With so many stressful things happening in our lives, sometimes it’s refreshing to ponder little things, like wine trivia. So let’s start with an easy one: how many grapes does it take to make just one glass of wine? According to my wine source, 1 cluster should be enough. There are 75 grapes in a cluster, 4 clusters in 1 bottle, 40 clusters on 1 vine and 1200

clusters in 1 barrel. Now don’t you feel a little less stressed?

Or how about this one: what is the Albarossa and where is it grown? Albarossa is a hybrid between the Barbera and Nebbiolo grapes and as the name implies, it’s found  in Piedmont.

Ever heard of the Barale winery in Piedmont? I never did until I attended a Piedmont wine tasting recently in NYC. Most of the wineries had importers; a few didn’t and my snobbish thinking was that the ones that didn’t have importers can’t be any good because they would have been picked up by someone if they were. Was I mistaken! The Barale family roots go back to the 1600’s in Barolo. The winery is currently run by Sergio Barale and his two daughters- and their wines were outstanding! I enjoyed immensely their Dolcetto, Barbera d’Alba, Barbaresco and Barolo, all single vineyards. I’ve got them lined up for a visit next time we go to Piedmont.

     Lastly we end the trivia on a cool note for a hot Summer: where can you get wine ice cream?  Mercer’s Dairy  has been making genuine wine ice cream for years with 15% butterfat and 5% alcohol. How about a scoop of port instead of a glass?