Q 01/05

Which sweet-wine estate was the only 'Premier Cru Supérieur' in the 1855 Bordeaux classification?

A) Château d'Yquem

B) Château Climens

C) Château Suduiraut

D) Château Rieussec

Answer · why

A) Château d'Yquem

The estate's grapes are picked berry by berry over several passes through the vineyard, and in poor years, as in 2012, it releases no wine at all.

Q 02/05

What term refers to aging wine, often in oak barrels, to develop its flavors?

A) Racking

B) Élevage

C) Fermentation

D) Débourbage

Answer · why

B) Élevage

The word means roughly "raising" or "bringing up" a wine — everything that happens between fermentation and bottling, oak aging included.

Q 03/05

Which widow of a sparkling-wine house invented riddling in 1816?

A) Madame Bollinger

B) Madame Clicquot

C) Madame Pommery

D) Madame Roederer

Answer · why

B) Madame Clicquot

Before her riddling table the wine was cloudy; today most houses use mechanical gyropalettes and freeze the plug of sediment in the neck to disgorge i...

Q 04/05

Which grape variety is the principal component of Chianti, the classic red of Tuscany?

A) Sangiovese

B) Barbera

C) Nebbiolo

D) Montepulciano

Answer · why

A) Sangiovese

It is the most planted grape in Tuscany and the sole variety in Brunello di Montalcino.

Q 05/05

Wines from which region beat top French bottles in both red and white at the 1976 'Judgment of Paris' tasting?

A) Napa County

B) Barossa Valley

C) Rioja

D) Stellenbosch

Answer · why

A) Napa County

The competition was organised in Paris on 24 May 1976 to mark the US Bicentennial, and the French judges' verdict is credited with putting American wi...