best to do the following: Pull the cork out as quickly as possible Dampen the neck and body of the bottle Chill the bottle to 40° to 50° F first Shake the bottle to create a protective layer of frothy mousse Scene: After cellaring for several years, your Brunello di Montalcino has reached its peak drinking window. You decide to bring it as a gift to a friend’s formal dinner party. But sadly, your friend doesn’t end up serving the wine. Does etiquette dictate that you should take the bottle back? Yes, if they're not going to drink it, someone who appreciates it should. Absolutely not, it was a gift! All of these are fungal diseases that commonly infect vineyards and ruin wine grape harvests, except: Black rot Powdery mildew Gray rot Perkinsus marinus If a wine is showing sweet-sour vinegary aromas and flavors, it might contain too much of this chemical compound also found in, you guessed it, vinegar: Resveratrol Acetic acid Lactic acid Capsaicin As wine lovers know, spills happen. Your first step when cleaning spilled red wine from a carpet should generally be to: Blot up as much of it as possible with a dry napkin or paper towel Brush the stain with salt Dilute the red stain with a white wine Wait for the wine to dry and then wash it out with water Next Results Your score is Retake this quiz
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