Shoot Thinning

The act of removing some shoots in order to improve the quality of the fruit, as well as to reduce vine stress. By thinning the shoots, the winegrower attempts to get the vine to put its energy into ripening its clusters rather than growing green vegetative parts.

The Languedoc region of France is named after one of the early emperors of Gaul.

Answer: False.

The Languedoc region is named after a group of languages and dialects that were once spoken in southern France during the Middle Ages, known collectively as the langue d'oc, or “language of oc.” Oc was the word for “yes” in the Occitan language of southern France. In the north of France, however, the word for “yes” was “oïl” which later evolved into oui.

“I hover over the expensive Scotch and then the Armagnac, but finally settle on a glass of rich red claret. I put it near my nose and nearly pass out. It smells of old houses and aged wood and dark secrets, but also of hard, hot sunshine through ancient shutters and long, wicked afternoons in a four-poster bed. It’s not a wine, it’s a life, right there in the glass.”

—Nick Harkaway, author, The Gone-Away World

—Nick Harkaway, author, The Gone-Away World

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