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July 6, 2018

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Percentage of New Zealanders who worry that “overtourism” is putting too much pressure on their country and destroying the environment, according to a recent survey. Once thought of as a green alternative to heavy industry, tourism is now eliciting strong backlash in the country. (Better drink that NZ SB at home).

Merlot and cabernet sauvignon share the same father—cabernet franc. But who was merlot’s mother?

A. Malbec

B. Manseng Noir

C. Carménère

D. Magdeleine Noire des Charentes

D.

In the early 1990s, grape geneticists determined that merlot was the offspring of cabernet franc. But merlot’s other parent remained a mystery for ten years, until the French scientist Jean-Michel Boursiquot found merlot’s unnamed mother in an abandoned vineyard in Brittany, France. A few years later, more moms were found in the Charentes region of southwestern France. Bourisquot named the vines Magdeleine Noire des Charentes.

“People who say, ‘You can’t drink the good stuff all the time’ are talking rubbish. You must drink good stuff all the time. Every time you drink a bottle of inferior wine it’s like smashing a superior bottle against the wall. The pleasure is lost forever. You can’t get the bottle back.”

― Len Evans (1930-2006), Founder of Australian Wine Bureau, Columnist for The Australian Women’s Weekly

― Len Evans (1930-2006), Founder of Australian Wine Bureau, Columnist for The Australian Women’s Weekly

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