Wine is an alcoholic drink that everyone loves. It is better served with cheese and you savor every minute of it!
So do you want to find out some facts and trivia about this alcoholic beverge? Let’s dive in!
- Wine is an alcoholic drink made from fermented grapes
- Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol, carbon dioxide, and heat
- Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts produce different styles of wine
- These variations result from the complex interactions between the biochemical development of the grape
- The reactions involved in fermentation
- The terroir
- And the production process
- Many countries enact legal appellations intended to define styles and qualities of wine
- These typically restrict the geographical origin and permitted varieties of grapes, as well as other aspects of wine production
- Wines not made from grapes include rice wine and fruit wines
- Such as plum, cherry, pomegranate, currant and elderberry
- Wine has been produced for thousands of years
- The earliest known traces of wine are from Georgia (c. 6000 BC), Iran (c. 5000 BC) and Sicily (c. 4000 BC)
- Although there is evidence of a similar alcoholic drink being consumed earlier in China (c. 7000 BC)
- The earliest known winery is the 6,100- year- old Areni- 1 winery in Armenia
- Wine reached the Balkans by 4500 BC
- It was consumed and celebrated in ancient Greece, Thrace and Rome
- Throughout history, wine has been consumed for its intoxicating effects
- Wine has long played an important role in religion
- Red wine was associated with blood by the ancient Egyptians
- It was used by both the Greek cult of Dionysus and the Romans in their Bacchanalia
- Judaism also incorporates it in the Kiddush
- Christianity in the Eucharist
- The English word “wine” comes from the Proto- Germanic *winam
- It is an early borrowing from the Latin vinum, “wine” or “(grape) vine”
- Itself derived from the Proto- Indo- European stem *win-o-
- The earliest attested terms referring to wine are the Mycenaean Greek me-tu-wo ne-wo
- This means “in (the month)” or “(festival) of the new wine”
- And wo-no-wa-ti-si, which means “wine garden”, written in Linear B inscriptions
- Linear B also includes, inter alia, an ideogram for wine
- Ultimate Indo- European origin of the word is the subject of continued debate
- Some scholars have noted the similarities between the words for wine in Indo- European languages, pointing to the possibility of a common origin of the word denoting “wine” in these language families
- The Georgian word goes back to Proto- Kartvelian *ɣwino-
- Which is either a borrowing from Proto- Indo- European or the lexeme was specifically borrowed from Proto- Armenian *ɣʷeinyo-, whence Armenian gini
- An alternate hypothesis by Fähnrich supposes *ɣwino- a native Kartvelian word derived from the verbal root *ɣun- (‘to bend’)
- All these theories place the origin of the word in the same geographical location, Trans- Caucasia
- It has been established based on archeological and biomolecular studies as the origin of viticulture
- The red- wine production process involves extraction of color and flavor components from the grape skin
- Red wine is made from dark- colored grape varieties
- The actual color of the wine can range from violet, typical of young wines, through red for mature wines, to brown for older red wines
- The juice from most purple grapes is actually greenish- white
- Τhe red color comes from anthocyan pigments (also called anthocyanins) present in the skin of the grape
- Εxceptions are the relatively uncommon teinturier varieties
- hich actually have red flesh and produce red juice
- Fermentation of the non- colored grape pulp produces white wine
- The grapes from which white wine is produced are typically green or yellow
- Some varieties are well- known, such as the Chardonnay, Sauvignon, and Riesling
- Other white wines are blended from multiple varieties
- Tokay, Sherry, and Sauternes are examples of these
- Dark- skinned grapes may be used to produce white wine if the wine-maker is careful not to let the skin stain the wort during the separation of the pulp- juice
- Pinot noir, for example, is commonly used to produce champagne
- Dry (non- sweet) white wine is the most common, derived from the complete fermentation of the wort
- Sweet wines are produced when the fermentation is interrupted before all the grape sugars are converted into alcohol
- Sparkling wines, which are mostly white wines, are produced by not allowing carbon dioxide from the fermentation to escape during fermentatio
- It takes place in the bottle rather than in the barrel
- A rosé wine incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine
- It may be the oldest known type of wine
- It is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method
- The pink color can range from a pale orange to a vivid near- purple
- This depends on the varietals used and wine- making techniques
- There are three primary ways to produce rosé wine
- Skin contact (allowing dark grape skins to stain the wort)
- Saignée (removing juice from the must early in fermentation and continuing fermentation of the juice separately)
- And blending (uncommon and discouraged in most wine growing regions)
- Rosé wines can be made still, semi-s parkling, or sparkling
- With a wide range of sweetness levels from dry Provençal rosé to sweet White Zinfandels and blushes
- Rosé wines are made from a wide variety of grapes all over the world
- Wines from other fruits, such as apples and berries, are usually named after the fruit from which they are produced combined with the word “wine”
- For example, apple wine and elderberry wine
- They are generically called fruit wine or country wine
- Other than the grape varieties traditionally used for wine- making
- Most fruits naturally lack either sufficient fermentable sugars, relatively low acidity, yeast nutrients needed to promote or maintain fermentation
- Or a combination of these three characteristics
- This is probably one of the main reasons why wine derived from grapes has historically been more prevalent by far than other types
- Specific types of fruit wine have generally been confined to regions in which the fruits were native or introduced for other reasons
- Mead, also called honey wine, is created by fermenting honey with water
- Sometimes with various fruits, spices, grains, or hops
- As long as the primary substance fermented is honey
- The drink is considered mead
- Mead was produced in ancient history throughout Europe, Africa and Asia
- It was known in Europe before grape wine
- Other drinks called “wine”, such as barley wine and rice wine
- They are made from starch- based materials and resemble beer more than traditional wine, while ginger wine is fortified with brandy
- In these latter cases, the term “wine” refers to the similarity in alcohol content rather than to the production process
- The commercial use of the English word “wine” (and its equivalent in other languages) is protected by law in many jurisdictions
- Some UK supermarkets have been criticised for selling “wine based” drinks, which only contain 75% wine, but which are still marketed as wine
- The International Organisation of Vine and Wine requires that a “wine based drink” must contain a minimum of 75% wine
- Βut producers do not have to divulge the nature of the remaining 25%
- Outstanding vintages from the best vineyards may sell for thousands of dollars per bottle
- Τhough the broader term “fine wine” covers those typically retailing in excess of US$30- 50
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