I want to know history of wines?!
I want to know history of wines?
Answers:
"Good wine", said Shakespeare, "is a good familiar creature if it be well used". It has been used for at least 4,500 years. Egyptian records dating from 2500 BC refer to the use of grapes for wine making. The first wines seem to have originated in the Middle East. There are frequent references to wine in the Old Testament. Wine was also used by early Minoan, Greek, and Etruscan civilizations. Centuries later the role of wine for sacramental use in Christian churches helped maintain the industry after the fall of the Roman Empire.
The Romans had carried wine making into much of Western Europe, especially the Moselle and Rhine valley sections of France and Germany and the Danube River valley of Austria. Following the voyages of Columbus and other explorers, grape cultivation was transported from the Old World to Mexico, South America, South Africa, Australia, and California. Today wine is produced on all the inhabited continents.
Wine is the fermented juice of grapes. Only one species of grape, Vitis vinifera, is used for nearly all the wine made in the world. From this species as many as 4,000 varieties of grape have been developed. These varieties differ from each other, though sometimes only slightly, in size, color, shape of the berry, juice composition, ripening time, and resistance to disease. Of the 4,000 or more varieties, only about a dozen are commonly used for wine making around the world. The chief varieties are: Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscat.
The high sugar content of most V. vinifera varieties, when ripe, is the main reason for their use in wine production. From the grapes natural sugar content is produced, after fermentation, a wine with an alcohol content of 10 percent or slightly higher. Wines with less alcohol are unstable and subject to bacterial spoilage. For wines with a higher alcohol content, extra alcohol is added at some stage of production.
Grape varieties of V. vinifera have a great range of composition. Skin pigment colors vary from greenish yellow to russet, pink, red, reddish violet, or blue-black. The color of red wines comes from the skin, not the juice. The juice is normally colorless, though some varieties have a pink to red color. Juice flavors vary from bland to strong.
Other grape species used for wine include V. labrusca and V. rotundifolia. Neither of these normally contain sufficient sugar at maturity to make wine with an alcohol content of 10 percent. Sugar must be added to produce a stable wine from these grapes. They may also have more acidity, which gives the wines a "foxy" flavor. (See also Grape.)
Wines are also made from fruits other than grapes. Fermented apple cider is considered a wine. Perry is produced from pears. There are also cherry wines, plum wines, and wines made from various berries. Many fruit wines are home-fermented products, but some are manufactured commercially as well. Fruit wines contain about 12 percent alcohol. When they are fortified with brandy, the alcohol content is increased to about 20 percent.
Wine Classifications
The primary categories of wine are table wines, fortified wines, and sparkling wines. This classification depends on the techniques of production, called vinification. WineMaking is called Enology (or oenology), from the Greek words for wine and study. The term vintage signifies a single season's wine production, usually referring to the specific location in which a particular wine is produced.
Table wines
Also called still or natural wines, table wines are made from juice that is pressed from the grape. The juice is allowed to ferment naturally, sometimes with the addition of controlled amounts of sugar and yeast. Table wines come in three basic colors: white (often yellow to golden), red, or rose (a pale pink). They range in taste from sweet to very dry, without being bitter. Alcohol content varies from 7 to 15 percent. Table wines account for the bulk of the world's wine production.
Fortified wines
These wines receive an extra dosage of alcohol, usually a grape brandy, at some point in their production. The alcohol content of fortified wines is higher than that of table wines, ranging from 14 to 23 percent. Colors may be white, amber, bright red, or dark red.
Sherry is the best known and most popular of the fortified wines. Its name comes from the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Spain. Sherry's unique qualities come from the soil and grapes of Jerez as well as from a distinctive vinification process. The flavor of sherry ranges from very sweet to very dry, with several intermediate varieties.
