THE TOP 5 STRANGEST NEWS FROM WINE WORLD

Today we are in a globalized world, where everyone can knows everything, and where the news run so fast that sometimes we are not able to realize effectively the quality of every single information. We are litterally bombarbed of information!

 

The same happens even in the wine world, we swim in a sea of informations where is difficult to to orientate yourself. So, to help you, here our selection of the strangest curiosities from the wine world:

 

#1. WOMEN WHO DRINK WHEN ARE PREGNANT HAVE "BETTER BEHAVE CHILDREN"

 

Research from Denmark suggests women who have occasional drinks during pregnancy have children who are better adjusted than the offspring of those who abstain.

According to The Telegraph, results of the study showed that the children of women who drank up to a bottle of wine per month while pregnant were emotionally better off by the time they reached the age of seven than children whose mothers had stayed teetotal.

 

 

 

 

The study is based on a long-term study by the University of Copenhagen of more than 100,000 pregnant Danish women who were asked about their drinking habits.

However authors of the study warned the findings should not be taken as an invitation to drink during pregnancy and that the results were likely to be a result of other factors including the mother’s lifestyle rather than the amount she had drunk during pregnancy.

 

#2. A NEW ZELAND WINERY HAS BECOME THE FIRST IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE TO ACCEPT THE ONLINE CURRENCY BITCOIN

 

Pyramid Valley Vineyards, in North Canrubury, made the decision to ease transaction for the company’s domestic and international customer base.

 

 

 

 

Caine Thompson, managing director of Pyramid Valley, said: “We live in exciting times, and bitcoin is a movement that is gaining huge international traction as a currency that is borderless.”

Pyramid Valley began accepting bitcoin on 9 December 2013 with Thompson claiming good results over the Christmas period with bitcoins accounting for 9% of all online purchases.

 

#3. WINEMAKER KILLS THIEF WITH POISONED WINE

 

A wine producer from Vacszentlaszlo, 50km east of Budapest, had been plagued by a spate of thefts and was determined to give the thief, or thieves, “a lesson”.

He therefore laced some bottles with antifreeze and left them where they were likely to be taken.

On 24 October, a 30-year old man – who has not so far been identified as an employee of the winery – stole several poisoned bottles and shared them with friends.

 

 

According to police in the Pest department, he was hospitalised a few days later showing signs of poisoning and was dead by 1 November – though the exact cause of his death has not been firmly established. Five other individuals have also been hospitalised for poisoning.

Protecting one’s products to such extremes is not without precedent in Hungary. In 2008, a cucumber grower was fed up with someone who had been stealing the vegetables from his garden since the late 1980s and so he electrified his fence with 220 volts.

A 48-year old man was shocked to death as he tried to climb it. The gardener subsequently claimed he didn’t know the voltage would be quite so lethal.

 

#4. POISONED WINE COULD HAVE KILLED ALEXANDER THE GREAT

 

Dr Leo Schep, toxicologist at the National Poisons Centre and scientist at the Otago University in New Zealand, thinks a poisonous wine made from a plant may have killed the ancient Greek leader.

Alexander the Great built a massive empire before his untimely death at the age of just 32 in 323BC.
Some historians believe he died of natural causes while other believe he was the victim of a plot to poison him at a celebratory banquet.

Dr Schep, who has been researching the toxicological evidence for a decade, said some of the poisoning theories, including arsenic and strychnine, “were laughable” as death would have come far too fast.

He asserts the most likely culprit was a wine made from Veratrum album, known as white hellebore.

The white-flowered plant can be fermented into a poisonous wine and was was well-known to the Greeks as a herbal treatment for inducing vomiting. It would also account for the 12 days it took for Alexander the Great to die during which he was speechless and unable to walk.

#5. STUDY LINKS US DRINKING HABITS TO POLITICAL BELIEFS

 

According to a study by the US National Media Research Planning and Placement, Democrats prefer clear spirits such as vodka and Champagne while Republicans prefer brown liquor such as whiskey and wines.

The study found those drinking a glass of Robert Mondavi, Kendal Jackson, Wild Turkey and Jim Beam were most likely to turn out to vote, and vote Republican.

Meanwhile those choosing to sup a glass of Prosecco, Moët & Chandon, Smoking Loon wine or Tanqueray gin were most likely to vote, and vote Democrat.

At the other end of the scale those drinking Jägermeister, Jack Daniel’s or Malibu were deemed not as likely to turn out at the ballots, but if they did it would be to vote Reublican.

Those with a fondness for flavoured vodka and peach schnapps were also found to be less likely to vote, but to vote Democrat.

The drink sitting on the fence appears to be rum with both Bacardi and Captain Morgan Spiced rum falling in the middle of the political spectrum.