Roditis (row-DEE-tis)

Old Greek variety with pink berries that has beget many clones. While no conclusive DNA analysis is yet available, many scientists think that what is called roditis may be field blends of various white varieties. The source of the simple white wine Patras, which is made on the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece.

The English term “butler” derives from which of the following:

A. A large haunch of roasted meat (known in old English as a “butt”) which the head servant in a wealthy household would carry ceremoniously into the dining room

B. The servant in a wealthy household who oversaw the money spent on provisions such as butter, eggs, meat, and so on

C. The servant in a wealthy household who was in charge of transferring wine from casks into bottles

D. A special, fabric-lined cabinet (known as the “butt”) where silver wine coasters and other fine pieces of silver were stored and to which only the lead servant had a key

The word “butler” is thought to have derived from the term “bottler.” From the Middle Ages through the mid-eighteenth century, the English upper classes bought wine in barrels and then transferred it into bottles that sometimes carried a family seal, crest, or other private marking. In a significantly large and wealthy household, it was one of the head servant’s tasks to monitor the wine cellar, filling glass bottles as needed for the dining room. Thus the “bottler” from the Old French bouteillier “bottle bearer” became, in time, the “butler”.

Grape Sexism

Thanks to Dr. Carole Meredith and her team at the University of California at Davis, we know that over the course of two thousand years, pinot noir has been a real Casanova, fathering dozens of other… Continue reading

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