Wine - Encyclopedia app for iPhone and iPad

Wine：white wine and red wine
Manufacturer
Italy, France Spain United States Argentina Australia Canada China Germany South Africa Portugal Chile Romania Greece Russia Hungary New Zealand Austria Mexico Uruguay
Ingredients Grapes
Variants
Red white Rosé

16th-century wine press
Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented grapes or other fruits. Due to the natural chemical balance, grapes ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, water, or other nutrients.Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts produce different styles of wine. The well-known variations result from the very complex interactions between the biochemical development of the fruit, reactions involved in fermentation, terroir and subsequent appellation, along with human intervention in the overall process.

Wine has been produced for thousands of years. The earliest evidence of wine to date was found in Republic of Georgia, where 8,000-year-old wine jars were uncovered.[Traces of wine have also been found in Iran with 7,000-year-old wine jarsand in Armenia with the 6,100-year-old Areni-1 winery, which is by far considered to be the earliest known winery.he earliest form of grape-based fermented drink however, was found in nort hern China, where archaeologists discovered 9,000-year-old pottery jars.Wine had reached the Balkans by c. 4500 BC and was consumed and celebrated in ancient Greece and Rome. It has been consumed for its intoxicating effects throughout history and the psychoactive effects are evident at normal serving sizes.

Wines made from produce besides grapes include rice wine, pomegranate wine, apple wine and elderberry wine and are generically called fruit wine.

Wine has played an important role in religion. Red wine was associated with blood by the ancient Egyptians and was used by both the Greek cult of Dionysus and the Romans in their Bacchanalia; Judaism also incorporates it in the Kiddush and Christianity in the Eucharist.