What is 'wine'?
Most soft fruits with a high sugar content can be made into some form of wine. The start is to allow the fruits to ferment with yeast. The yeast can be either be 'wild' as found around or on the plants, or artificially added to give a particular taste and result. From the sugars of the fruit, the yeast produces a gas, carbon dioxide, which give the fizzy sensation on the tongue when young and the bubbles to sparkling wines, and alcohol, for that relaxed feeling.
Wines produced from grapes has been available to man for a long time. Since before man settled into groups and started to cultivate the land, fresh fruits was gathered and, if left to long, they found that it fermented into an alcoholic drink.
One of the oldest known wild grape vines originated thousands of years ago in an area by the Black Sea, in what is now Georgia, Armenia and eastern Turkey. This grape was well suited to quick fermentation and easily turned into wine, due to its naturally sweet berries. It is the only vine species native to Europe and the Near East. Due to its pivotal role in the development of wine growing, it has been give the botanical classification of Vitis vinifera - ' the wine-bearing grape'.
From this original vine species there are now 10,000 varieties of grape vines. Some have been naturally developed by nature and some have been created by man by cross-fertilisation. Many are fairly obscure, with only a small proportion being commercially viable for the production of wine. There are only 12 out the 10,000 that constitute the main wine grapes of today, most of which are French in origin. These are the 6 reds and 6 white varieties that you mainly see on your supermarket shelves, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Sémillion, Syrah (Shiraz), Reisling, Merlot, Chenin Blanc, Grenache, Gerwürtraminer and Gamay.
These 12 grape varieties have been taken all around the world by growers, and tried in all sorts of locations. People have searched the globe, for similar locations that they knew the vines had been grown in Europe. Some vines like the cool hillsides by big oceans while others like the sunny plains of places like Spain. Where the growers found the right spot, the grapes blossomed to give a distinctive signature wine for the country.
Today, from its small beginnings, wine production is a major industry all over the world, with the growers and winemakers controlling all aspect of its production. From the initial selection of the grape variety, location of the vineyards, the nurturing of the plants, the way the grapes are harvested, the way fermentation starts, the temperature controlled storage and special delivery.
So the next time you open a bottle and sip the wine, just think of the history and work that is in the glass and enjoy every drop.
Most soft fruits with a high sugar content can be made into some form of wine. The start is to allow the fruits to ferment with yeast. The yeast can be either be 'wild' as found around or on the plants, or artificially added to give a particular taste and result. From the sugars of the fruit, the yeast produces a gas, carbon dioxide, which give the fizzy sensation on the tongue when young and the bubbles to sparkling wines, and alcohol, for that relaxed feeling.
Wines produced from grapes has been available to man for a long time. Since before man settled into groups and started to cultivate the land, fresh fruits was gathered and, if left to long, they found that it fermented into an alcoholic drink.
One of the oldest known wild grape vines originated thousands of years ago in an area by the Black Sea, in what is now Georgia, Armenia and eastern Turkey. This grape was well suited to quick fermentation and easily turned into wine, due to its naturally sweet berries. It is the only vine species native to Europe and the Near East. Due to its pivotal role in the development of wine growing, it has been give the botanical classification of Vitis vinifera - ' the wine-bearing grape'.
From this original vine species there are now 10,000 varieties of grape vines. Some have been naturally developed by nature and some have been created by man by cross-fertilisation. Many are fairly obscure, with only a small proportion being commercially viable for the production of wine. There are only 12 out the 10,000 that constitute the main wine grapes of today, most of which are French in origin. These are the 6 reds and 6 white varieties that you mainly see on your supermarket shelves, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Sémillion, Syrah (Shiraz), Reisling, Merlot, Chenin Blanc, Grenache, Gerwürtraminer and Gamay.
These 12 grape varieties have been taken all around the world by growers, and tried in all sorts of locations. People have searched the globe, for similar locations that they knew the vines had been grown in Europe. Some vines like the cool hillsides by big oceans while others like the sunny plains of places like Spain. Where the growers found the right spot, the grapes blossomed to give a distinctive signature wine for the country.
Today, from its small beginnings, wine production is a major industry all over the world, with the growers and winemakers controlling all aspect of its production. From the initial selection of the grape variety, location of the vineyards, the nurturing of the plants, the way the grapes are harvested, the way fermentation starts, the temperature controlled storage and special delivery.
So the next time you open a bottle and sip the wine, just think of the history and work that is in the glass and enjoy every drop.