Winemaking is one of the oldest alcoholic traditions around today. Wine originated in Europe in 6000 BC. We are not 100% sure if wine existed before 4500 BC, but historically evidence provides us with that date from Greece, Bulgaria and Macedonia. Wine played a very important role in ancient Greece, it was a way of life, an essential part their culture.

Winemaking is defined by producing an acoholic beverage by simply fermenting food products, more specifically fruits. Fermentation is basically the process of rotting food in a controllable state. Yeast is added to the mush or grape mixture and the yeast consumes the sugars naturally found inside. The end result produced by this process is alcohol. Some varieties of grapes or fruit have a higher sugar content, and end up with a sweeter wine, Like Strawberry Wine.

Grapes are not just the only type of fruit that winemakers use. Almost all fruits are used in winemaking, most likely being apple, peach, berry or cherries. Blackberry wine in particular is one of the sweetest.A few other commonly used foods in winemaking are rice, barley and ginger.

Now when it comes to grapes for wine, there are so many different varieties it will literally make your head spin. Since there are so many different types of grapes in the world, each one can be created or cultivated for a specific use; such as some would be better for jams and some would be better for juice. Some more common names would be Chardonel Wine, Catawba, Concord, Norton and Vignoles. Another fact that is important to know about wine is the difference between blended and varietal wines. Varietals are more specific species, they contain 75% or more of a single species of grape and blended wines could be a mix of any. Blended wines can also be extremely expensive contrary to their "inpure" sounding description.

 

 

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