Wine Basics

Now I don’t claim to be a wine expert. Cheese maybe…but one thing I’ve learned through investigating cheese is that cheese needs wine to be complete. Kind of like me and…pasta. (sorry, hubby) Wine was “discovered” in ancient times. I put discovered in quotes not to be annoying, but to make a point that wine happens naturally. The skin of a grape is sticky such that naturally occurring yeast sticks to it. The grapes ripen, fall off somewhere and ferment. This is essentially wine. The simple story about wine is that grape sugar + yeast = wine through fermentation. Beer happens in much the same way, but it uses starch instead of sugars to make the alcohol. The complicated part of it is that there are a ton of grape varieties and factors that affect the flavor profile of wines. The Romans are credited with helping to spread winemaking skills across the countries they conquered. They were able to import different types of wine all over their trade routes, but after the fall of the empire, more local wines were crafted. The Catholic Church also had a large role in cultivating wine production, and as land was given to the Church as tithes, the enterprising monks started vineyards on them. And, being one of the only literate groups in the country, the monks were able to document their activities.

So below are a few factors that create the different varieties of wine. We’ll get into more detail as the weeks go on.