Wine Spirits
About Wine
The Old Testament says, "Wine maketh glad the heart of man," and it has done so for millennia. The ancient Chinese, Indians, Greeks, and Egyptians all partook, as did the Romans who brought winemaking to Europe along with their motto: "in vino veritas" - in wine is truth.
In modern wine production, grape varieties are carefully planted in regions and conditions suitable to them. Their pick date must be chosen wisely since the degree of ripeness - but also weather conditions like wind, temperature, and drought will affect the finished product. Any imperfections will be hard to remedy down the line. Once picked, the grapes need be processed immediately.
You won't find too many winemakers stomping on grapes anymore; the process has been given over to machines that extract the juice by applying gentle pressure. Stems are removed before pressing to avoid bitterness. The grapes are crushed to create the "must". Fermentation can begin when this must mixes with the yeasts naturally occurring in the skin of the grape, but many winemakers add specific strains of yeast best suited to a particular style of wine.
"Maceration" leaves the skin and seeds in contact with the must to add depth of flavor, color and scent, and is usually done longer for red wine. Some vintners choose cold maceration, which extends this period while holding off fermentation. Alternately, carbonic maceration lets grapes ferment intact, with the addition of carbon dioxide or yeast. It produces wines with intense color and fresh flavor, especially young wines like Beaujolais.
Racking is the process of switching barrels for a clean fermentation. This allows some sediment to be removed and exposes the wine to the air. It may be done naturally or by "fining," which uses tasty ingredients like activated charcoal or carbon, isinglass, gelatin, egg whites, or nylon to clarify the wine. This causes impurities to sink for easy extraction. If the winemaker desires, the wine may then be filtered to remove any remaining particles, then it's bottled and aged.
Fast Facts About Wine
Viticulture/viniculture = the cultivation of grapes, especially for winemaking.
Table wine = 8-15% alcohol.
If the label mentions sulfites, then SO2 has been added to kill microorganisms and to prevent oxidation.
White wine grapes require a shorter growing season than red wine grapes.
White wine may be made from red grapes, the skins just need to be removed right after picking.
Thomas Jefferson had vineyards spanning 200 acres.
In Europe, white wine grapes flourish in cooler areas like Northern France and Germany, while red thrive in Italy, Spain and Portugal.
In the 1870s, the phylloxera louse nearly destroyed all European grapevines. Luckily, American grapes were immune to the pest, and the American rootstock was grafted on to the European variety.
Don't forget that wine has health-giving flavonoids, so a glass or two a day is good for you.
Wine Quotes
- Tell me why the stars do shine, Tell me why the sky is blue, Tell me what makes the ivy twine, And I will tell thee why I love you.Fusion reactions make the stars shine, Rayleigh diffusion makes the sky blue, Auxins and tropisms make the ivy twine, Gonads and hormones are why I love you.
- All Jesus could do was turn water into wine. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers - could Jesus do that?
- The best people, like the best wines, come from the hills.
- Aristophanes - Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.
- Dorothy Parker - There's little in taking or giving, There's little in water or wine: This living, this living, this living, Was never a project of mine. Oh, hard is the struggle, and sparse is The gain of the one at the top, For art is a form of catharsis, And love is a permanent flop, And work is the province of cattle, And rest's for a clam in a shell, So I'm thinking of throwing the battle - Would you kindly direct me to hell?
Wine Jokes
Water to Wine
Water to Wine
An Irish priest is driving down to New York and gets stopped for speeding in Connecticut. The state trooper smells alcohol on the priest's breath and then sees an empty wine bottle on the floor of the car.
He says, "Sir, have you been drinking?"
"Just water," says the priest. The trooper says, "Then why do I smell wine?"
The priest looks at the bottle and says, "Good Lord! He's done it again!"