
Wine
| History
and art show us that many civilizations
had a love affair with wine. It was used in ceremonies, religion,
parties, as medicine, at events, in the home…it was
everywhere. |
 |
 |
Here
are Egyptian hierglyphics for grape vines/vineyard
found on a wine jar stopper from a royal tomb. |
This
is a first century Roman wall painting
of an inn of in Pompeii.
This was part of a “comic-strip” series of paintings.
The man on left calls to barmaid Over here (hoc),
while man on right says No, it's mine (non / mia
est). The Barmaid, carrying a cup and wine jug says, The
man who ordered this will get it. Oceanus, come
here and drink. |
 |
With
a population of 1 million, the Romans really
expanded the wine culture. They had thermopoliums
that served warm and chilled wine and food. The wine was often
diluted with water, but also had honey, spices, and herbs added.
Earthen jars were set into the counter and silver ladles were
used for dipping out the wine and food. They look like a bar,
huh? I'd love to host a cocktail party in a historical site like
this!
Many
things happened over the hundreds of hundreds
of history with wine that would take hundreds and hundreds of
pages, but just know that the church and French monks are responsible
for reviving it after its last fall.
Walking
through a forest of wine bottles at
your local store can be overwhelming. Yes, there is a lot to know
about wine, and entire books have been written on wine, but I
hope to help you understand the basics.
Wine
is made from fermented fruit, and the most
popular fruit used is grapes. Its history spans thousands of years
through every civilization known to people. The top wine producing
countries today are France, America, Australia, Spain, Italy,
and Argentina.
Red
Wine
All
wines basically are one of two styles:
red or white. These styles break down into three body types: full,
medium, and light. Even though there are over ten thousand types
of grapes in the world, only about three hundred of these are
used to make commercial wine. Out of these three hundred, twenty
to thirty are used for the most popular wines. In the wine world,
you will hear the word varietal often. This refers to the type
of grape used.
Popular
red (and black) wine grapes
used to make red wine include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot
Noir, Sangiovese, Shiraz/Syrah, Zinfandel, Gamay, Grenache,
Lambrusco, Pinot Meunier, and Tempranillo.
Wine
stores and wine sections
are always organized for you (normally by country). After you
narrow down the country, then you can narrow down the body type
of wine you prefer and/or the varietal (grape) you prefer. Wine
labels will give you all the information you need to know about
the wine: location of the vineyard, vintage (year the grapes were
harvest-ed), varietal (grape type), brand name, and producer of
the wine. Some countries have label laws that require a government
warning, alcohol content, and the list of sulfites used. Also
know that varietals are often blended together, so it’s
not uncommon to find a Cabernet-Shiraz or a Cabernet-Merlot mix.
White
Wine
The
first thing to know about white wine
is that it can be made from white, red, purple, or even black
grapes. This is because the grape skins are discarded when making
white wine. With red wine, the skins are not discarded. And for
pink toned wines like White Zinfandel, Rosé, or Blush,
the skins are left on just a little bit to color the wine.
Just
like red wines, white wines will vary in
body. They will also vary from dryness to sweetness. Popular grapes
to make white wine include Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin
Blanc, Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio, Pinot Blanc, Gewürztraminer,
Riesling, and Viognier. All of these white wine varietals can
have a dry or super sweet taste because it all depends on who
grows the grapes.
The
Chardonnay grape is the most popular white
wine grape in California. It’s also one of the grapes used
to make Champagne. Chardonnay is heavy, buttery, fruity, and oaky.
Some winemakers don’t like the oakiness of Chardonnay, so
they age the wine in stainless steel tanks.
Growing grapes to make wine is indeed an artform.
So many elements determined by nature and determined by people
come into play. Grapevines love warm, dry summers and mild winters.
Who doesn’t? And all grape varietals have a favorite soil.
For example, Riesling grapes love a slate-rich soil, and Chardonnay
grapes love limestone. Plant each other in
their opposing soils, and it would be disastrous! Other factors
that come into play are sun exposure, bugs, rainfall, drainage,
and more.
Things
to Know to Fake it Like A Wine Pro
• When you hear people say, Ah, that was a very good
year, it means that the quality of wine is determined by
Mother Nature. The climate, soil, conditions, rain, and lack of
rain determine if it was a good year for that grape. It will also
determine the price of the wine.
