What do you Know About Wine?

Wine always makes an occasion special. It is hard to imagine a party or celebration without it. An alcoholic beverage, wine is made by fermenting crushed grapes. Yeast is added to the grapes to consume the sugar in the grapes and convert it to alcohol.

The history of wine goes back to 6000 BC and possibly earlier than that in China. Archaeological excavations have unearthed ancient wineries and fermenting pools. This leads us to believe that wine was popular and that knowledge has been handed down for centuries.

Wine is used not only for celebrations, but has been used symbolically in religious sacraments such as a Catholic mass. It has been used historically for medicinal purposes.

As men explored and colonized various areas of the world, they took wine with them. The cultivation of grapes spread from Europe to South America to Australia. This has culminated in the production of many varieties of wines.

The main types of wine are sparkling wines, fortified wines, and table wines.

Sparkling Wines

Sparkling wines refer to effervescent wines. These wines release carbon dioxide bubbles when uncorked. The bubbles for during fermentation. Champagne is an effervescent wine. The term "champagne" can only be used for those wines that are produced in the Champagne region of France. In the United States, it is a "semi-generic" term. Most companies label their sparkling wine with names such as "New York Champagne," "California Champagne," or "American Champagne."

Other countries defer to the original Treaty of Madrid (1891) that affirmed the right to use the term "champagne" for only those wines produced in the Champagne region. This was reaffirmed by the Treaty of Versailles after World War I.

Sparkling wines are doubly fermented with the second fermentation occurring in the bottle itself. Extra yeast and sugar are added to the wine to produce the carbon dioxide bubbles.

Fortified Wines

When alcohol is added to wine, it is fortified. The term "fortified wine" is not allowed on labels in the United States. Consequently, they are called dessert wines. Examples of fortified wines are: Port, Madeira, Marsala, Sherry, and Vermouth. In Europe the wines are called liqueurs or fortified wines.

Table Wines

In the United States, table wine is used to distinguish wines of lower alcohol content, 7 to 15 percent alcohol, from fortified wines and sparkling wines. In European Union countries, the designation refers to a lower-class of wine. This designation does not necessarily indicate the quality of the wine. Some table wines are very expensive and are of high quality.

Table wines are pressed grape juice that is fermented naturally, with or without the addition of sugar and yeast to aid the fermentation. These wines can be sweet or dry, depending on how they are fermented.

There is a lot to learn about the selection of wines to purchase, the various types of wines, they types of wine to drink with meals, what foods pair with the various types of wines, the variety of grapes that are used to produce the wines, and much more.