Vine:
- It takes 625 grapes to make one bottle of wine.
- Grapevines cannot reproduce reliably from seed. To cultivate a particular grape variety, grafting (a plant version of cloning) is used.
- Before harvest, the canopy of leaves at the top of the vine is often cut away to increase exposure to the sun and speed ripening. Bulgaria celebrates the holiday of St Trifon Zarezan, and on this day in early February, vine-tops are cut.
- The world’s most planted grape varietal is Airen. It occupies over a million acres in central Spain, where it is made into midrange white wine and quite good brandy.
- In terms of acreage, wine grapes rank number one among all crops planted worldwide.

Wine tasting:     
Our sense of smell is more important to experiencing wine than our sense of taste. Our tongues recognise only four tastes: sweet, sour, bitter and salty. With our sense of smell, however, we may identify hundreds of substances from memory or by association.

Smells have the power to evoke memory, emotion and mood. Many of these associations are immediate and instinctive. Freshly-mown grass, for example, can bring to mind a history of summers.

The same is true for wine. When you bring a glass of wine to your nose, inhale deeply, you record to memory your very first impressions. Every person will have a different set of associations with which to identify a wine’s characteristics, and it can be delightful to compare responses.

A great wine is generous and expressive right from the start, and can be appreciated by all of the senses.

Wine tasting tricks:
1. See.
Begin by holding up a glass of wine to a white background in a well-lit room. Observe the clarity and depth of colour. Wines should be clear rather than hazy, and should exhibit intense colour. Colour, resulting from the contact of juice with the grape skins during winemaking, indicates grape varietals and winemaking methods.

2. Smell.
Much of our sense of taste lies in our ability to smell. To release the bouquet and aromas of the wine, swirl the glass. Bouquet refers to odours that result from winemaking decisions, while aroma refers to odours associated with the grape variety. As wine clings to the inside of the glass, more odours are released. Then smell the wine and try to identify the very first thing you think of. A fruit? A type of wood? A feeling?

3. Taste.
To taste wine, sip and hold it in your mouth. Different parts of the tongue register different tastes. Allow the wine to roll all over your tongue, and notice the texture, or mouth-feel, of the wine. Balanced wines represent the harmony among several components: aroma, acid, tannin, fruit and sweetness. Acidity should provide a pleasant, but not overwhelming sharpness.