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1. The Romans used to mix lead with wine to improve preservation, flavour and texture.
2. The ancient Greeks used to dilute wine with an equal proportion of water.
3. Labels were first put on wine bottles in the early 1700s, but it wasn’t until the 1860s that glue was used to hold them on the bottles.
4. The Champagne Cristal was first produced in 1876 for Tsar Alexander II of Russia, who ordered that all Cristal bottles must be made clear to ensure that a bomb could not be hidden in it.
5. The tradition of “toasting” started in Ancient Rome when a piece of toasted bread was dropped into wine to shield the unpleasant taste.
6. Legend has it that when monk Dom Pérignon first made Champagne, he exclaimed “Come quickly, I’m drinking stars!”
7. During US prohibition, some grape-juice manufacturers would label their products with: ”CAUTION! Do not add these grapes to five gallons of water and five pounds of sugar with yeast, or it will ferment into wine, which is ILLEGAL.”
8. In ancient Babylon, the bride’s father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead (honey wine) he could drink for a month after the wedding. This period was known as “honey month”, which we now call “honeymoon.”
9. Before each military campaign, Napoleon made a point of passing through the Champagne region to obtain a supply of bubbly from his good friend Jean-Rémy Moët.
10. Ancient Greeks ate cabbages to try to cure their hangovers. Ancient Romans ate fried canaries.
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