Wine

History and origin

One generally admits that the wine has existed for several millenia, one found earthenware jars old of more than 8.000 years front J.C containing cultivated grape pips and residues of tartaric acid. It is currently not known if this product were really wine or simply grape juice.

After the Iran, one would have found in the north of the China traces going back to 7.000 years front J.C of a drink fermented on pottery.

The King Solomon celebrated it, but they are certainly the Greeks who contributed to the development of the vine growing on the circumference of the the Mediterranean. Indeed, they a long time made trade in all the Mediterranean countries. It is them which imported the first wines into France while arriving by the port of Marseilles. At that time, the wine was composed of partially fermented grape must to which one added sea water for his conservation during transport, on arrival one added fresh water to remove the taste of the salt.

In the old Egypt, one knows that the vine growing was very organized. Osiris in Egypt, Dionysos in Greece, Bacchus at the Roman , Gilgamesh with Babylon represent the wine or its search in mythology. The wine symbolizes also the blood of the Christ in the Christian religion. The wine evolved/moved enormously during the precedents Millénaire S. the Romains had very spiced wines which they lengthened with sea water. They would not correspond at all to the current tastes.

At the 19th century, the wine is regarded as an energy drink, for example, a reaper drinks of them 6 to 8 liters per day! The wine constituted part of its remuneration, at one time when water was not always really drinkable.

Constitution and manufacture of the wine

Characterization

The wines are qualified in general according to several elements:

the origin (or soil): being able to go from the country (e.g. Australia) to a precise soil (e.g. Aloxe-Corton)
the principal Type of vine (or genetically identified type of grape): e.g. Merlot or Chardonnay
the mark: it can be a question of a simple mark (e.g. Baron de Lestac), name of the vinificator (e.g. Louis Latour) or name of collecting (Mr. Eric Roche of Rigodière with St Julien under Montmelas)
the color: white, red, in general rosy
the year (or harvest year of the grapes)
size of the container: the standard being 75cl

Type of vine

The Cépage describes the Cultivar vine used to produce the wine. Most famous are in the reds: the Cabernet-sauvignon, the frank Cabernet, the Merlot, the Grenache, the Syrah, the Mourvèdre, the Carignan, the black Pinot, the Gamay, the Zinfandel, the Malbec, the Tempranillo, the Sangiovese, the Pinotage, the Côt, the Alicante, the vinestock.

Among the most known white are: the chardonnay, the white Sauvignon, the Gewurztraminer, the Chenin, the Muscatel, the gray Pinot, the Riesling, the Sémillon, the Roussanne, the marsanne, the Viognier, the Vermentino, the Maccabeu, the Pale , the Bourboulenc and the white Grenache.

Types of wines

Wine aromatized
Wine bio, Wine without sulfur
white Wine, red Wine, rosy Wine, gray Wine
Champagne
hot Wine, Wine cooked,
Sweet wine, liqueur-like Wine, marrowy Wine, Wine transferred
effervescent Wine, sparkling Wine, Wine beading
Wine of yellow ice
Wine, Wine of straw
Wine of mountain
distilled Wines: Cognac, Armagnac, Metaxa
Wine without alcohol

Soil

The soil (or the origin) is characterized by the environment in which the vine pushes: ground, basement, exposure, climate, by cultivation methods: choice of type of vine, type of plantation and size of the vine and by oenological processes: type of wine making and choice of the breeding of the wine. In producing in the past countries like France the last two points, cultivation methods and wine making are of a great importance related on the tradition and the history.

Wines of producers known as of the " new monde" (Australia, South Africa, Chile, California…) largely diversify the possibilities offered by the environmental parameters (sunning, moisture, quality of the ground) and stick less to the tradition than in the search of novel methods, although they are often considered, often wrongly, like wines of lower quality.

These soils are protected by a system from names which tends to extend throughout the world. In France the hierarchy of names is:

Table wine (wine in conformity with the regulation and suitable for consumption)
Table wine of France (the grapes come from France exclusively)
Local wine (delimited area and regulated practices)
A.O.V.D.Q.S. or label of origin wine of higher quality (often a springboard towards a.O.C.)
A.O.C or name of controlled origin (soil defined more strictly and practices aiming at expressing the specificity of the wine).

These names are managed by trade unions of name gathered within the I.N.A.O.