• Vintage means the year the grapes were harvested.
• Rosé, White Zinfandel, and Blush wines get their
pink color from the skins being left on for a little bit. The
longer the skins are left on the darker the wine. All wine juice
is clear.
• In most cases, white wine is served chilled and red wine
is not.
| Red
wine glasses have a bigger bowl than white wine glasses. |
 |
•
When doing basic matching with wine and food just remember that
white goes with light food like fish and reds go with hearty food
like steak.
• Even though wine is made all over the world, France and
California are the top producers.
• Grapes are also used to make Champagne, sherry, port,
Madeira, vermouth, brandy, Cognac, and grappa.
• A Sommelier (sum-ul-YAY) is a trained and knowledgeable
wine professional usually working at a fine restaurant. A Master
Sommelier is certified, which is quite an honor.
Wine
Facts
• There are 20 million known acres of grapes worldwide.
• There are over 10,000 types of grapes existing in the
world.
• There are an average of 600 grapes in a bottle of wine.
• 164 countries import wine from California.
• American wine drinkers consume more wine on Thanksgiving
Day than any other day of the year.
• Wine is bottled many different ways. Cheap corks are made
from bits and pieces if cork and glued together. Expensive corks
are solid pieces of cork and tend to be longer than other corks.
Twin-top corks sandwich cheap cork in between expensive cork so
the wine touches the expensive part of the cork. Synthetic/man-made
corks are great for young wines. Screw caps have a reputation
of being used on cheap wines, but this has changed lately. A substitute
for the screw cap is the crown cap (like a beer bottle).
Champagne
Ironically,
in modern times we adore and celebrate the
50 million bubbles in a bottle of Champagne, but until the mid-1600s,
bubbles in a bottle of wine meant that the winemaker had failed.
The proof was in a wine-soaked cellar full of burst
bottles. Locals referred to this wine as “demon” or
“devil wine.”It’s funny how things change with
time.
Many people believe that a blind French
monk named “Dom Pérignon”
invented Champagne, but the fact is that Champagne invented itself.
This is because the Champagne region is in northern France. That
means that that part of France has a short growing season (due
to being colder) and that the harvest season ends up being in
the late autumn. The coldness of winter stops the fermentation
inside the bottles, then when springs rolls around the fermentation
picks up where it left off and creates bubbles inside the bottle.
Dom can most definitely be credited for improving Champagne because
his passion was to figure out a way to keep the bottles from exploding.
And he did. He found thicker and stronger bottles made in England,
used Spanish-inspired cork stoppers instead of wood stoppers,
and created a blending of black grapes grown in the Champagne
region called “cuvée.”
•
In 1804 Madame Clicquot invented pink Champagne, the mushroom
shaped cork, and invented a way of removing sediment from bottles
called riddling.
•
Only three grapes are used to make Champagne and they are, Pinot
Noir, Pinot Meunier (Mehr-n-YAY), and Chardonnay.
• Champagne takes about one and half years to go through
processing and aging.
The Most popular Champagne brands are; Dom Pérignon,
Mumms (mooms), Moet & Chandon (mow-ET-a Shan-DAWN), Cristal
(kris-TALL, the hip-hop champagne), Perrier- Jouët (PAIR-ee-a
JOO-ette, the pretty flowered bottle with real gold etching),
the Champagne that James Bond drank, Bollinger (bowl-ahn-JAY),
and the Champagne that is used in the most expensive cocktail
at the Trump Towers in NYC, Veuve Clicquot.

The
most popular sparkling wines
are; Prosecco (praw-SAY-co, used in a Bellini), Asti Spumante
(AH-stee spoo-MAHN-teh) from Italy, and Korbel (core-BELL) from
America.
The
reason why there is even a category of sparkling
wine is because of the Champagne Riots in the early 1900s. The
Champagne Riots resulted in a law requiring that only Champagne
made with grapes in the Champagne region could bear the word Champagne
on their label. The words sparkling wine can be seen on all bottles
of
sparkling wine made after 1927.
| The
two most common Champagne glasses are
the saucer and the flute. The tall flute came out
in the 1970’s to help keep the bubbles longer. Two variations
on the flute are the tulip and the trumpet.
|
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Popular
Champagne drinks are;
Mimosa, Champagne Cocktail, Kir (rhymes with ear), and Kir Royale.
