Google Knows Wine Grapes

There I was, just minding my own business, doing what I do as a blogger, and all of a sudden I realize I need to know something.

So where do I turn? The same place everyone does these days. I go to Google.

Specifically, I was looking to remind myself which letter in the name of the grape Blaufränkisch had a diacritical marks on it and which mark that was. Yes, I'm super geeky that way. I know what they're called and I even sometimes try to use them correctly.

After typing in those last few letters and hitting return, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature grape cluster and a summary of the variety.

Yes, Virginia, Google even knows what Blaufränkisch looks like.

OK, OK, I know. It's not really Google that knows this. They're just smart enough to go looking in the place that really DOES know all this stuff: Wikipedia.

It turns out one of Google's most recent software updates included the launch of something they call the Knowledge Graph which is an attempt to not just return links to you (that's just soooo 2008) but to actually give you the information you're really looking for.

Well, it certainly worked for me. So go on, give it your best shot. Wanna bet whether Google knows anything about Kalecik Karasi?

Of course, there is one place better than Google when you really want to know something about wine. But I gotta admit, I like Google's little photos.