Number of millions of tourists who visited wineries in the U.S. last year, spending $17.7 billion in the process, according to Wine America Perspectives. In many U.S. wine regions, the “season” is now year-long. In addition, there are 319 official “Wine Trails” in the country.
Cost (in U.S. dollars) of New York’s Upper East Side restaurant Serendipity 3’s LUXE Milkshake. Released on June 20 (National Vanilla Milkshake Day), it has been awarded the Guinness World Record for Most Expensive Milkshake. A key ingredient includes 23-karat edible gold. The concoction requires a 24-hour notice before you can sip and savor it in the NYC summer heat.
Approximate value (in billions of U.S. dollars) of California wine shipped within the United Sates in 2017. That’s a good 241 million cases. Slightly more wine was sold in 2017 than in the previous year. The biggest growth was in wines priced over $10.
Number of billions of people worldwide who rely on rice as their primary food. According to new study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, increasing levels of carbon dioxide are not only warming the planet, but also severely lowering the nutritional value of key crops like rice. CO2-exposed rice has dramatically less iron, zinc, and B vitamins.
Percentage of bartenders in the U.S. who are women according to a current population survey. In 1970, women made up only 21 percent of bartenders. By 1990, that number rose to 52 percent. A thriving cocktail culture in the U.S. and mixology’s newly elevated status may be factors in bartending’s professional appeal to women.
Cost (in U.S. dollars) per bottle of Walmart’s new private label wines now debuting in 1,100 Walmarts nationally. The ten wines in the group (a “Chianti,” red blend, rosé, and others) are sourced from wineries in California, France, and Italy. Walmart’s motivation? Wine is known to attract higher-spending grocery customers.
Potential number of millions of bottles of Champagne that now won’t ever become a reality thanks to a series of hailstorms that have devastated whole swaths of the region over the last several weeks. Some 2,500 acres of vines have been completely stripped of flowers that, had they survived and pollinated, would have become grapes.
Year that Lancers, an off-dry Portuguese rosé (and a date night wine for millions of Baby Boomers in the 1960s), was created. The brainchild of an American wine merchant named Henry Behar, Lancers was bottled in a dark red crockery bottle that resembled an old amphora. Billons of bottles of Lancers (and its rival Mateus) have been sold since they were created.
Percentage of people who bought French wine when French music was played in a British supermarket. When German music was played, the majority of the wines sold (73%) were German. The finding was reported in the new book Gastrophysics by Oxford professor Charles Spence who studies how our senses and perceptions influence what we eat and drink.
Average weight (in pounds) of a typical French oak barrel (barrique) when empty. When full of wine, the same barrel will weigh over 600 pounds, and will hold approximately 25 cases of wine. American oak barrels are slightly heavier than French barrels since the wood is more dense.