1. A "vertical tasting" involves: A. Wines from the same year but from different vineyards or winemakers B. Wines from the same vineyards or winemakers but from different years C. Tasting wines while standing up Answer: B. It can be extremely difficult to discern sometimes subtle differences from one year to the next in wines by the same winemaker. 2. When at a restaurant and a small amount of wine is poured to taste, the purpose here is to: A. See if you like the wine B. Make sure it is the wine you thought it was C. Make sure the wine is not spoiled Answer: C. The sole purpose of this is to make sure that the wine is not defective. If the wine tastes "off," but you are not sure if it is spoiled, ask the waiter. If you just do not like the taste of the wine, try it with your food because some wines taste better with food. If you still do not like it, chalk it up to a learning experience. 3. Why should you drink dry wines before sweet wines? A. To make the sweet wine seem less sweet B.

To make the sweet wine seem full-bodied C. what is the best homemade wineTo prevent the dry wine from seeming overly dry Answer: C. If you were to drink the sweet wine first, the dry wine might seem unpleasantly dry. best tasting wine coolersGenerally, you should drink dry before sweet, white before red and light before heavy. best wine vintages in australiaFollowing this order allows you to enjoy multiple wines without have any one wine dominate your senses. 4. What is the dominant grape in Chianti wines? Answer: A. This is always the main grape in Chianti and it is usually blended with smaller percentages of other grapes as well. 5. Black pepper, plum and blackberry flavors describe which wine? Answer: B. Shiraz is the most common red wine grape in Australia and comes in a variety of styles.

Typically, there will be black pepper or spicy qualities when it is young. When it ages, the fruit flavors, like blackberry and plum, become more pronounced. 6. What does "appellation" refer to in France? A. Wines with an apple flavor B. Place of origin of the wine C. Wines from the mountains Answer: B. In France (and many other European countries) the government regulates a designated growing area. The name of the growing area is called an appellation. 7. Which does NOT necessarily mean a spoiled bottle of wine? Answer: B. This unfortunate trait can show up as the cork is being removed for the bottle. It is a stale and unpleasant odor which should dissipate quickly after the wine has been opened. 8. Reducing the grape crop usually does what for the resulting wines? B. Lowers the alcohol level C. Dilutes the fruit qualities Answer: A. If there are too many grapes on the vine, the flavor can become diluted. In many cases it takes severe pruning to make a superior wine. You might see wines with "low yield harvest" on their label since it can greatly improve the wine.

9. By law, the word "Reserve" may only be placed on which US made wines? A. Rare vintages available only to select clients B. Wines aged at least 10 years before being released to the market Answer: C. Currently, in the US, the term "Reserve" has no legal significance. Some producers use this "Reserve" designation to denote their high-quality wines but they are free to market their other, possibly lower quality, wines as "Reserve" as well. 10. How long does it take before a new grapevine would bear fruit suited to winemaking? Answer: B. A grapevine needs a few years before its grapes are suitable for winemaking. In general, grapevines should be able to bear good winemaking grapes for about 40 years. 11. What can salty foods do to tannic wine? A. Make the wine seem even more tannic B. Diminish the tannic quality C. Make the wine seem sweet Answer: A. Salt is a natural flavor enhancer, so if the tannins are a dominant flavor, the salt will further accentuate them. 12. Which French wine is NOT made from the sauvignon blanc grape?

Answer: C. Pouilly-Fuissé is a chardonnay-based white burgundy. Both Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé are sauvignon blanc-based white wines from the Loire Valley. 13. Why are red wines usually aged in oak barrels? A. Stainless steel tanks would spoil the wine B. To greatly improve the color C. To improve the wine's ability to age Answer: C. The oak barrels also contain tannins (in addition to those already in the wine), which contribute to the wine's flavor. These tannins have antioxidants to keep the wine from spoiling. As the wine ages, the tannins will mellow and lose their astringency, making the wine more enjoyable to drink. 14. If a wine is described as "hot," it most likely means it: A. Has too high an alcohol content C. Is served at warmer than room temperature Answer: A. This is a negative trait in most table or sparkling wines. Too much alcohol in wine can produce a burning sensation in the mouth and throat while being swallowed. 15. How many basic tastes can the tongue perceive: Answer: B. The tongue can only identify the basic tastes of Sweet, detected on the tip, Sour and Salty, detected on the sides, and Bitter, detected on the back

. It is the combination of these that make up the myriad of our perceived tastes. SOURCE: Winerd Trivia Game (www.winerdgame.coHow Frasca Food and Wine Teaches Hospitality, During Training and BeyondWhen it comes to food and wine pairings, there are those who carelessly match any dish with any libation and those who painstakingly try to balance the flavors of the food with the perfect wine. No matter where you land on the spectrum, there are some dishes that remain challenging (potluck, anyone?), so having knowledge of ways to properly pair wine with your food can truly intensify the enjoyment of eating. It doesn’t get much better than sea bass with Sauvignon Blanc, duck breast with Burgundy and a juicy steak with a classic Cabernet Sauvignon, so here are some pairing tips that promise to make your next dish sing: Wine flavors are derived from specific components: sugar, acid, fruit, tannin and alcohol. Foods also have flavor components, such as fat, acid, salt, sugar and bitter.

