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4. You know no less well that the presence of sufficient tannin is equally necessary, in red wines at least. (Some writers refer to tannin as “tannic acid,” how properly I have no idea.) What is its contribution?

5. Identify:

(a) Chablais

(b) Misket

(c) Muskat-Ottonel.

6. Identify:

(a) Inferno

(b) Rust

(c) Buzbag.

7. Assign the following to their countries:

(a) Tassenberg

(b) Schramsberg

(c) Brauneberg

(d) Kahlenberg

(e) Steinberg.

8. Assign the following to their countries:

(a) Quincy

(b) Malmesbury

(c) Worcester

(d) Bellingham

(e) Llanarth.

9. Assign the following to their regions or districts:

(a) Chiroubles

(b) Coulé de Serrant

(c) Domaine de Mont-Redon

(d) Scharzhofberger

(e) Frecciarossa.

10. Assign the following to their villages within the Bordeaux region:

(a) Château Branaire-Ducru

(b) Château Durfort-Vivens

(c) Château Pedesclaux

(d) Château Cos-d’Estournel

(e) Château Marquis-d’Alesme.

WINE—FRANCE

To find a generalization about French wines that should be both true and unhackneyed would take a very long time. Their pre-eminence continues, though not as before. Thirty years ago, the wine drunk at any kind of serious meal had to be, in the UK at least, a French wine—Chianti was okay at Luigi’s. Now half a dozen other countries are competing at the lower and middle levels, where French performance seems to have fallen off. But at the heights no doubt they still lead. If Australia or California ever catch up, we shall have to go there to find out. Can you see them sending us their best stuff?

1. Some wine is produced in almost every part of France, but certain regions are regarded as outstanding. List the top six—not in order of merit, which would be a hopeless undertaking.

2. What do these letters stand for and what is their significance?

(a) AOC or AC

(b) VDQS.

3. Recently the French have been pushing products called vins de pays in the UK. What is the significance of this name?

4. Perhaps unwillingly, the wine-drinker finds himself picking up small bits of French. For an easy five marks, translate the following:

(a) brut

(b) frais

(c) pétillant

(d) mousseux

(e) blanc de noirs.

5. In certain humid conditions, white wine-grapes are attacked by a disease that causes them to concentrate their sugar and eventually produce the marvellous sweet wines of Sauternes. What is the disease called, and what brings it about?

6. The traditional champagne-glass is rather like a small saucer on a stem. Experts dislike them, moaning that they make the bubbles escape too fast. Whatever view you take, say how the thing is supposed to have been given its shape.

7. How did the bubbles get into the champagne in the first place?

8. Has all champagne got bubbles in it?

9. Some champagne is put into freakishly large bottles, larger than the magnum or double bottle, though the practice is probably on its last legs. Give the names and respective contents of these monster bottles.

10. It would be hard to think of a wine-producing country that did not make at least one wine from the Muscatel grape. They are all of course sweet dessert wines. Or are they?

WINE—GERMANY

German wines are highly respected for their quality, the average of which must be unequalled elsewhere. They are so good that it seems a pity to spoil them with food. Despite strenuous efforts by the trade, this remains the German view. Outside and largely inside the small wine-growing region in the south-west of the country, what washes down the pig’s knuckles and dumplings is beer, from one or other of the 1,400-odd breweries in the Federal Republic. The time for a hock or moselle is mid-morning or after dinner, here no less than there.

1. What do these letters, seen on wine-labels and elsewhere, stand for and what is their significance?

(a) QmP

(b) QbA.

2. The German vineyards are often said to be the northernmost in continental Europe. This cannot really be so, as Holland is said to produce some wine, though I cannot discover (or imagine)