Other fortified wines include Madeira, from the Portuguese island of that name; Marsala, from Sicily; Malaga, from the south of Spain; Port, from Portugal; and certain aromatic wines. Vermouth, for example, is an aromatic wine to which herbs have been added. Aperitifs, wines taken before meals, are among the aromatic's. They are made by adding quinine and other ingredients to heavy, sweet wines. They are marketed under brand names, such as Dubonnet in France and Campari in Italy. After-dinner drinks are called digestifs. They may be wines such as sherry, but they are more likely to be brandies or liqueurs.
Sparkling wines
The best-known sparkling wine is champagne, named from the region of France where it was first made in the 18th century by a Benedictine monk named Dom Pierre Perignon. Asti Spumante is an Italian sparkling wine. Sparkling wines are usually white, but may be red or rose, and have an alcohol content similar to table wines. An excess of carbon dioxide is what gives them their effervescence, or bubbly quality. Carbon dioxide is produced in the fermentation of all wines. Sparkling wines, however, go through a double fermentation, the second of which takes place in the bottle. Sugar and yeast are added in the second fermentation to produce carbon dioxide gas, which builds up the pressure inside the bottle; then the yeast is removed. Champagnes are blends of wine from different grapes. Each producer has his own secret recipe for a distinctive blend.
Wine coolers
and other flavored wines. There are a number of flavored wine beverages, some of which are mixed by the consumer and others of which are manufactured. Glogg, a hot punch of Swedish origin, is normally made at home from red wine, spices, almonds, and raisins. May wine, by contrast, is a manufactured product of German origin. It is a punch made with Rhine wine or another light dry wine, and it is flavored with an herb and garnished with strawberries or other fruit. Sangria, a mixture of Spanish origin, is made by adding water, sugar, and citrus fruit to red or white wine. Mulled wine is made by adding sugar, water, and spices such as cloves or cinnamon to red wine.
The wine cooler is a novelty that was invented in California in the early 1970s. It is a blend of white wine and citrus fruit juices and is lightly carbonated. Alcohol content is low, about 6 percent. By the mid-1980s the wine cooler beverages, led by the original "California Cooler," became the fastest-growing segment of the wine industry in the United States.
Italy. Each of Italy's 20 regions is a wine-producing area. The most familiar wine is probably Chianti, a red, moderately dry table wine from Tuscany sold in straw-covered flasks. Italy produces good wines, but they do not compare to the great wines of France and Germany. Among Italy's better products are the reds Barolo and Valpolicella and the dry white Soave.
Quality control was instituted in 1963, but it regulates only a small quantity of total production. The best wines by government standards are called Garantita, or guaranteed. Because so many of the vintners choose not to go along with the established regulations, some of the very good wines are classed only as vino da tavola, or table wine. This category includes some of the best new experimental wines.
Other European wines
Spain's best red and white wines are from the Rioja district in the north. Good reds and whites from the central regions are Valdepenas and Alicante. Besides port, Portugal produces some very acceptable white and red wines. Most famous is Mateus Rose. The Valais wines of Switzerland and the Tokay wines of Hungary are well known. Greek wines can be of good quality, but the popular retsina often tastes peculiar to outsiders because of the added resin.
Austria produces white wines of high quality, the best of which come from Burgenland. Quality standards, adopted in 1972, are similar to those of Germany. The woods north of Vienna have become a tourist attraction noted for the heurigen, or new wine taverns.
The United States
Nine tenths of North American wines come from California, though wines of good quality are produced in New York, Ohio, the Pacific Northwest, and other areas. The wines of Ohio and New York are distinctive in that vines of the V. vinifera types were not grown there until the 1960s, though these are the oldest wine making areas of the United States.
Since the 1970s the California wine industry has grown rapidly, partly through the efforts of the viticultural research program established at the Davis branch of the University of California. This program made vast improvements in the wine making process, from vine growth through fermentation and bottling.
The wine regions of California include 12 counties, the most famous of which is Napa. These regions produce more wine varieties than any other region.
WineMaking
The diversity and quality of wine results not only from the kinds of grapes grown but from distinctive qualities of soil, topography, and climate. Changes in weather patterns from one year to the next also have an influence on the quality of a vintage. In addition, each vintner or community of wine makers may have techniques that no one else knows or uses.
