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.