The Curious World Of Wine

The Curious World of Wine is a fascinating miscellany about the colorful characters, celebrated places, and quirky events surrounding wine-making. Recounting wine tales that are by turns amusing, surprising, and occasionally a bit naughty, wine expert Richard Vine reveals little-known facts such as: • The oldest vineyard still producing grapes is thought to be in Maribor, Slovenia, where vines up to four hundred years old remain fruitful. • “Plonk,” a term used to insult any modestly priced wine, got its name from the French words for white wine—vin blanc, pronounced “vawn blawnk,” which was corrupted to “plawnk” or “plonk.” • Thomas Jefferson was so eager to plant native French vines at his Monticello mansion that he nearly went bankrupt fruitlessly hiring experts to defeat a condition that caused European vines to mysteriously die in North American soil. • Touching wineglasses as a toast was originally a deft move to exchange a splash of wine into each other’s cup to ensure that neither party was being poisoned. The Curious World of Wine will keep any wine fan entertained and enlightened—from the most erudite connoisseur to Two Buck Chuck devotees.

Presents facts and trivia about the history of wine and winemaking, featuring details on the world's famous wine regions, profiles of notable wine makers and critics, and anecdotes on wine culture.

Wacky but well-researched, unbiased and shameless, this informational book about drugs dares to take readers on a long, strange trivia trip. Following in the tradition of The Ultimate Book of Useless Information, The Curious World of Drugs and Their Friends is a wry potpourri of interesting information about every conceivable kind of drug. Readers can feed their heads with anecdotes, facts, lists, statistics, and illustrations, including: • The test results of animals on LSD—cats lose their fear of dogs, and goats walk in geometric patterns • Drugs found in nature, from magic mushrooms to St. John’s wort to beaver secretions • Celebrities who overdosed at age 27—Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones, and Jean Michel-Basquiat • Imaginary drugs in literature and film, from spice the mélange in Dune to Moloko plus in A Clockwork Orange • Nicknames for a joint—from doobie to giggly stick to Mr. Boom Bizzle • The global percentages of adults who have used cannabis—.004 percent in Singapore and 12.6 percent in the United States • The uses of opium in ancient Rome—from treatments for insomnia and epilepsy to colic and deafness • The most glamorous rehab clinics and their celebrity alumni • Mini-biographies of the biggest drug kingpins around the world

The intimacy of a cabin at Lake Tahoe provides the combustible circumstances that bring Diana Holland and Lane Christianson together in this passionate novel of first discovery. Originally published by Naiad Press in 1983, Bella Books is proud to bring the bestselling romantic lesbian novel of all time back to print. With multiple printings and translations worldwide,Curious Wine is an enduring classic and on everyone's list of the very best in our literature.

Presents a compilation of Christmas trivia, discussing the origin of such traditions as the Christmas tree, decorations, caroling, and Santa Claus, the types of food and drink that have been served on the holiday, and famous Christmas news stories from the past.

The World of Niagara Wine is a transdisciplinary exploration of the Niagara wine industry. In the first section, contributors explore the history and regulation of wine production as well as its contemporary economic significance. The second section focuses on the entrepreneurship behind and the promotion and marketing of Niagara wines. The third introduces readers to the science of grape growing, wine tasting, and wine production, and the final section examines the social and cultural ramifications of Niagara’s increasing reliance on grapes and wine as an economic motor for the region. The original research in this book celebrates and critiques the local wine industry and situates it in a complex web of Old World traditions and New World reliance on technology, science, and taste as well as global processes and local sociocultural reactions. Preface by Konrad Ejbich.

"A hip, new guide to wine for the new generation of wine drinkers, from the sommelier creators of the award-wining site WineFolly.com"--Provided by publisher.

The best on wine from the New York Times! The newspaper of record has always showcased the writing of some of the worlds most respected wine experts, and these 125 articles from its archives feature such esteemed names as Eric Asimov, Frank Prial, Florence Fabricant, and R. W. Apple Jr. They cover everything from corkscrews and winespeak to pairing wine with food, wines from the Continent and South of the Border, and restaurant experiences. This is the ideal gift book for wine lovers.