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Approximate length of time (in years), Paris’ nudist restaurant O’Naturel remained in business. (It will close tomorrow, February 16). Although four million people vacation in the nude in France each year, French authorities were not quite as keen on a public restaurant where one could slurp oysters and sip Burgundy in the buff. In a nod to fashion (ah, those French), women were allowed to leave on their high heels if they desired.

Switzerland is mostly a red wine producing country.

Answer: True.

It may seem counterintuitive given its climate, but Switzerland produces mostly red wine. The leading variety, in fact, is pinot noir, called blauburgunder, a light, spicy, and often quite good wine, although (when grown in Switzerland) rarely complex or nuanced in flavor. Some tasty, light red wines are also made from pinot noir-gamay blends (called Dôle) and merlot has been growing in the southern canton of Ticino since the early part of the 20th century. Both wines are light, sleek, fairly crisp, and sometimes spicy. But perhaps the most intriguing red variety of all in Switzerland is the indigenous rouge du pays, which can be the source of super-juicy, spicy wines redolent of black cherries and pomegranates.

“By far the most important thing for me from the [Judgement of Paris tasting], apart from it being a ‘win-win’ for both France and California, as the former was resting on its laurels and needed ‘a kick up the backside’ and the latter needed recognition, was that it created a template whereby little-known wines of quality could be tasted blind alongside well-known wines of quality and if the tasters themselves were of impeccable quality, their judgements would be respected.”

—Steven Spurrier (1941-2021), on the outcome of the famous 1976 tasting of French and California wines he helped orchestrate.

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