Négociant

An individual or firm that buys grapes and/or ready-made wine from growers and/or cooperatives. The négociant then blends, bottles, labels, and sells the wine under its own brand or name. The first négociant houses were established in France around the time of the French Revolution. The sudden profusion of peasant growers who were inexperienced in sales created the need for firms that could bottle and sell the production from many small properties.

Long before the French appellation system was established, the monks of Burgundy had already begun to characterize the region’s vineyards and the quality of wines that came from them. Which of the following were the three categories used by the monks to differentiate wines?

A. Wines for every day, wines for cellaring, wines for kings

B. Wines for monks, wines for cardinals, wines for popes

C. Wines for merchants, wines for farmers, wines for magistrates

D. Wines for monks, wines for popes, wines for kings

The wines from the lower part of the slope, which suffered the most rain, were known as cuvées des moines, or “wines for the monks.” Wines from the top of the slope had the least rain, but there the sun did not have a solar panel-like focus. These were called cuvées des cardinals, or “wines for the cardinals.” And last, wines from the preferred middle belt of the slope, which had perfect sun and the right degree of rain runoff, were called cuvées des papes, or “wines for the popes.”

Alco-Cola

Yeah, pretty clever to have figured out that cola spelled differently starts the word alcohol. And not a moment too soon, since Coca Cola has just released an alcopop—the company’s first alcoholic drink in 125… Continue reading

Get WineSpeed