Understanding Wine: A Beginners Guide
A Brief History Of Wine
Grape growing and winemaking spread throughout Europe in the Greek and Roman times. Wine became such a valued trade item that the Romans, in 97BC, ordered the known world to pull out all vines in an attempt to protect their wine industry.
Wine began to spread throughout the world through the religious orders. One of the more famous was a monk named Dom Perignon, c1638 - 1715AD, who was a competent viticulturist/winemaker and is credited with the discovery of Champagne.
Since these early times, the vine can be found growing in many countries in a wide variety of climates. The primary species is Vitis vinifera, and of the thousands of cultivars only around 30 are regularly cultivated, of these only a dozen or so are considered to be premium.
Today, we have a new wine order with the up-and-coming (and already arrived!) New World, which has begun to dominate the traditional, older producing areas such as France, Italy and Spain in popularity.
The major producers are:
Australia, Argentina, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa and USA.
Image by kind permission: 'Wine & Art' by Linda Paul
www.lindapaul.com
WINE is a most enjoyable science and a rewarding art, and it's fun! The more you learn about it, the more you want to know. Low Alcohols | Wine Quiz |...
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