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Number of millions of acres of vineyards on the globe (for wine and table grapes) according to the new 2019 statistical report just out from the OIV (International Organization of Vine and Wine). Just 5 countries represent 50% of all the vineyards in the world: Spain with 13% of global vineyards; followed by China (12%), France (11%), Italy (9%), and Turkey (6%). World vineyard acreage has been on a decline since 2003.

Wine was served at an official White House event for the first time during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln in 1861. One of the locally made bottlings was crafted from a native North American grape. What grape was it?

A. Concord

B. Norton

C. Marechal Foch

D. Scuppernong

Indigenous to North America, Norton is named for Dr. Daniel Norton who cultivated the grape for the first time in Virginia. Today Norton is the official grape of the state of Missouri and is considered the cornerstone of the Missouri wine industry.

Chernobyl Vodka—No Kidding

In the please-tell-me-it’s-not-true department comes this: a new “artisan vodka” is being made in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s “Exclusion Zone,” according to The Smithsonian. The Chernobyl Nuclear Plant in the Ukraine exploded in 1986,… Continue reading

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