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Number of tons (in millions) of wine grapes crushed in California in 2022, according to the California Agricultural Statistics Service and Wine Business. This is the third below-average crop in a row, with red wine varieties down 7.2% and white wine varieties down 8.6% from 2021. As wine grape tonnage has decreased, total wine grape prices have increased 3.4%.

Petite sirah is so named because it has less tannin than syrah.

Answer: False.

Petite sirah, also known as durif, has an enormous amount of tannin. The variety is a cross between two French grapes—syrah and peloursin. Petite Sirah was crossed in the 1860s, by a scientist named Durif and is sometimes spelled petite syrah. Petite sirah grapes are generally smaller than syrah grapes (hence the “petite” in the name). As with all small grapes, petite sirah has a high ratio of skin to juice. Since tannin comes primarily from a grape’s skin, small grapes like petite sirah often have a considerable amount of tannin. In the end, there is nothing petite about petite sirah. A similar example is petit verdot (petit in this case is spelled without the “e” since the word verdot is masculine). There’s nothing petit about petit verdot either.

Mommy’s Time Out

“Mommy’s Time Out,”–a line of wines being promoted for Mother’s Day–has been invented because, as the website points out, “being a Mommy is a difficult job.” Apparently created for pretty mommies with an itsy-bitsy sweet-tooth,… Continue reading

3.35

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