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Comet Vintages
Comet vintages are years during which an astronomical event, involving generally a "Great Comet", occurs prior to harvest. Throughout the history of wine, winemakers have attributed successful vintages and ideal weather conditions to the unexplained effects caused by the comets.''The New York Times'' archives (August 13, 1872)The Comet/ref> Some of the most heralded vintages in the last couple of centuries—such as the 1811, 1826, 1839, 1845, 1852, 1858, 1861, 1985, and 1989 vintages—have coincided with a notable appearance of a comet.G. Harding ''"A Wine Miscellany"'' pg 45–47, Clarkson Potter Publishing, New York 2005 There is no scientific basis for any effect of comets on viticulture, but the term nevertheless remains in use. The term "comet wine" is sometimes used in the wine world to describe a wine of exceptional quality in reference to the high reputation that comet vintages have. The 1811 comet vintage, coinciding with the appearance of the Great Comet of ...
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Comet Of 1811
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind acting upon the nucleus of the comet. Comet nuclei range from a few hundred meters to tens of kilometers across and are composed of loose collections of ice, dust, and small rocky particles. The coma may be up to 15 times Earth's diameter, while the tail may stretch beyond one astronomical unit. If sufficiently bright, a comet may be seen from Earth without the aid of a telescope and may subtend an arc of 30° (60 Moons) across the sky. Comets have been observed and recorded since ancient times by many cultures and religions. Comets usually have highly eccentric elliptical orbits, and they have a wide range of orbital periods, ranging from several years to potentially several milli ...
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Remuage
The traditional method is the process used in the Champagne region of France to produce Champagne. It is also the method used in various French regions to produce sparkling wines (not called “Champagne”), in Spain to produce Cava, in Portugal to produce Espumante and in Italy to produce Franciacorta. The method is known as the ''méthode champenoise,'' but the Champagne producers have successfully lobbied the European Union to restrict the use of that term within the EU only to wines produced in Champagne. Thus, wines from elsewhere cannot use the term "''méthode champenoise''" on products sold in the EU, and instead the term "traditional method" (''méthode traditionnelle'') or the local language equivalent (''método tradicional'' in Spain and Portugal, ''metodo classico'' or ''metodo tradizionale'' in Italy, and in Germany ''klassische Flaschengärung''). South African wines from the Western Cape are labelled with the term ''Methode Cap Classique''. Some wine produce ...
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Homage (arts)
Homage or ''hommage'' ( or ) is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic. The term is often used in the arts, where one author or artist shows respect to another by allusion or imitation; this is often spelled and pronounced like the original French ''hommage'' (). Description It was originally a declaration of fealty in the feudal system—swearing that one was the man (French: ''homme''), or subordinate, of the feudal lord. The concept then became used figuratively for an acknowledgement of quality or superiority. For example, a man might give homage to a lady, so honouring her beauty and other graces. In German scholarship, followers of a great scholar developed the custom of honouring their mentor by producing papers for a ''festschrift'' dedicated to him. In music, homage can take the form of a composition (''Homage to Paderewski''), a tribute albu ...
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Cognac (drink)
Cognac ( , also , ) is a variety of brandy named after the commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Cognac production falls under French appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) designation, with production methods and naming required to meet certain legal requirements. Among the specified grapes, Ugni blanc, known locally as Saint-Émilion, is most widely used. The brandy must be twice distilled in copper pot stills and aged at least two years in French oak barrels from Limousin or Tronçais. Cognac matures in the same way as whiskies and wines barrel-age, and most cognacs spend considerably longer "on the wood" than the minimum legal requirement. Production process Cognac is a type of brandy, and after the distillation and during the aging process, is also called ''eau de vie''. It is produced by twice distilling grapes produced in any of the designated growing regions. G ...
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Graves
A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as graveyards or cemeteries. Certain details of a grave, such as the state of the body found within it and any objects found with the body, may provide information for archaeologists about how the body may have lived before its death, including the time period in which it lived and the culture that it had been a part of. In some religions, it is believed that the body must be burned or cremated for the soul to survive; in others, the complete decomposition of the body is considered to be important for the rest of the soul (see bereavement). Description The formal use of a grave involves several steps with associated terminology. ;Grave cut The excavation that forms the grave.Ghamidi (2001)Customs and Behavioral Laws Excavations vary from a sha ...