All wines are made in a similar way, with variations depending on the type to be produced. The steps are: harvesting, crushing, juice separation, treatment of the mass of crushed grapes and juice (called the must), fermentation, post fermentation treatment, clarification, aging, and bottling.
Wine is ultimately derived from the carbon dioxide in the air, which penetrates the leaves of the vine and is converted into starches. During absorption into the grape the starches are turned into the sugars fructose and glucose. During the fermentation process the sugars are converted into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. The longer the grapes are left on the vine, the higher their sugar content will be.
At the winery the grapes are crushed and stemmed. Adding sulfur dioxide or rapidly heating the must suppresses the growth of wild yeasts and other organisms that grow naturally in the vineyard. Depending on the kind of wine, the juice may be separated from the skins in order to avoid getting skin pigmentation in the wine. In red-wine production the skins, seeds, and juice are all fermented together.
To aid fermentation, yeast (usually Saccharomyces) is added to convert the sugars to alcohol. Other yeast strains are used at different stages of fermentation. Fermentation takes place in large vats, from which air is excluded to prevent oxidation and discourage the growth of vinegar-forming bacteria.
Fermentation takes from ten to 30 days. During the process, temperature control is necessary to promote yeast growth and to extract the flavors and colors from the skins (if skins are fermented). A severe change in temperature can kill the yeast. The best temperature for yeast growth is about 77o F (25o C). In a vat of fermenting red wine, skins and pulp may float to the top, forming a cap. This cap can cause heat to build up in the wine and inhibit color and flavor extraction, problems that can be avoided by submerging the cap twice daily during fermentation. In large vats the fermenting must is drawn off at the bottom and pumped back in over the cap.
After fermentation, the wine is racked (drawn off) to separate it from the lees--the sediment of largely dead yeast cells. Some wines deposit their sediment quickly, but other wines remain cloudy for long periods. The suspended particles must be removed by clarification in any one of several processes.
Wine is usually aged in wooden containers made of oak or redwood. The process allows oxygen to enter and water and alcohol to escape. Acidity decreases, additional clarification takes place, and the components of the wine form compounds that enhance flavor and aroma. The wood from the containers also contributes flavor. The wood-aging process may last many months or several years, depending on the wine and the quality desired.
Before bottling, wine may require blending, filtration, and the addition of an antiseptic agent to prevent microbe development. Some wines are aged in bottles before being sold. Red wines especially may profit from two to twenty years of bottle aging.
gs
Source(s):
http://www.honeycreek.us/history.htm...
well it all started..... wine is older than dirt. the greeks had a god for it, the egyptians used beer as the symbol foor food. I would think it predates written language. There are primitive ways to ferment fruit juice, make like a prison hooch.
for a long time priests made the wine, they didn't really understand it. They learned what was actually happening and refined the process.
Is not drinking it enough?
If you are loaded with too much wine, call me.
Alcohol is men's worst enemy, but the Bible teaches us to love our enemy.
if u wanna know the deatiled history of wine then u must visit wikipedia.org and type wine in search
Try reading "The world Atlas of Wines" you shall have it.
Biologists have noted that birds and primates are naturally drawn to the smell of ethanol produced by fermented fruit - which poses a fascinating question: were members of the animal kingdom the planet's first wine tipplers?
Humans certainly took an early interest. In fact, historical records provide detailed information on wine and wine growing areas which began in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Today, France and Germany, Hungary, Italy and many other European countries proudly boast wine histories dating back to the Romans and Celts. While Africa, the Americas and Australia are relative newcomers to winemaking, their native populations were surely master vintners as well.
Sit back, grab a glass and join us on a deep dig into the varied, interesting and lively history of wine...
WINE 101: Wine History - Beginning with Noah and the Old Testament, on up to ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, the Greco-Roman period, (with factoids on the world's oldest wine bottle) and across the Atlantic to New World vintners, the rise of the California wine industry, and including a good list of related links.
