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96 free Wine trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
100 free wine trivia questions with answers. Are you a wine connoisseur or just getting started on your wine journey? Our 96-question wine trivia quiz will test your knowledge across grape varieties, wine regions, production methods, and wine history. Whether you're a casual wine drinker or a serious enthusiast, this quiz offers an engaging way to challenge yourself and discover fascinating facts about the world's favorite beverage.
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Q 01Which sweet-wine estate was the only 'Premier Cru Supérieur' in the 1855 Bordeaux classification?
Château d'Yquem
Château d'Yquem alone was ranked Premier Cru Supérieur in 1855, above the other Sauternes and Barsac first growths; it picks berry by berry and released no wine at all in 2012.
Q 02What term refers to aging wine, often in oak barrels, to develop its flavors?
Élevage
Élevage, French for 'raising', covers everything between fermentation and bottling, including months or years of maturation in oak barrels.
Q 03Which widow of a sparkling-wine house invented riddling in 1816?
Madame Clicquot
Madame Clicquot (Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin) devised riddling in 1816 with her cellar master, tilting bottles in a pierced table so the sediment slid into the neck for removal.
Q 04Which grape variety is the principal component of Chianti, the classic red of Tuscany?
Sangiovese
Sangiovese must make up at least 70% of Chianti and 80% of Chianti Classico; it is Tuscany's most planted grape and the sole variety in Brunello di Montalcino.
Q 05Wines from which region beat top French bottles in both red and white at the 1976 'Judgment of Paris' tasting?
Napa County
Both winners were from Napa County: Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' 1973 Cabernet and Chateau Montelena's 1973 Chardonnay topped the blind tasting Steven Spurrier staged in Paris on 24 May 1976.
Q 06Which renowned sweet white wine of Bordeaux is made from grapes shrivelled by a beneficial mould?
Sauternes
Autumn mists off the Ciron river encourage the mould, and the top estates may pick a single vine several times over the harvest.
Q 07Which country's Douro Valley gives the world Port?
Portugal
Port is made in Portugal's Douro Valley, where spirit is added part-way through fermentation; the Douro was demarcated in 1756, making it one of the world's oldest protected wine regions.
Q 08Pinotage, a cross of Pinot Noir and Cinsault, was created in which country?
South Africa
Pinotage was bred in South Africa in 1925 by Abraham Perold at Stellenbosch University, crossing Pinot Noir with Cinsault, then known locally as Hermitage.
Q 09What common wine fault is often described as having aromas of damp cardboard, mold, or a musty basement?
Cork Taint
Cork taint is caused by a compound from contaminated corks that some tasters detect at a few parts per trillion; it is the main reason Australia and New Zealand switched largely to screwcaps.
Q 10Which thin-skinned, fussy red grape makes the famous reds of the Côte d'Or in eastern France?
Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir mutates readily and is notoriously hard to grow, yet the Côte de Nuits holds 24 of the region's 25 red grand cru vineyards.
Q 11What is the flattering name for the grey mould that shrivels grapes for sweet wines?
Noble rot
Noble rot is the winemaker's name for the fungus when misty mornings and dry afternoons let it shrivel grapes without spoiling them; in persistently wet weather it turns to grey rot and ruins the crop.
Q 12What is the process of removing solid particles from wine to improve clarity before bottling?
Fining
Fining is a winemaking technique that involves adding a substance to wine to bind with and remove suspended particles, thereby clarifying and stabilizing the wine.
Q 13Which red wine component binds to saliva proteins, causing a drying, puckering feel?
Tannins
Q 21Which German wine region is famed for Riesling grown on slate soils?
Mosel
The Mosel's steep riverside vineyards sit on slate that stores daytime heat, and its Rieslings are typically light, high in acidity and low in alcohol.
Q 22What does AOC stand for in the context of French wine regulations?
Appellation of Controlled Origin
AOC is Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée — Appellation of Controlled Origin — the French certification that ties a wine to its geographical origin and regulates grapes, yields and methods.
Q 23Which northern Rhône grape goes by a different name in Australia, where it is the most planted red?
