If you want to test your WineSmarts as well, here are the questions and answers from the event. Thanks to all the wineries who offered their wines for everyone to taste in our mystery winetasting!

Wine #1 Hint
Name another term many California winemakers use for Sauvignon Blanc.

A) Chardonnay
B) White grape
C) Fumé Blanc
D) California Blanc 

   
ANSWER: C) Fumé Blanc
Back in the 1960s, it was difficult to sell Sauvignon Blanc wines, so California winemaking pioneer Robert Mondavi coined the term Fumé Blanc to glamorize this grape and persuade more Americans to drink it. We tasted the Chilean Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc.

Wine #2 Hint
True or False: Chardonnay is often found in white wines from Bordeaux.

ANSWER: FALSE
The white wines of Bordeaux star Sauvignon Blanc. It’s the whites from Burgundy that star Chardonnay. The wine we tasted was from Geyser Peak.  

   
Wine #3 Hint
This wine, described as "full-bodied, tannic, with hints of tobacco and black currant" likely describes:
A) Beaujolais
B) Cabernet Sauvignon
C) Merlot
D) Viognier

ANSWER: B) Cabernet Sauvignon
We tasted Cabernets from both Smoking Loon and Concha Y Toro.

Wine #4 Hint
During Prohibition, what type of wine grape was still widely grown in California?
A) Concord
B) Cabernet Sauvignon
C) Pinot Noir
D) Zinfandel

ANSWER: D) Zinfandel
Zinfandel was often shipped from California to the East Coast where family wine makers (often the mafia) made it into wine. Prohibition laws prohibited mass commercial winemaking, except for use as sacramental wine, medicine, or food flavoring. However, it allowed family, or home, winemaking. We tasted Dancing Bull Zinfandel.