Exploring Wine - From Its History To Your Glass

By Sharon Stajda

"In ancient Greece it was believed that the God Dionysus "The God Of Wine"bestowed all his worshipers with the gift of wine."

 A long running fable tells of a certain ancient Persian king that valued his wine so much that he kept it in a bottle labeled poison... It was said- one dark evening one of the king's harem drank from the bottle labeled poison, with the very intentions of doing away with herself. Instead of fading into eternal sleep, she became drunk and amorous. The forbidden fruit juice had clearly released hidden sexual talents in the woman. After one night of unspeakable passion with her king, she was forever placed above all other wives's... The Persians were known to use the wine as a means of currency, to pay their worker's. A good male worker could earn up to 25 quarts per month. While a hard working female could bring in only 10 quarts per month. It is not actually known when or who invented wine. However, we do know wine has been around as far back as 4000 B.C., and may have even been around long before that? It is believed that wine was first discovered in Persia, which was known as Mesopotamia (today we know it as Iran, and Egypt). This land was said to be fertile, and the grapes' vines flourished, and produced an abundance of grapes. Grapes that when fermented made the wonderful full bodied beverage, wine. The ancient Egyptians, were responsible for designing and constructing the first grape arbors. Which aided in larger crops of grapes. They also invented large wine vats, where the grapes could be not only stomped into juice, but stored for fermentation.

In ancient Greece, it was believed that the God Dionysus "The God Of Wine"bestowed all his worshipers with the gift of wine. No other people in history embraced drinking wine as the Greeks embraced drinking wine. Wine was not considered only a drink for the wealthy, but a libation that all could enjoy.

In 1000 B.C. the Romans were starting to classify the different varieties of grapes. They also were identifying diseases that plagued the grapes, and learned how to irrigate and fertilize for better crop yields. The Italians built wine barrels to ferment and store the grapes.

The oldest bottle of wine on record dates back to 325A.D. A crew of excavators while working in an old vineyard, Unearthed two sarcophaguses, which one contained several greenish-yellow glass amphora's. One bottle still had a liquid substance in it. The substance at the very bottom of the bottle appeared to be sediment, while at the top portion floated a substance that resembled olive oil. The Romans commonly toped each bottle of wine off with olive oil, to act as a preservative, and to stop evaporation of the wine.

Tannins are more pronounced in red wine. Tannins in wine can come from many sources, mainly from the grape skins and seeds in the form of Procyanidin Monomers tannins. This form of tannin is produced naturally from the grape skins and seeds. The seeds being especially harsh. The reason that red wine is more apt to be higher in tannins, come from the way the red wines are fermented. The red wines are exposed for a longer period of time to the seeds and skins. The oak barrel also gives off a form of tannin (Hydrolysable tannin). This fact making the tannins more prevalent in the finished wine. Keep in mind some red wines are lower in tannins, due to being fermented for a shorter period in the seeds and skins, and oak. One such red is Merlot. To compare red wines with white wines. Think white wines are made by extracting the seeds and grapes early on in the fermentation period. Making them have far lfewer tannins, however are more acidic.

 Please check out my other Lenses...To learn more about wine Under One Pergola !

I love wine, and have had so much fun writing, and building several  Squidoo lenses on the very subject. I wanted to make it easy, and convenient  for my wine loving readers to have a look see at all my wine related sites, under one pergola - so to speak.  If you have stumbled into this page, and love wine?  I have put together some great informational lenses. So please stop in.

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