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Champagne (wine Region)
The List of wine-producing regions, wine region within the Champagne (province), historical province of Champagne in the northeast of France is best known for the production of champagne, the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name. EU law and the laws of most countries reserve the term "champagne" exclusively for wines that come from this region located about 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of Paris. The Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, viticultural boundaries of Champagne are legally defined and split into five wine-producing districts within the historical province: Aube, Côte des Blancs, Côte de Sézanne, Montagne de Reims, and Vallée de la Marne. The city of Reims and the town of Épernay are the commercial centers of the area. Reims is famous for its cathedral, the venue of the coronation of the French kings and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located at the northern edges of France, the history of the Champagne wine region has had a significant role in the ...
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Cognac, France
Cognac (; Saintongese: ''Cougnat''; oc, Conhac ) is a commune in the Charente department, southwestern France. Administratively, the commune of Cognac is a subprefecture of the Charente department. Name The name is believed to be formed from individual masculine name -Connius, Gallic name, and the suffix -acum, which would correspond to the "domain of Connius". History The town of Cognac was unknown before the ninth century, when it was fortified. During the Hundred Years' War, the town continually changed sides, according to the tides of war. In 1526, it lent its name to the War of the League of Cognac, the military alliance established by King Francis I of France to fight against the House of Habsburg. As a benefit of the War League of Cognac, King Francis I granted to the town of Cognac the commercial right to participate in the salt trade conducted along the river, from which regional Cognac developed into a centre for the production of wine and brandy. In November 165 ...
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Bordeaux (wine)
Bordeaux wine ( oc, vin de Bordèu, french: vin de Bordeaux) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the broad estuary called the Gironde; the Gironde department, with a total vineyard area of over 120,000 hectares, is the largest wine growing area in France. Average vintages produce over 700 million bottles of wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world. The vast majority of wine produced in Bordeaux is red (sometimes called "claret" in Britain), with sweet white wines (most notably Sauternes), dry whites, and (in much smaller quantities) rosé and sparkling wines (Crémant de Bordeaux) collectively making up the remainder. Bordeaux wine is made by more than 8,500 producers or ''châteaux''. There are 54 appellations of Bordeaux wine. History Viticulture ...
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Honoré Flaugergues
Pierre-Gilles-Antoine-Honoré Flaugergues, usually known as Honoré Flaugergues (16 May 1755 in Viviers, Ardèche – 26 November 1835 or 20 November 1830different sources give different years of death) was a French astronomer. Biography Flaugergues was born in Viviers, the son of magistrate Antoine-Dominique Flaugergues, whose family originated from Rouergue. His mother was Jean-Marie-Louise de Ratte, of a family of Montpellier gentry and the sister of mathematician and astronomer Étienne-Hyacinthe de Ratte. He first gained an interest in astronomy at the age of eight through reading Alain Manesson Mallet's ''Description de l'Univers''.Xaver, Franz ''Correspondance astronomique, géographique, hydrographique et statistique'', 1820, p. 54 Under his father's guidance he showed early promise as a scientist, ...
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Twins
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two embryos, or ''dizygotic'' ('non-identical' or 'fraternal'), meaning that each twin develops from a separate egg and each egg is fertilized by its own sperm cell. Since identical twins develop from one zygote, they will share the same sex, while fraternal twins may or may not. In rare cases twins can have the same mother and different fathers (heteropaternal superfecundation). In contrast, a fetus that develops alone in the uterus, womb (the much more common case, in humans) is called a ''singleton'', and the general term for one offspring of a multiple birth is a ''multiple''. Unrelated look-alikes whose resemblance parallels that of twins are referred to as doppelgängers. Statistics The human twin birth rate in the United States rose 7 ...
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Westphalia
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the historic Province of Westphalia, which was a part of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1918 and the Free State of Prussia from 1918 to 1946. In 1946, Westphalia merged with North Rhine, another former part of Prussia, to form the newly created state of North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1947, the state with its two historic parts was joined by a third one: Lippe, a former principality and free state. The seventeen districts and nine independent cities of Westphalia and the single district of Lippe are members of the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (''Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe''). Previous to the formation of Westphalia as a province of Prussia and later state part of North Rhine-Westphalia, the ...
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