Space wine: Does it taste better?: BBC News Review

Hello and welcome to News Review from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

Joining me today is Catherine. Hello, Catherine.

Hello, Neil. Hello, everybody. Now, a question:

does wine taste better when it's spent some time in outer space?

Well, that's what wine experts

and scientists have been trying to answer.

If you would like to test yourself on any of

the vocabulary that you hear in this programme,

there is a quiz on our website at bbclearningenglish.com.

Now, let's hear a clip from a BBC interview with the wine writer,

Jane Anson, talking about wine she tasted that had been in space.

So, scientists sent twelve bottles of the fine wine,

Château Pétrus, out into space.

The wine spent twelve months on the International Space Station.

Now, when the wine came back to Earth, the scientists said it tasted

better because it had matured – that means the flavours had developed –

quicker than they would have done if the wine had stayed on Earth.

This is part of research into sustainable agriculture and scientists are

now working out what it is about outer space that has this effect.

OK. Well, you have been looking across the media at

this story and picked out three words and expressions,

which are useful for talking about it. What have you got?

Yes, we have: 'top-notch', 'savour' and 'poring over'.

'Top-notch', 'savour' and 'poring over'.

OK. Let's have a look at your first headline then, please.

Yes, we are starting with Euronews and the headline:

'Top-notch' – excellent quality.

  Yes. So, a two-word adjective here.

The first word is 'top' – T-O-P. The second word: 'notch' – N-O-T-C-H.

They are joined together with a hyphen. So, 'top-notch'.

Yeah. Now, 'top' – I assume everybody knows what 'top' means.

'Notch' – now, a 'notch' is a kind of mark that you make in a piece of

wood, isn't it? So... Yes.

What has that got to do with wine in space?

I will tell you. So, a notch, like you said,

is a little groove that you cut out of usually a piece of wood.

Now, you might do this if you've got kids and your kids are

getting taller and you want to record their changing height.

You'll cut a little mark into, maybe, a door frame or something

to show that they're getting higher and higher and higher,

and of course the 'top notch' would be the highest 'notch' on those...

on that group of notches.

So, if something is 'top-notch', it means it's the best.

Right. It's at the highest level, I suppose. Now,

this expression is pretty informal, isn't it? You wouldn't see it

used in official government documentation or that type of thing.

No, not in – sort of – research projects or anything.

It's very much used in spoken English, but it's...

the thing it refers to is: things that are the best of its type.

So, 'top-notch' wine, you can talk about a 'top-notch'

sporting performance, you can talk about 'top-notch' food.

Yeah. What must be 'top-notch' for you, Catherine?

You know, some things we don't mind buying cheap and cheerful, do we?

But sometimes... sometimes you want something top-notch.

What is it for you? Well, over the years, Neil,

I've wasted a lot of money on poor quality vacuum cleaners

and when the last one broke I said to myself, 'That's enough.

I'm getting a top-notch vacuum cleaner.' And I did that and it's

been completely reliable ever since. Money well spent.

If Catherine's camera was at a different angle,

you could see just how spotless her floor is.

OK. Let's get a summary:

If you are interested in stories about space,

we have a great one for you about SpaceX and NASA.

Where can our lovely viewers find it, Catherine?

By clicking the link.

OK. Let's have a look now at your second headline, please.

Yes, we're in the UK now with Sky News – the headline:

'Savour' – enjoy in a slow and deliberate way.

Yes, lovely verb here: 'savour' – S-A-V-O-U-R.

Now, if you're reading this in American English,

it would be spelt S-A-V-O-R, but we're in Britain so we use that 'u'.

Yes, 'savour' – similar sounding and looking word to 'flavour' and it

might be useful to remember them together

because it's often used to talk about food, isn't it?

Yes, you can 'savour' the 'flavour' of something that you're eating,

in fact. If you 'savour' something,

you really enjoy it very slowly and deliberately.

So, if you're really, really hungry and you just grab something that's,

you know, not very nice and it's cheap

and you just want to fill that hunger, you don't 'savour' it.

But if you're spending a lot of money on really expensive food in a lovely

restaurant, or maybe you spent a long time cooking your favourite meal,

you're going to eat that food slowly. You're going to enjoy every mouthful.

You're going to maybe have some nice...

something nice to drink with it. You're going to take your time and

enjoy. And if you take your time to enjoy something, you 'savour' it.

Yeah. Now often, as I said, used about food,

but we can also use it to talk about experiences in general.

Yes, of course. Yeah, you can 'savour' anything

that's kind of really enjoyable, really special really important,

perhaps quite rare – something that doesn't happen very often.

Yeah, you might be at a concert – your favourite band

or singer – and it's getting towards the end of the concert;

you feeling a little bit sad because you know it's going to end.

And you just try to enjoy every single second...

to really 'savour' the experience.

Yes, you don't want it to end. You're enjoying – you're taking it all in,

you're looking, you're watching, you're smelling, you're listening:

everything to enjoy that experience.

Tell you what though, Neil, you'll be 'savouring' your next time

you get to see family and loved ones when the lockdown ends, won't you?

Absolutely. Really appreciate it because it's been so, so long.

Yes.

OK, let's get a summary:

So, we've looked at the word 'savour' and its connection

often to 'flavour', something which I find delicious: mango.

We've got a story about too many mangoes in the Philippines.

Where can our viewers find it?

I don't know if you can have too many mangoes but here's a story about it.

All you have to do is click the link.

OK. Now, let's have a look at your next headline.

And now we're in the United States with CBS Miami – the headline:

'Poring over' – looking at something carefully and in detail.

Yes, OK. Let's look at the spelling quite carefully for this one.

The spelling is two words: P-O-R-I-N-G.

The second word: 'over' – O-V-E-R.

Now, you'll notice that in the headline, 'pouring' has a 'u',

but we're going to look at the version that has P-O-R-I-N-G.

This word, 'poring over', means looking at

something in very great detail: you're examining it really slowly,

you examine it very carefully to find out as much as you can about it.

Yeah. This is not just about reading something – even reading

something which is interesting. If someone is 'poring over' something,

they are really looking at the detail. So...

Yeah, studying – really studying something very closely and very carefully.

So, in this case they got the results from their wine tasting,

and they're looking really carefully at the results from the wine

tasting experiment to learn as much as they possibly can from it.

Yeah. Now, somebody who's got an exam the following

day may 'pore over' their notes. Yes.

Detectives would 'pore over' the evidence in a criminal case.

Yes. Yeah, when they're trying – if you're trying to solve a crime, every

last little bit of information is... could be really, really important,

so you look very carefully at all the evidence: you 'pore over' it.

So, you've explained about 'poring over' there, Catherine,

but in the headline the spelling of the word is different.

It's got a 'u' in it. Have they made a mistake?

No, they haven't. This is a... or it's a deliberate mistake,

if you like, because this story is about wine. Wine is a liquid.

When you take – move liquid from a bottle into a glass,

for example, the verb is 'to pour' and this is spelt: P-O-U-R.

So, it's one of those clever, journalistic,

headline-writing word games that they like to do.

'Poring over' means to examine in great detail, but they've used the

spelling of 'pour', as in a liquid. It's just a word play.

That's what we call a pun. Yes.

OK. Let's get a summary:

Time now, Catherine, then just for a recap of our vocabulary, please.

Yes. So, we had 'top-notch' – excellent quality.

'Savour' – enjoy in a slow and deliberate way.

And 'poring over' – looking at something carefully and in detail.

If you want to test yourself, check out the quiz

on our website: bbclearningenglish.com.

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Thank you for joining us and goodbye.

Bye.