Syrah/Shiraz
Tannins, the same compounds that make strong tea astringent, bind to saliva proteins and help red wine age; the fat in a steak softens their grip, which is why big reds suit red meat.
Q 14What is the space of air between the wine and the cork in a bottle called?
Ullage
Ullage is the air gap between wine and cork; the level drops as a bottle ages, and a large ullage warns buyers of evaporation or a failing cork.
Q 15What do winemakers call steeping crushed grape skins in the juice to draw out colour?
Maceration
Maceration is the skin contact that gives red wine its colour and tannin: hours for a rosé, but for big reds it can run on for weeks after fermentation has finished.
Q 16What is the primary characteristic that defines a 'vintage' wine?
Its grapes were harvested in a single specified year.
A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were primarily grown and harvested in a single specified year, which is typically indicated on the bottle's label.
Q 17Which winemaking process softens a wine's sharp acidity and can give Chardonnay a 'buttery' note?
Malolactic fermentation
Malolactic fermentation converts sharp malic acid to softer lactic acid; lactic bacteria rather than yeast do the work, and the by-product diacetyl is the compound used to flavour buttered popcorn.
Q 18What French term describes leaving wine on its dead yeast cells after fermentation for richness and texture?
Sur lie
Sur lie, 'on the yeast deposit', is how Muscadet from the western Loire is matured and may be stated on its label; the practice also gives long-aged sparkling wines their bready notes.
Q 19Which Italian region produces Barolo and Barbaresco from the Nebbiolo grape?
Piedmont
Piedmont is a prestigious wine region in northwest Italy, renowned for its full-bodied red wines such as Barolo and Barbaresco, both made exclusively from the Nebbiolo grape.
Q 20What is the technique called in which Prosecco gets its bubbles from a second fermentation in pressurised tanks?
Charmat method
The Charmat method (also called Martinotti, after the Italian who first patented it in 1895) runs the second fermentation in pressurised tanks, so Prosecco can be ready in about a month and stays fresh and fruity.
Syrah is called Shiraz in Australia, where it is the most planted red; Australians also called it Hermitage until the late 1980s, when that French place name became protected.
Q 24What is a 'puncheon' in the context of wine aging?
A large 450-liter oak barrel
A puncheon holds roughly 450 liters — about twice a standard 225-liter Bordeaux barrique — so it gives the wine a gentler dose of oak.
Q 25Which white grape varietal is primarily used to produce Sancerre wine from the Loire Valley, France?
Sauvignon Blanc
Sancerre's whites are 100% Sauvignon Blanc, crisp and mineral from the flinty, chalky hills of the upper Loire; the appellation also makes a little Pinot Noir red and rosé.
Q 26Cloudy Bay Vineyards, whose 1985 release won New Zealand wine acclaim, is in which region?
Marlborough
Cloudy Bay sits in Marlborough at the top of the South Island, where Montana Wines only began large-scale planting in 1973; within two decades its pungent, gooseberry-and-passionfruit whites were New Zealand's calling card.
Q 27Muscadet, the bone-dry white of the western Loire, is made from which grape variety?
Melon de Bourgogne
Melon de Bourgogne, as its name says, originated in Burgundy; it was widely replanted around Nantes after the great frost of 1709 and, despite the wine's name, is unrelated to Muscat.
Q 28Which Hungarian sweet wine, "Wine of Kings, King of Wines", is made from botrytised grapes?
Tokaji Aszú
Tokaji Aszú earned the 'Wine of Kings' epithet traditionally attributed to Louis XIV; its sweetness was graded in puttonyos, the baskets of botrytised berries added to each cask of base wine.
Q 29Michel Pouget introduced Malbec in 1853 to which country, where it became the national grape?
Argentina
Argentina adopted Malbec after French agronomist Michel Pouget brought cuttings in 1853, a date now marked as Malbec World Day on 17 April; the grape comes from Cahors, where it is called Côt.
Q 30What is 'Brix' a measurement of in winemaking?
Sugar content in grapes
Brix is a scale used in winemaking to measure the sugar content of grapes or grape must, which indicates the potential alcohol level of the finished wine.