The Development of Wine and The Western World - Wine and the rise of Western civilization tightly intertwined with focus on the grape's impact on history, facts on its popularity with a related timeline, scientific discoveries, regional winemaking, and more on grape varieties, tasting and caring for wine.
The Origins & Ancient History of Wine - Patrick McGovern's discovery of an ages-old wine jar pointing to wine's early origins in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and although the forum is now quiet and the links page outdated, it remains a great detective story with related research, map and glossary.
On the History of Wine in Greece - Some heavy slogging, but mainly a delight in pages of illustrated, meticulously researched Greek history from ancient to modern - with stops in Rome and Byzantium, Independent Greece, and an extensive page of related links.
Wines - A Legacy of France - The immersion course in French wine beginning with the Middle Ages, a discussion on the Phylloxera disaster in 19th century on up to modern harvesting, fermenting, and maturation processes together with practical info on buying French wine, winery visits, related links and suggested reading.
The History of Champagne - Into Wine hosts an online celebration with a colorful history on the medieval monk/inventor - Dom Pérignon - together with a pronunciation guide, vintage chart, tips on serving champagne and don't miss Champagne at the Movies.
Vintage Direct - Wine History - Articles that range from wine in ancient Egypt and Drinking Vessels of Bygone Days to profiles of historic wine pioneers in modern Australia, beautifully presented and as interesting to read as they are informative.
"Good wine", said Shakespeare, "is a good familiar creature if it be well used". It has been used for at least 4,500 years. Egyptian records dating from 2500 BC refer to the use of grapes for wine making. The first wines seem to have originated in the Middle East. There are frequent references to wine in the Old Testament. Wine was also used by early Minoan, Greek, and Etruscan civilizations. Centuries later the role of wine for sacramental use in Christian churches helped maintain the industry after the fall of the Roman Empire.
The Romans had carried wine making into much of Western Europe, especially the Moselle and Rhine valley sections of France and Germany and the Danube River valley of Austria. Following the voyages of Columbus and other explorers, grape cultivation was transported from the Old World to Mexico, South America, South Africa, Australia, and California. Today wine is produced on all the inhabited continents.
Wine is the fermented juice of grapes. Only one species of grape, Vitis vinifera, is used for nearly all the wine made in the world. From this species as many as 4,000 varieties of grape have been developed. These varieties differ from each other, though sometimes only slightly, in size, color, shape of the berry, juice composition, ripening time, and resistance to disease. Of the 4,000 or more varieties, only about a dozen are commonly used for wine making around the world. The chief varieties are: Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscat.
The high sugar content of most V. vinifera varieties, when ripe, is the main reason for their use in wine production. From the grapes natural sugar content is produced, after fermentation, a wine with an alcohol content of 10 percent or slightly higher. Wines with less alcohol are unstable and subject to bacterial spoilage. For wines with a higher alcohol content, extra alcohol is added at some stage of production.
Grape varieties of V. vinifera have a great range of composition. Skin pigment colors vary from greenish yellow to russet, pink, red, reddish violet, or blue-black. The color of red wines comes from the skin, not the juice. The juice is normally colorless, though some varieties have a pink to red color. Juice flavors vary from bland to strong.
Other grape species used for wine include V. labrusca and V. rotundifolia. Neither of these normally contain sufficient sugar at maturity to make wine with an alcohol content of 10 percent. Sugar must be added to produce a stable wine from these grapes. They may also have more acidity, which gives the wines a "foxy" flavor. (See also Grape.)
Wines are also made from fruits other than grapes. Fermented apple cider is considered a wine. Perry is produced from pears. There are also cherry wines, plum wines, and wines made from various berries. Many fruit wines are home-fermented products, but some are manufactured commercially as well. Fruit wines contain about 12 percent alcohol. When they are fortified with brandy, the alcohol content is increased to about 20 percent.
