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Estimated number (in billions) of peppermint candy canes sold this holiday season. According to CandyCaneFacts.com, 90% of all candy canes produced are sold in the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Candy canes were invented in Germany 250 years ago to keep children “quiet in church” and were brought to the U.S. in 1847. They weren’t always striped; until the 1900s, the peppermint confections were manufactured as an all-white, peppermint-flavored candy.

Which one of the following countries possesses a significant number of the world’s oldest vines?

A. Greece

B. Australia

C. Argentina

D. Italy

When, in the late 1800s, phylloxera destroyed most of the vineyards of Europe, plus many in the Americas, parts of Australia side-stepped the pest. In particular, the state of South Australia was one of the few places that never had (and still doesn’t have) phylloxera thanks to strict quarantine laws that were put in place in the 1890s. As a result, South Australia is now home to many of the oldest vineyards in the world—vineyards which possess the original genetic plant material of Europe’s grapevines. Just two examples from the Barossa Valley include the Old Garden Vineyard (owned by the Hewitson family) which includes the world’s oldest Mourvèdre, planted in 1853. And vines in Penfold’s Kalimna “Block 42,” planted in 1888, are thought to be the world’s oldest producing Cabernet Sauvignon vines.

Asparagus, Meet Wine

If opening a restaurant just for three months a year seems crazy, consider a three-month-only restaurant that also serves only one food. In Alsace, from now until summer, small restaurants dedicated to asparagus alone, open their… Continue reading

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