Another year, another wine quiz; and what better way to while away the post-prandial hours than by testing your knowledge of all the important – and not-so-important – wine events of the past year? Our prizes should be enough to tempt you into having a go. First prize is a magnificent six-bottle case of James Bond's champagne of choice, Bollinger Special Cuvée, and the runner-up will receive a superb bottle of Hidalgo's rare Palo Cortado Viejo VORS (delivery to UK mainland addresses only).

1. What's the name of the film, released this year and starring Alan Rickman, based on the famous blind tasting in 1976 in Paris in which California wines beat the best of Bordeaux and Burgundy?

(a) Judgement of Paris

(b) Château California

(c) Bottle Shock

2. Under its strict anti-alcohol laws, which country's courts fined a newspaper after ruling that it had broken the law by publishing a piece on the major champagne houses?

(a) Iran

(b) France

(c) Kakazkhstan

3. What's the name of the book that chronicles the ongoing controversy surrounding the provenance of various bottles of 1787 Château Lafite that purportedly belonged to the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson (right)?

(a) A Confederacy of Drunkards

(b) The Jefferson Lafite

(c) The Billionaire's Vinegar

4. Ilja Gort, the Dutch owner of Château de la Garde in Bordeaux, successfully insured which part of his body against the loss of its use?

(a) his nose

(b) his index finger

(c) his tongue

5. Which three-Michelin star chef created a chocolate wine by reducing a bottle of fortified, sweet red Maury wine from south-west France, and blending it with milk and chocolate shavings?

(a) Ferran Adria

(b) Heston Blumenthal

(c) Alain Ducasse

6. Following in the footsteps of Johnny Depp, who bought a French vineyard for his partner, Vanessa Paradis (pictured bottom), which star bought his wife a vineyard in California as a birthday gift?

(a) David Beckham

(b) Tom Cruise

(c) Sting

7. Who has reduced their carbon footprint by running their Aston Martin Volante Convertible on bioethanol made from English wine?

(a) Prince Charles

(b) Prince Naseem

(c) Prince

8. Which francophile president was found to have had his wine poured from napkin-draped bottles in order to conceal the fact that he preferred French wines to American?

(a) Lyndon Johnson

(b) Bill Clinton

(c) Richard Nixon

9. Which company was ordered to cut back on champagne and Christmas parties after it was found to be spending nearly £60,000 on bubbly and £250,000 on Christmas parties every year?

(a) Northern Rock

(b) The BBC

(c) HBOS

10. Which newspaper caused a furore when it said that the French harvest in 2008 "promised neither quality nor quantity"?

(a) The Independent

(b) Le Figaro

(c) La Stampa

11. Who was quick off the mark to send some congratulatory cases of their wine to President-elect Barack Obama after Obama mentioned that their wine was a staple at his Chicago home?

(a) Jess Jackson

(b) Jesse Jackson

(c) Jacquesson

12. Which world-famous Italian wine region, under investigation by the authorities for illegally blending grapes, sued two Italian newspapers for libel and voted to keep anything other than sangiovese out of its wines?

(a) chianti classico

(b) vino nobile di montepulciano

(c) brunello di montalcino

13. Which American TV series this year inspired the launch of a chianti, a pinot grigio and a pinot noir?

(a) 24

(b) The Sopranos

(c) The Wire

14. Inhabitants of which town found wine miraculously flowing from their kitchen taps after the annual shower of 3,000 litres of the year's newly pressed vintage was accidentally diverted by local plumbers to their homes instead of the town's fountain?

(a) Lourdes

(b) Assisi

(c) Marino

15. Sales of which wine were reported to have plummeted in San Francisco after it caught the eye of the media during the elections for the White House?

(a) Palin Syrah

(b) Wolf Blass President's Selection

(c) Obama Sparkling Wine

16. "It's just you and me and 15 tons of shit," said which wine writer to his assistant in a Channel 4 TV series this year based on his experiences of making a biodynamic wine in the foothills of the Pyrenees?

(a) Oz Clarke

(b) Olly Smith

(c) Monty Waldin

17. Which Oscar-winning actress bought the film rights to the best-selling lifestyle book French Women Don't Get Fat based on the experiences of a former Veuve Clicquot executive brought up on bread, pastries, wine and three-course meals, who went to the US as an exchange student and "came back fat"?

(a) Hilary Swank

(b) Nicole Kidman

(c) Reese Witherspoon

18. Which writer, one of whose characters drank Château Thames Embankment red, said "I've gone off food, so I stick to champagne. I drink it every morning, and that is the secret of a long life"?

(a) John Mortimer

(b) John Betjeman

(c) Philip Larkin

19. L'Esprit de Corps is the name of what?

(a) a wine launched by the French foreign legion

(b) a new wine internet site

(c) a wine poem by Charles Baudelaire

20. Which magazine is teaming up with wineries to get cover girls from the 1960s and 1970s on to their wine labels?

(a) Cosmopolitan

(b) Vogue

(c) Playboy

The first correct winner will be picked at random from a hat. Closing date for entries is Thursday 8 January and we will publish the answers and the winners' names on Saturday 24 January. Send your answers on a postcard to: Anthony Rose, The Independent Wine Quiz, The Independent, Independent House, 191 Marsh Wall, London E14 9RS, or e-mail your answers to winequiz@independent.co.uk. Normal 'Independent' competition rules apply. The editor's decision will be final.

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