Wine Classifications
The primary categories of wine are table wines, fortified wines, and sparkling wines. This classification depends on the techniques of production, called vinification. WineMaking is called Enology (or oenology), from the Greek words for wine and study. The term vintage signifies a single season's wine production, usually referring to the specific location in which a particular wine is produced.
Table wines
Also called still or natural wines, table wines are made from juice that is pressed from the grape. The juice is allowed to ferment naturally, sometimes with the addition of controlled amounts of sugar and yeast. Table wines come in three basic colors: white (often yellow to golden), red, or rose (a pale pink). They range in taste from sweet to very dry, without being bitter. Alcohol content varies from 7 to 15 percent. Table wines account for the bulk of the world's wine production.
Fortified wines
These wines receive an extra dosage of alcohol, usually a grape brandy, at some point in their production. The alcohol content of fortified wines is higher than that of table wines, ranging from 14 to 23 percent. Colors may be white, amber, bright red, or dark red.
Sherry is the best known and most popular of the fortified wines. Its name comes from the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Spain. Sherry's unique qualities come from the soil and grapes of Jerez as well as from a distinctive vinification process. The flavor of sherry ranges from very sweet to very dry, with several intermediate varieties.
Other fortified wines include Madeira, from the Portuguese island of that name; Marsala, from Sicily; Malaga, from the south of Spain; Port, from Portugal; and certain aromatic wines. Vermouth, for example, is an aromatic wine to which herbs have been added. Aperitifs, wines taken before meals, are among the aromatic's. They are made by adding quinine and other ingredients to heavy, sweet wines. They are marketed under brand names, such as Dubonnet in France and Campari in Italy. After-dinner drinks are called digestifs. They may be wines such as sherry, but they are more likely to be brandies or liqueurs.
Sparkling wines
The best-known sparkling wine is champagne, named from the region of France where it was first made in the 18th century by a Benedictine monk named Dom Pierre Perignon. Asti Spumante is an Italian sparkling wine. Sparkling wines are usually white, but may be red or rose, and have an alcohol content similar to table wines. An excess of carbon dioxide is what gives them their effervescence, or bubbly quality. Carbon dioxide is produced in the fermentation of all wines. Sparkling wines, however, go through a double fermentation, the second of which takes place in the bottle. Sugar and yeast are added in the second fermentation to produce carbon dioxide gas, which builds up the pressure inside the bottle; then the yeast is removed. Champagnes are blends of wine from different grapes. Each producer has his own secret recipe for a distinctive blend.
Wine coolers
and other flavored wines. There are a number of flavored wine beverages, some of which are mixed by the consumer and others of which are manufactured. Glogg, a hot punch of Swedish origin, is normally made at home from red wine, spices, almonds, and raisins. May wine, by contrast, is a manufactured product of German origin. It is a punch made with Rhine wine or another light dry wine, and it is flavored with an herb and garnished with strawberries or other fruit. Sangria, a mixture of Spanish origin, is made by adding water, sugar, and citrus fruit to red or white wine. Mulled wine is made by adding sugar, water, and spices such as cloves or cinnamon to red wine.
The wine cooler is a novelty that was invented in California in the early 1970s. It is a blend of white wine and citrus fruit juices and is lightly carbonated. Alcohol content is low, about 6 percent. By the mid-1980s the wine cooler beverages, led by the original "California Cooler," became the fastest-growing segment of the wine industry in the United States.
Italy. Each of Italy's 20 regions is a wine-producing area. The most familiar wine is probably Chianti, a red, moderately dry table wine from Tuscany sold in straw-covered flasks. Italy produces good wines, but they do not compare to the great wines of France and Germany. Among Italy's better products are the reds Barolo and Valpolicella and the dry white Soave.
Quality control was instituted in 1963, but it regulates only a small quantity of total production. The best wines by government standards are called Garantita, or guaranteed. Because so many of the vintners choose not to go along with the established regulations, some of the very good wines are classed only as vino da tavola, or table wine. This category includes some of the best new experimental wines.
