11 facts about wine

1. The largest wine bottle

With a height of 3 metres, a bottle diameter of 1.08 metres and a record amount of 1,590 litres, the largest wine bottle made of glass stands in the Asian restaurant Engel Wang Fu in Lustenau/Vorarlberg. The Keringer winery in Burgenland filled this glass bottle with its wine 100 Days Zweigelt 2015 and set a new world record in 2017.

2. The most expensive bottle

Prestige and vintage made up the bottle for which a collector reached deep into his pockets: the hammer fell at 317,176 euros for the 6-litre Imperial bottle of 1947 Château Cheval Blanc - prestige and vintage made this wine very expensive.

3. Steepest vineyard

The Moselle wine-growing region is famous for steep-slope viticulture, so it is hardly surprising that the steepest vineyard in the world is located here: the Bremmer Calmont. The vineyard has a slope of up to 68 degrees, which is why cultivation is very time-consuming - only manual labour is possible here.

In the extreme location, grapes grow under perfect sunlight on a geologically unique soil. But the location also has an advantage: the grapes grow under perfect sunlight and the special microclimate produces mineral-rich, fruity wines.

4. The wine hangover

The wine hangover the morning after comes less from the alcohol and more from the histamines in it.

5. Champagne makes you smart

A British study at the University of Reading has found that champagne improves memory. This is due to the phenols in the red grape varieties Pinot noir and Pinot meunier. Phenols feed the proteins associated with the effective storage of memories in the brain. With age, the number of these proteins decreases - phenols, however, change the number of these proteins positively!

6. Few grapes, much wine

Up to 0.7 litres of wine can be extracted from one kilo of grapes.

7. Popping corks

When popping, champagne corks can reach a speed of up to 40 kilometres per hour.

8. Cat wine

In Japan, there is alcohol-free wine for cats called "Nyan Nyan Nouveau". Why? So wine lovers don't have to drink alone.

9. The bulge at the bottom of the bottle

"Culot de Bouteille" is the name of the bulge at the bottom of a wine bottle. Why does the bulge exist at all? On the one hand, the bulge provides stability, on the other hand, it also ensures that the bottle can withstand greater pressure. This is a matter of increasing the internal pressure resistance, as the carbonic acid in sparkling wines in particular ensures strong internal pressure - which the curvature transfers to the walls of the bottle and distributes it better.

10. Grape varieties

There are about 10,000 different grape varieties worldwide - however, only about 2,5000 grape varieties are approved for actual viticulture. A grape variety is the variety of the plant species from whose fruit wine is made. Grape varieties, along with other influencing factors such as climate and soil conditions, are a decisive factor for the character of a wine.

11.    Oenophobia

Believe it or not, there are people who are afraid of wine. It's called "oenophobia".