Also, Champagnes come in levels from sweet to dry; Doux, Demi-Sec,
Sec, Extra Dry, Brut, Brut Zero, Ultra Brut and Extra Brut.
Champagne
Facts
• Unlike most wines, Champagnes are named after the houses
that produce them.
• If it’s not made in the Champagne region then by
law the bottle must say sparkling wine.
• A good temperature to serve Champagne is at 44° F.
| Champagne
corks can pop out at 100 mph. |
 |
•
A 750ml bottle of Champagne has an average of 50 million bubbles.
• Champagne bottle sizes range from 6 ounces to 508 ounces.
• If a raisin is dropped into a glass of champagne will
bounce up and down between the top and the bottom of the glass.
• It has been reported that Marilyn Monroe once filled up
her tub with 350 bottles of Champagne and took a bath.
Port
Wine
Port is made in the Douro Valley,
which is in North Portugal, however other countries make versions
of it. It was invented out of the need to have wine that could
survive long sea voyages without spoiling. It was the first fortified
wine by adding brandy to it then aged. A proper serving is 2 1/2
-3 ounces.
The
word Port is short for the name of the port townof Oporto, not
Portugal.

The
two basic groups of Port
are wood-aged and bottle-aged. The most popular wood aged ports
found in most bars are tawny and ruby. Ruby is sweeter then tawny.
Popular Port brands are; Sandeman, Lindemans, and Noval.
There
is one difficult factor
about making Port, and that is the growing conditions of the grapes.
The vineyards are located on remote, steep slopes that drop down
to the Douro
River in Portugal. It is by far the most difficult wine-growing
region in the world.
Sherry Wine
Most sherry comes from Jerez, in Southwest
Spain. It also has brandy added to fortify
and preserve it. There are two types of sherry; fino (fee-NO,
light and dry) and oloroso (O-lo-ROW-so, dark and full-bodied).
A proper serving is 2 1/2-3 ounces.

Making
sherry isn’t as cut and dried
as making port. With Port, winemakers just add brandy to prematurely
stop the fermentation of the wine, then age it. Sherry is made
with
the solera system, which is a time-consuming blending of older
wines and younger wines little by little by hand while they’re
aging in the barrels. The wines are also exposed to air as they’re
aging, which is monitored. Another difference is that Sherry is
fortified with a grape-based spirit, but brandy is not.
Popular sherry brands are; Dry Sack and Harvey’s Bristol
Cream.
Madeira
Wine (ma-DEER-uh)
Madeira fortified wine is produced
from grapes grown on southern coast of Madeira
Island, which is about 360 miles west of Morocco in Northern Africa
and 540 miles southwest from Portugal. Portugal has owned it since
only 1974.

The
first thing you should know about Madeira
is that was used to toast the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Madeira was looked upon as something very magical and special.
To reach the New World, ships had to pass through the tropics
and the heat literally baked the Madeira giving it a soft yet
deep pleasant burnt taste. Soon pipes filled with Madeira were
installed with ship ballasts and sent on tropical voyages. The
heat mixed with the constant rocking made this wine last for years
without spoiling.
Vermouth
Vermouth is a fortified white wine that has a spirit added (usually
brandy) then aromatized with herbs and botanicals like seeds,
plants, flowers, etc. It comes in two types; dry (white) and sweet
(red). Sweet vermouth has caramelized sugar added to make it sweet
and give it its color.
The most popular drinks made with vermouth are a classic Martini
and Manhattan.
Popular brands are; Martini & Rossi (Italy), Cinzano (Italy),
and Noilly Prat (Noy-ee praht, France).
Dubonnet (America) and Lillet (lee-LAY, France) are aperitif wines,
but are often used in the place of vermouth in Martinis. The most
popular Martini that uses Kina Lillet is from Ian Fleming’s
first book, Casino Royale where James Bond asks for a Dry Martini
in a deep Champagne goblet. He says; three measures of Gordon's,
one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well
until it's ice-cold, and then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel.
Got it?