Other European wines
Spain's best red and white wines are from the Rioja district in the north. Good reds and whites from the central regions are Valdepenas and Alicante. Besides port, Portugal produces some very acceptable white and red wines. Most famous is Mateus Rose. The Valais wines of Switzerland and the Tokay wines of Hungary are well known. Greek wines can be of good quality, but the popular retsina often tastes peculiar to outsiders because of the added resin.
Austria produces white wines of high quality, the best of which come from Burgenland. Quality standards, adopted in 1972, are similar to those of Germany. The woods north of Vienna have become a tourist attraction noted for the heurigen, or new wine taverns.
The United States
Nine tenths of North American wines come from California, though wines of good quality are produced in New York, Ohio, the Pacific Northwest, and other areas. The wines of Ohio and New York are distinctive in that vines of the V. vinifera types were not grown there until the 1960s, though these are the oldest wine making areas of the United States.
Since the 1970s the California wine industry has grown rapidly, partly through the efforts of the viticultural research program established at the Davis branch of the University of California. This program made vast improvements in the wine making process, from vine growth through fermentation and bottling.
The wine regions of California include 12 counties, the most famous of which is Napa. These regions produce more wine varieties than any other region.
WineMaking
The diversity and quality of wine results not only from the kinds of grapes grown but from distinctive qualities of soil, topography, and climate. Changes in weather patterns from one year to the next also have an influence on the quality of a vintage. In addition, each vintner or community of wine makers may have techniques that no one else knows or uses.
All wines are made in a similar way, with variations depending on the type to be produced. The steps are: harvesting, crushing, juice separation, treatment of the mass of crushed grapes and juice (called the must), fermentation, post fermentation treatment, clarification, aging, and bottling.
Wine is ultimately derived from the carbon dioxide in the air, which penetrates the leaves of the vine and is converted into starches. During absorption into the grape the starches are turned into the sugars fructose and glucose. During the fermentation process the sugars are converted into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. The longer the grapes are left on the vine, the higher their sugar content will be.
At the winery the grapes are crushed and stemmed. Adding sulfur dioxide or rapidly heating the must suppresses the growth of wild yeasts and other organisms that grow naturally in the vineyard. Depending on the kind of wine, the juice may be separated from the skins in order to avoid getting skin pigmentation in the wine. In red-wine production the skins, seeds, and juice are all fermented together.
To aid fermentation, yeast (usually Saccharomyces) is added to convert the sugars to alcohol. Other yeast strains are used at different stages of fermentation. Fermentation takes place in large vats, from which air is excluded to prevent oxidation and discourage the growth of vinegar-forming bacteria.
Fermentation takes from ten to 30 days. During the process, temperature control is necessary to promote yeast growth and to extract the flavors and colors from the skins (if skins are fermented). A severe change in temperature can kill the yeast. The best temperature for yeast growth is about 77o F (25o C). In a vat of fermenting red wine, skins and pulp may float to the top, forming a cap. This cap can cause heat to build up in the wine and inhibit color and flavor extraction, problems that can be avoided by submerging the cap twice daily during fermentation. In large vats the fermenting must is drawn off at the bottom and pumped back in over the cap.
After fermentation, the wine is racked (drawn off) to separate it from the lees--the sediment of largely dead yeast cells. Some wines deposit their sediment quickly, but other wines remain cloudy for long periods. The suspended particles must be removed by clarification in any one of several processes.
Wine is usually aged in wooden containers made of oak or redwood. The process allows oxygen to enter and water and alcohol to escape. Acidity decreases, additional clarification takes place, and the components of the wine form compounds that enhance flavor and aroma. The wood from the containers also contributes flavor. The wood-aging process may last many months or several years, depending on the wine and the quality desired.
Before bottling, wine may require blending, filtration, and the addition of an antiseptic agent to prevent microbe development. Some wines are aged in bottles before being sold. Red wines especially may profit from two to twenty years of bottle aging.
Romba mukkiyam.........................