Never can a bulging postbag have brought so much relief. Having racked my alcohol-shrivelled brains and ransacked a pile of reference books in order to ensure the first Irish Times Wine Quiz wouldn't be a complete walkover, I'd fretted for several weeks that the questions were too tricky. (What if not enough people bothered to enter? What if not enough earned a sufficiently respectable score to lay honest claim to those exquisite Bollinger prizes?). Now there is a new anxiety to face. It's clear, from the very high level of answering, that there are a lot of devastatingly knowledgeable readers out there. And a horde of readers who know how to dredge nuggets of information from the Internet a lot more efficiently than I do. Two decidedly sobering thoughts.
Nobody got all the answers right, with questions 35 and 44 causing widespread grief. Nevertheless, all seven prizewinners scored well over 40 out of 50, putting them comfortably into the A class. Limerick emerged in glory with three - two of them from the same household but with marginally different answers. Expect a party on Shannonside, with the overall winner earning a methuselah of Bollinger Special Cuvee and two of the six bottles of Bollinger RD 1988 travelling west to runners-up. Congratulations to all, and thanks to everybody else who kept a clear enough head, over Christmas and New Year, to tackle the teasers.
First prize: Ralph Keane, Limerick Runners-up: Attracta Lee, Limerick; Joseph Lee, Limerick; Johnny Bourke, Rathfarnham, Dublin; Hilary Hough, Donnybrook, Dublin; Dr Eilis Cryan, Galway; Siobhan Lawlor, Raheny, Dublin.
Answers: 1. Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay; 2. Domaine de la RomaneeConti; 3. Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita; 4. Pelorus; 5. Peter Lehmann; 6. Vila Nova de Gaia; 7. Lynch; 8. Winston Churchill; 9, 12; 10. Persistence of flavours after wine has been swallowed - a sign of quality; 11. Wine glass manufacture; 12. Oz Clarke; 13. Veuve Clicquot; 14. A rootstock, widely used in California; 15. Jacob's Creek; 16. Oscar Wilde; 17. Serena Sutcliffe; 18. Cote-Rotie; 19. Flor; 20. John Lagan/Eithne Lagan/Kevin Cullen/Tom Cullity; 21. True; 22. Within Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, Northern California/Margaret River, Western Australia; 23. Michel Rolland, wine consultant, has worked for them all; 24. Vitis vinifera 25. Bollinger; 26. Aime Guibert; 27. Macabeo, Xarel-lo, Parellada; 28. Viticulture; 29. Jus de Vine, Portmarnock; 30. `Re-passed' - applied to a Valpolicella enriched through contact with lees of Amarone; 31. Charles Haughey; 32. White Burgundies; 33. TCA; 34. Sena; 35. Cyril Ray; 36. Alsace; 37. Chateau Vignelaure; 38. Dom Perignon; 39. Grenache Noir; 40. May-Elaine de Lencquesaing, Chateau Pichon-Lalande; 41 Krug/Bollinger/Alfred Gratien/Jacquesson/Vilmart; 42. 1 million FF; 43. Penfolds Grange; 44. Peter Vinding-Diers; 45. PiperHeidsieck; 46. Tenerife, 47. Klein Constantia; 48. English sparkling wine; 49. Die Fledermaus; 50. Esgana Cao.