The most successful food and wine pairings feature complementary components, richness and textures. You can try for either a similar pairing or a contrasting one. For pasta in a rich cream sauce, for example, you could cut through the creamy fat with a crisp, dry, unoaked white wine. Or you could wrap the flavor of the wine around the richness of the sauce by choosing a big, ripe, soft Chardonnay or Roussanne/Marsanne blend. Of course you’ll need to brush up on white wine and red wine basics  to understand the flavors of each grape. Armed with the knowledge of grape varieties, you can follow these food elements for a perfect match: There are a few elements that make both red wine and white wine pairings work, and they’re derived from characteristics of the food and how they mingle with those of the wine.  These are: fat, acid, salt, sweetness, bitterness and texture. A lot of our favorite foods, both meat and dairy products, have high levels of fat. Wine doesn’t contain fat, so when matching a wine with fatty foods, remember that it has to balance that fat with acid, cut it with tannin, or match its richness with alcohol.

This is why a prime cut of steak tastes so good with a Cabernet-based wine; the beef’s protein and fat softens up the wine’s mouth-drying tannins. This sets up the tongue for the wine’s fruit and berries and forest flavors to complement the smoky, meaty flavors of the steak. Acid is another key element in both food and wine. In wine, it adds nerve, freshness and lift. It can do the same with food, as when lemon is squeezed on a fresh piece of fish. When looking for a wine to go with an acidic dish, you should make sure that the perceived acidity of the wine is at least equal to that of the food, or the wine will taste bland and washed out. Salads are often a challenge for wine matching, but you can make it work if you moderate the acid in the dressing by cutting back on the lemon juice or vinegar. Try using some tangy, bitter greens and offset them with herbal flavors from Sauvignon Blanc or Sémillon. Salty foods seem to limit your wine choices. Salt can make an oaky Chardonnay taste weird, strip the fruit right out of a red wine and turn high alcohol wines bitter.

But with a bit of imagination, you can conjure up some remarkable combinations of salty foods and sweet wines. Bleu cheese and Sauternes is another one of the world’s classic food and wine combos. Sparkling wines are a homerun with salty, fried foods. The carbonation and yeasty acids emulate beer and clean the salt from your palate, while adding more interesting textures and flavor nuances. Salt is also a principal flavor in briny seafood such as oysters. Acidic wines clean out the salt and balance the rich ocean flavors of the oyster. Sweet desserts and other sugary foods seem easy—just pull out a sweet wine—but beware. Here’s where a rule really needs to be observed. There are degrees of sweetness. Some recipes will have just a hint of sugar, such as a fruit sauce served over a pork loin. This light, fruity sweetness can be matched very well with rich white wines such as Chardonnay. Higher alcohol tends to give an impression of sweetness, and balances the sugar in the sauce.

With desserts you must be certain that the wine tastes sweeter than the dessert; otherwise the dessert will strip the wine of its sweetness and render it bitter or tart. Though red wine and chocolate is a combination often promoted by the wine industry, you have to be very careful about it. Use a bitter, dark chocolate and a red wine with some sweetness, such as a late harvest Zinfandel, and it can be quite wonderful. But a sweet chocolate dessert and a dry red? What about bitter flavors? In some cultures, bitter flavors are prized, but most of the time they are to be avoided. Anything more than just a hint is likely to be perceived as unpleasant. In wine, bitterness usually results from unripe grapes, or a failure to get the stems and pips (seeds) out of the fermenting tank, or mismanaged barrels. When bitterness in wine meets bitterness in food, it acts the opposite of sugar. One does not cancel out the other; As for matching textures, think light and heavy. Light foods are best with light wines;

heavy foods with heavy wines. That’s the safest way to go about it. A more adventurous path is to experiment with contrast: matching light foods to heavy wines and vice versa. This will require more testing, to keep the tension dynamic and avoid having the lighter flavors over-shadowed by the heavy ones. For every rule of wine pairing there is, you will often find just as many dissenters. However, the most important rule of all is to trust your own palate and enjoy! Pork Chops with Pinot Noir Demi-Glace with Oregon Pinot Noir Wild Rice Salad with Mushrooms with Cabernet Franc Duck Breast with Caramelized Apples and Red Burgundy Lamb Shanks with Olives and Beaujolais Portobello and Red Pepper Burgers and Carneros Pinot Noir Grilled Salmon with Olive Butter and Orzo and Russian River Valley Pinot Noir Lamb with Apricots and Saint-Joseph Spicy Grilled Shrimp Stew and Mencía Roasted Asparagus with Aceto Balsamico and Chianti Classico Steak Frites and Sonoma Zinfandel

Penne with Bacon, Swiss Chard, Jack Cheese and Pecans and Washington Syrah Roast Duckling with Merlot-Chocolate Sauce and Roasted Beets and Long Island Merlot Baked Rigatoni with Eggplant and Sausage and Primitivo Slow-Cooked Rack of Lamb and Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Tomato Salad and Bandol Rosé Tuna and Egg on a Baguette and Tavel Rosé Vegetable Soup and Côtes de Provence Bouillabaisse with a Spanish Rosé Avocado, Tomato and Spinach Crepes with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Mussels Provencal and Chilean Sauvignon Blanc Chicken Sate Burgers and Australian Chardonnay Spaghetti with Cockles and Greco di Tufo Wild Mushroom Soup and California Sauvignon Blanc Cucumber Soup and New York Riesling Vietnamese Steak Salad and Gewürztraminer Chicken and Mushroom Paellas and Albariño Linguine with Shrimp, Scallops and Clams and Tocai Friulano Pork Loin with Cider-Madeira Sauce and Pinot Blanc Chilled Corn Soup with Crab and Australian Chardonnay