Wine
Vintage and style\nWines may be classified by year of harvest (vintage). Vintage wines are generally made from grapes of a single year's harvest of a single variety, and so are dated. Many wines improve in flavor as they age and so wine enthusiasts often save bottles of a favorite vintage wine to enjoy in a few years' time. For most types of wine, the best-quality grapes and the most care in winemaking are employed on vintage wines - thus, they are generally more expensive than non-vintage varieties. Whilst a vintage wine is generally made in a single batch and thus each bottle from a particular vintage will taste the same, climactic factors tend to change the character of vintage wines grown from the same vines somewhat from year to year. Good vintages, particularly of premium grapes, therefore often sell for much more than average years. Some vintage wines are only made in better-than-average years. Conversely, wines such as White Zinfandels, which don't age well, are made to be drunk immediately and are not labeled with a vintage year.\n \nWines may also be classified by vinification methods: sparkling, still, fortified, rosé, etc.
The colour of wine is determined by the presence or absence of the grape skin during fermentation, since most wine grapes have clear juice. Grapes with colored juice are known as teinturiers. Red wine is made from red (or black) grapes, but its red colour is bestowed by the skin being left in during fermentation. White wine can be made from any colour of grape, but the skin is not left in during fermentation. A white wine made from a very dark grape may appear pink or 'blush'. Rosé is a compromise between red and white - the skin of red grapes is left in for a short time during fermentation.
Fortified wines are often sweeter, always more alcoholic wines that have had their fermentation process stopped by the addition of a spirit such as Brandy:
Wines may be also classified by their primary impression on the drinker's palate. Wines may be described as dry, off-dry, fruity, or sweet, for example. Specific flavors such as cherry, vanilla (usually from vinification in new oak barrels), new-mown grass, brine, raisin and dozens of others may also be sensed, at least by an experienced taster, due to the highly complex mix of organic molecules such as esters that a fully vinted wine contains.
Brandy is a distilled wine.
Collectible wines\nAt the highest end, rare, super-premium wines are amongst the most expensive of all foodstuffs, and outstanding vintages from the best vineyards may sell for thousands of dollars per bottle. Red wines, at least partly because of their greater shelf life, are typically the most expensive. Such wines are often at their best years or sometimes decades after bottling. Many exclusive wines come from France but other regions also have some world-class wines in both quality and price. Secondary markets for these wines have consequently developed, as well as specialised facilities for post-purchase storage for people to "invest" in wine. The most common wines purchased for investment are Bordeaux and Port. Many wine writers have decried the trend, as it has pushed up prices to the point that few people will consider drinking such valuable commodities, and consequently they are kept in bottles undrunk where they eventually deteriorate into a substance very much like red wine vinegar in taste (and desirability).Country wine\nCountry wines or fruit wines are made from anything that can be fermented, from flowers like dandelion (with added sugar), to berries, appless, stone fruits, vegetables, and even root crops like potatoes. Wine not made from grapes is generally qualified by the name of its major ingredient, for example, apple wine, palm wine or elderberry wine. Mead is sometimes called honey wine.HistoryChemical tests of ancient pottery jars reveal that wine was (like beer) produced by the Babylonians about 7000 years ago and is one of the first known biological engineering tasks, where the biological process of fermentation is used in a process. The earliest known evidence of wine dates to 5400 B.C., from Hajji Firuz Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of present-day Iran. This discovery is particularly significant, as this area was not a grape growing one, the main crops were grain and the preferred drink of the time was beer, which suggests that wine was probably used as a commodity. Ancient Babylon was located on the Silk Road from China to the Mediterranean, the probable origin of the wine. Wine as an entheogen played an important part in ceremonial life in ancient Egypt. Although the wild grape never grew there, a thriving royal winemaking industry had been established in the Nile Delta—most likely due to Early Bronze Age trade between Egypt and Canaan by at least Dynasty 3 (ca. 2700 B.C.), the beginning of the Old Kingdom period. Winemaking scenes appear on tomb walls, and the accompanying offering lists include wine that was definitely produced at vineyards in the Delta. By the end of the Old Kingdom, five wines—all probably made in the Delta—constitute a canonical set of provisions, or fixed "menu," for the afterlife. Grape growing and winemaking spread throughout Europe in the Greek and Roman times.Medical implications\nThe health effects of wine (and alcohol in general) are the subject of considerable ongoing debate and study. In the USA, a boom in red wine consumption was touched off in the 1990s by '60 Minutes' and other news reports on the French paradox. It now seems clear that a glass of wine daily does reduce mortality for those over the age of 35 or so. Sadly, this effect tails off, and significantly larger amounts show a negative impact on mortality. Compounds known as resveratrols are found in larger amounts in red wine, and there is some evidence that these are especially beneficial. Wine marketers have responded to the demand for healthy wines by producing wines (both red and white) with elevated levels of resveratrol. Other studies have concluded both that wine is the best form of alcohol to consume, and alternately that the only important ingredient is ethanol.Wine Quotations\n:"... good company, good wine, good welcome, can make good people." -- William Shakespeare, Henry VIII.
Types of wines\n* Fume Blanc- typically a new world version of Pouilly Fumé\n* TokajiSpecial types of wines
List of wines\n* Château Mouton Rothschild\n* Château Pétrus\n* Müller Thurgau\n* Silvaner\n* Riesling\n* Grauburgunder\n* Gutedel\n* Pinot Noir / SpätburgunderWine-based drinks\n* List of cocktails with wine\n* Sangria Spanish: Red wine with fruit juices\n* Spritzer\n* Wein-Schorle German: red or white wine with carbonated water. In some areas also called 'Gespritzter'\n* Wine cooler\n* Mulled wine, known in Scandinavia as GlöggWine-related objects\n* Aging barrel\n* Amphora\n* Barrel\n* Bottle\n* Butt\n* Cork (material)\n* Corkscrew\n* Screwcap\n* Stopper\n* Wine bottle\n* Wine cooler\n* Wine-pressPeople\n* Nathaniel de Rothschild\n* Philippe de Rothschild\n* Georges Duboeuf\n* Robert Mondavi\n* Robert M. Parker, Jr\n* Albert Seibel\n* Taittinger family (Champagne)Professions\n* Cooper\n* Négociant\n* SommelierCompanies\n* Remick Ridge Vineyards\n* Royal Wine CompanySee also\n* How to make wine
Resources\n* Woochi - online encyclopedia related to wine Category:Alcoholic beverages\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nsimple:Wine\n\nzh-cn:葡萄酒 |
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