Celebrate National Red Wine Day
Celebrate National Red Wine Day
It’s always a good time for red wine, especially on August 28, National Red Wine Day. Here are some fun ways to celebrate and interesting facts to enjoy.
Eat, drink and be merry
Instead of going for a single, heavy meal, consider tapas, antipasto or cheese and biscuits. Small plates are shareable and they won't make you drowsy, although red wine contains melatonin, so you might have to fight the urge to catch some z's.
Make sangria with your friends
There are too many types of sangria for you to make by yourself. Instead invite your friends to bring over their own sangria recipes so you can taste and compare.
Cook and unwind with a glass of wine
Make a meal using red wine. You don't have to look very hard to find recipes for wine-based starters, mains, and desserts. We have a feeling that the pairings will be spot on.
Fun facts
Wine has been around for centuries. It’s a complex drink that can take years to perfect. Here are some fun facts to enjoy.
1) Red Wines are well attributed to positive health benefits. It lowers your chances of having a stroke compared to non-drinkers. For men and women who drink moderately, it lessens their chance of developing Type 2 diabetes by 30%
2) Believe it or not, there are some people that have a fear of wine. It’s called “oenophobia”.
3) There is a right and wrong way to hold a wine glass. Wine glasses should be held by the stem, so that the hand does not raise the temperature of the wine.
4) When at a wine tasting event, it is not frowned upon for spitting wine out. Take a sip of wine and hold it in your mouth for a couple seconds, then either swallow it or spit it out. This is an acceptable way to know if it’s a good wine. A good wine will have a lengthy aftertaste.
5) Why do you store bottles of wine laying down? If the bottle is standing up, the cork could dry out and dwindle, possibly dropping into the wine.
6) Women are more inclined to the effects of wine than men. This is partly because they have fewer enzymes in the stomach lining that is needed to break down alcohol simply.
7) The oldest known wine cellar is on the Titanic. When divers went down to the wreckage, surprisingly most of the bottles were still intact.
8) To get the same amount of antioxidants you find in wine, you would need to drink 20 glasses of apple juice or seven glasses of orange juice.
9) “Toasting” started in ancient Rome in the 16th Century, when the Romans sustained the Greek tradition. They would drop a piece of toasted bread into the wine glass to soften unsavoury tastes. The quality of wine then was often inferior due to production processes, and a piece of toast might soak up some of the acidity.
10) Interestingly, Italy is the largest producer of wine in the world, followed by Spain, France and then the USA.