UNCORKED: A wine trivia game to enhance your next virtual cocktail hour

Recently a friend told me about the virtual cocktail hour they were having with friends from other states. Their request of me: wine trivia to add a competitive element.

Round 1 – Celebrities and Hollywood Movies

Question 1. Which member of the band The Black Eyed Peas owns a winery in California specializing in viognier and syrah?

a) will.i.am b) Fergie c) Taboo d) J. Rey Soul

Question 2. James Bond drinks many brands of Champagne. Which brand was he served by Dr. No in the first movie "Dr. No" (1962)?

a) Dom Perignon b) Bollinger c) Tattinger d) Veuve Clicquot

Question 3. What famous Bordeaux wine does restaurant critic Anton Ego order for his meal in the Disney film "Ratatouille" (2007)?

a) Chateau Ausone b) Chateaux Lafite Rothschild c) Chateaux Cheval Blanc d) Chateaux Latour

Question 4. What type of wine did Hannibal Lecter drink with "liver and fava beans" in the movie "Silence of the Lambs" (1991)?

a) Amarone b) Chianti c) Cabernet sauvignon d) Chinon

Question 5. What movie is based on the winery Chateau Montelena and its famous 1973 Chardonnay?

a) "Sideways" b) "A Good Year" c) "Mondovino" d) "Bottle Shock"

Answers

1. Fergie. Singer Fergie and her father own the winery Ferguson Crest in California's Santa Barbara County.
2. Dom Perignon. When Dr. No offers Bond the 1955 vintage at dinner Bond considers it a weapon. When he is stopped and forced back to his seat, he says, "I prefer the '53 myself."
3. Cheval Blanc. During the film Ego orders the famous vintage of 1947 Bordeaux.
4. Chianti. This wine-growing region has a long history of using offal in dishes with fava and broad beans as sides. Additional trivia: In Thomas Harris' novel the wine is Amarone, but was changed to Chianti for the film due to Americans' lack of familiarity with Amarone.
5. "Bottle Shock." This movie was based around the 1976 competition, "Judgment of Paris" where a panel had a blind tasting of American and French wines to see who had the better wines.

Round 2 – Wine Mastery

Question 1. What is the largest wine bottle continually produced?

a) Magnum b) Jeroboam c) Nebuchadnezzar d) Balthazar

Question 2. What winemaking region is the only one in the world escaping the phylloxera louse?

a) Napa Valley b) Chile c) Bordeaux d) Germany

Question 3. Which Greek goddess is used to signify a wine bottle has been certified biodynamic?

a) Aphrodite b) Artemis c) Demeter d) Leto

Question 4. How fast can Champagne corks actually travel?

a) 10 mph b) 50 mph c) 100 mph d) 75 mph

Question 5. How many grapes does it take to produce a single standard bottle of wine?

a) 200 b) 300 c) 500 d) 2000

Answers

1. The Nebuchadnezzar. It holds 15 liters of wine, which equals about 20 bottles of your everyday drinking wine.
2. Chile. The answer is not really known as to why. Experts have guessed it could be its geographic isolation between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean and another theory is the unique soil composition.
3. Demeter is an Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture presiding over grains and fertility of the earth.
4. In theory the pressure inside a bottle of sparkling wine is enough to expel a cork as fast as 50 mph if the bottle is warm, shaken before opening and not opened properly.
5. About 200 grapes give or take, 2.5 pounds of grapes.

Bonus Round – Fast Fire Answers Double or Nothing

(General wine knowledge worth double points but if you get any answer incorrect you get zero points.)

1. What bank (left or right) is the Pomerol region of Bordeaux located?
2. Chianti is from what geographical region?
3. Name 2 of the 3 grapes used to produce Champagne.
4. Where is the famous Chateau Margaux located?
5. What grape variety is Chablis made from?

Answers

1. Right Bank
2. Tuscany, Italy
3. The 3 grapes are chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot meunier
4. Bordeaux, France
5. Chardonnay

Lorri Hambuchen is a member of London's Institute of Wines and Spirits.

Email:

uncorked@thewinecenter.com