What country is the biggest supplier of cork?

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Portugal is the center of the world's cork business. That country as roughly 1.6 million acres of cork forests, representing 30% of the world's cork trees. Spain has the next largest total with about 1.2 million acres of cork trees. Algeria and Morocco have cork forests almost as big as Spain, followed by Tunisia. Each cork region produces cork with different characteristics. Portugal's most prized region is Évora.

The word "bung" refers to what?

A bung is the stopper used to plug the opening of a wine barrel. Analogous to the cork of a bottle, bungs are made of glass, plastic, rubber, earthenware, silicone or wood. If a barrel is stored so that the bung is at its highest point, this position is called bung up. If the barrel is stored with the bung in either the two or ten o'clock position, it is called bung over.

By U.S. law, what is the percentage range of alcohol content found in a 750ml bottle of table wine?

In the United States, grape based table wine must legally be between 7 and 14 percent, while desert wines must be between 14 and 24 percent. Incidentally, most spirits are sold at strength of around 40 percent. Beers are typically around 4 percent (usually measured by percentage of weight instead of volume).

Originally published in our Gold Wine Club's The Wine Press, Hanna Winery edition featured in 1995.