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Number of commercial vineyards now in Denmark, up from 2 just 15 years ago, according to The New York Times. Neighboring Sweden now has 40 commercial vineyards, and Norway, 12. In 50 years, Scandanavia’s climate is forecast to be much like northern France’s is today.

Corkscrews were first used for guns.

Answer: True.

In the fifteenth century, the progenitors of wine corkscrews were corkscrews used as gun cleaning tools. By the 18th century, wine corkscrews were expensive implements, owned by the upper classes and intended only for expensive wines since only expensive wines were bottled with corks driven flush with the top of the neck of the bottle. It wasn’t until well into the nineteenth century, with the growth of the middle class and the growing prevalence of bottled wine, that the corkscrew became a common tool among large numbers of the populace in wine drinking countries.

Impressive and Infectious: A WineSpeed Book Review

Columbus Day is next week and that reminded us how much we love Italian wine and Italian wine culture. Native Wine Grapes of Italy, a book by Ian D’Agata, celebrates both. In it, D’Agata takes… Continue reading

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