Silvaner (sil-VAHN-er)

Austrian variety, mostly neutral in character, that is a cross of savagnin with osterriechisch weiss, an ancient white variety grown near Vienna. In Germany, silvaner makes a somewhat more characterful dry, firm, bold wine, especially in the Franken region. In Alsace, France, silvaner is known as sylvaner and some very good wines are made from the grape though acreage in Alsace is declining.

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.

“Waiter, There’s a Person in My Soup!”

Billing itself as a “spa theme park,” the Yunessun Resort in Japan’s Hakone prefecture—an hour and a half bullet train ride from Tokyo—offers bathers the option of soaking in a pool filled with red wine.… Continue reading

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