Approximate number of wine estates that employ Michel Rolland as their consultant, including many of the most exclusive wineries in the world. Based in Bordeaux (but often found on an air plane), Rolland is the most influential (and expensive) wine consultant in the world. His clients are spread across 14 countries from India to Brazil, to the U.S. Rolland also owns multiple estates in Bordeaux and joint ventures in South Africa, Argentina and Spain.
Number of pounds of pasta per person Americans eat each year according to a recent status report by the International Pasta Organization. Sound like a lot? Not to Italians. In Italy, pasta consumption is just shy of 55 pounds per person per year. The U.S.-based National Pasta Association reports that trending pasta recipes include pasta with chicken and salmon. (Ciao meatballs).
Amount (in U.S. dollars) of the new Target brand of wine called California Roots. Just about two bucks more than Two Buck Chuck (its notorious forbearer), California Roots comes in chardonnay, pinot grigio, moscato, cabernet sauvignon, and a red blend. Target, which counts wine and beer among its most popular items, is betting that buying Target brand wine along with your laundry detergent and T.P. will be a no-brainer.
Approximate minimum cost (in U.S. dollars) of an acre of vineyard land in the Texas Hill Country. By comparison, vineyard land in New York’s Finger Lakes costs at least $5000/acre. In Washington’s Columbia Valley, the minimum is $25,000/acre and in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, $30,000. For the Napa Valley? Try $300,000/acre or more.
Pounds of cheese per person Americans eat each year—more than double the amount consumed in 1975. Alas, only a fraction of it gets paired with wine. At fast food restaurants, menu items described as “cheesy” are on the upswing. And not just at pizza parlors. 38% of Dunkin’ Donuts menu items and 34% of Dairy Queen offerings have “cheesy” in their names.
Approximate number of restaurants in Florida that have suffered damage or destruction from Hurricane Irma, one of the worst Hurricanes ever to have hit the U.S. The Florida restaurant industry generates $42 billion in annual sales and employs over one million Floridians. Several dozen Florida vineyards and farm wineries specializing in muscadine wines have also been severely damaged.
Degrees Fahrenheit recorded in a vineyard in St. Helena in the Napa Valley last week. Unrelenting record-breaking temperatures over 110 degrees F in wine regions around the Bay Area have forced vintners to immediately start harvesting grapes. The city of San Francisco itself recorded its highest temperature ever recorded—106 degrees F.
Approximate maximum number of papillae in the human mouth. (Some people may have as few as 3,000). Papillae are the structures inside the mouth that contain taste buds. Inside the taste buds are taste receptor cells. At tip of each of these cells, fine hairs called microvilli detect chemicals in food and relay the information to the brain.
Approximate year when cabernet sauvignon vines were first imported into California by nurseryman Antoine Delmas in Santa Clara County (modern day Silicon Valley). Delmas listed them in his catalogue as “Cabrunet” and “Medoc.” In 1860, Almaden Vineyards near San Jose released the first commercial California cabernet wine, calling it “Cabernet-Malbec.”
Year that the first syrah was planted in California, in the Napa Valley, by the Christian Brothers winery. Famous U.C. Davis professor Dr. Harold Olmo (who brought the vines from France) convinced the winery to plant them. In 1974, Joseph Phelps winery made the first varietally labeled syrah in the U.S. with cuttings from the Christian Brothers vineyard.