Wine Buff's Stuff: 2

Understanding wine is a diplomatic passport to life. A demonstration of wine knowledge and discernment, as long as it is done with modesty, will always be appreciated.

Our lists of Wine Buff's Stuff offer a variety of facts and occasional figures about wine and the people who make it. They will never be dull. They will be at times dense but interesting, at others light but fun. They will enhance any conversation.

They will be like wine itself.

1.
Cool stuff
The ideal temperature to store wine is 10-13 degrees centigrade (50-55F). A little cooler is not going to hurt the wine, but it slows the maturing process. And don't worry if the temperature drops briefly to freezing - wines won't freeze until some way below 0C/32F because the alcohol acts as an antifreeze.

2.
Bottle sizes
We can never remember this. Somebody needs to put it on a fridge magnet so it's handy for reference. Meanwhile, kindly pass the Melchior.

750ml = a bottle
1.5L = a magnum
3L = a Jeroboam
4.5L = a Rehoboam
6L = a Methuselah
9L = a Salmanazar

12L = a Balthazar
15L = a Nebuchadnezzar
18L = a Melchior
20L = a Solomon
30L = a Melchizedek

3.
The seal deal
Using cork to seal wine bottles did not became common until the 17th century and was hardly an innovation. Beer, medicine, cosmetics and food were all commonly stored in cork-sealed containers before wine ever was.

4.
Timber of distinction
A French oak tree harvested for use in wine barrels is, on average, 170 years old.

5.
Into thin air
In commercial wineries, 10 per cent and more of wine in a vat can be lost to evaporation.

6.
Growing up in the city
London is famous for Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and vineyards. Well, okay, one vineyard, and it may not be famous yet, but give it a chance — it was only planted in 2009. London's first commercial vineyard since medieval times is a project by Capel Manor Horticultural College. Students and community volunteers planted 1,500 Bacchus vines on land at the Forty Hall Organic Farm. The vineyard manager, Sarah Vaughan-Roberts, hopes the free-draining, gravelly soil of Forty Hall will become a terroir of British wine. All profits from Forty Hall will be returned to a Capel Manor college charity which promotes education about sustainable urban agriculture.

7.
Stain pain
Dentists say the best way to prevent staining caused by wine, as well as other beverages, is to use a tooth paste containing a whitening agent. One dentist who suggested an alternative - don't drink wine - has since apologised and is now completing 500 hours of voluntary vine-pruning work.

8.
Wine whine
Wine appellation status in the United States is overseen by the US Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. The bureau, we think, badly needs a new name featuring the word wine.

9.
Headache cure
The mythology of Persia says wine was discovered by a woman. No name is given but the story goes that she drank the fermented juice of grapes stored in a jar. She then went to sleep and woke up cured of a headache. It seems things have been turned around since ancient Persian times.

10.
Grape of the day - lambrusco
If the Gods came to Earth for a visit, perhaps to check on human progress in issues of universal importance such as wisdom, tolerance and wine technology, what wine would you serve them? The answer, of course, depends on where they are and what they are doing. Why waste a grand cru if the decide to eat at Macca's? But if, by chance, they land in Lombardy, and especially if it's a baking Italian summer afternoon, then you could show the Gods a little bit of Heaven on Earth by seating them at a rough trestle table shaded by a vine-covered pergola and serving them Lambrusco, the wine made from the grape of the same name. There is evidence the Etruscans cultivated lambrusco grapes in Roman times. The grapes and the wine originate from five zones in Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy. Lambrusco should be drunk young. It pours frothy and tastes frizzante, a word probably donated to the Italian language by the Gods on an earlier visit. It means slightly sparkling.