In France, the soils are sometimes associated with one or more Cépage S (e.g. Bordeaux and the Cabernet or Merlot, Burgundy and Pinot Noir or Chardonnay). The properties in general take the name of Domaine in Burgundy and of Château X in the area of Bordeaux or farmhouse in the south of France. Some of these names are regulated, others not.

Year

It is the harvest year of the grapes having been used to produce a wine. The Millésime, which expresses the climatological conditions of the year, is an important reference mark to assess the quality of a wine. It is generally indicated on the label affixed on the bottle, except for the wines of current quality. To note champagne, only wine of assembly authorized in France (wine assembly resulting from different years of production) does not have a year except if the assembly is obtained starting from wines of the same harvest year. It will be then about one year a champagne resulting exceptional.

New wines

At one time each wine acquired its personality from the Cépage S used, from the soils on which the vines pushed, from the microclimates of which they profited, from the know-how of the vine grower which cultivated it, vinified it and raised it, and even things which appear unimportant like the quality of the cellar or that of the barrels of oak.

Today, the wine by opening new territories throughout the world and by conquering new not educated consumers, is obliged to return in a logic productivist and of marketing like any other produced. To like and reassure the new wines must be, whatever the bottle, identical of appearance and taste, to be recognized and especially not to create surprises with the consumers.

It is thus necessary to have a standardized product where all the components are based in a taste liking and neutral. For that all the wines of the same name are vinified together. The special characters must be broken and abolished differences so that the wine is that which is defined in advance, one passes from an identity of soil to a collective identity, and so that is not too complicated a new wine is not often produced, initially, that with only one Cépage.

Containers

Glass

the mignonette, 5 Cl.
the balloon, 12,5 Cl.
the young girl (wines of the Loire) 50 Cl.
the pot (wines of the region of Lion) approximately 50 Cl. It has a thick bottom, conferring a certain stability to him.
the clavelin, 62 Cl (the Jura) => bottle used for the yellow wine (AOC)
the half-bottle, 37,5 Cl.
the normal bottle out of glass of 75 Cl, that of Alsace is finer, that of Champagne thicker and resistant (and 70 Cl until the 20th century made).
fiasque (Italy) the
the demijohn
Other formats of bottles:

magnum 1,5 L (2 bottles)
jeroboam, 3 L (4 bottles)
réhoboam, 4,5 L (6 bottles)
mathusalem, 6 L (8 bottles)
salmanazar, 9 L (12 bottles)
balthazar, 12 L (16 bottles)
nabuchodonosor, 15 L (20 bottles)
Solomon, 18 L (24 bottles)
sovereign, 26,25 L (35 bottles)
primacy, 27 L (36 bottles).

According to the tradition, much have the practice Trinquer before drinking their glass. This practice comes from the will of " mélanger" contents of glasses before drinking them. Thus if one contained poison, a little this one fell down in second glass. A manner of tranquillizing the spirits at one time when poisonings were not rare… When a bottle is empty, it is called familiarly a “corpse”.

The majority of the containers out of glass intended for the wine are thus multiples or divisions of volumes of 75 Cl for the majority of names. The origin of this “singular” volume is subject of debate among the specialists in weights and measures, surprised that the standardization of French post-revolution measurements apparently did not take on this container (actually, of the bottles of one liter still frequently sold there are a few tens of years for current wines).

By opposition, the setting in bottles (generally made apart from the producing fields until the beginning of the century) of wines “of quality” used containers close to 75 Cl. It is thought today that this volume was selected because it corresponded to a measurement usually used during the exchanges on the markets export (a Imperial gallon approximately 4,5 L). The purchase of a case of 12 bottles of a great wine of Bordeaux thus corresponded to the purchase of two Imperial gallons of the same wine, a Barrique of Bordeaux of 225 liters to 50 Imperial gallons.

Plastic and paperboard

the cubitainer several liters for a consumption or an immediate transfer.
the “bib”, of the Anglicism bag-in-box, is a wine pocket inside a carton which retracts as it is emptied without the air penetrating there. In Quebec one calls it the “vinier”.
There exist bottles out of plastic, and even of the paperboards.

Wood of oak

Several types of Chêne S are used Quercus alba , Quercus will sessiflora , Quercus robur . For the breeding of the wines, Quercus Alba is not used. One holds it for brandies and alocols.

The most traditional volumes are the following:

the lightning (20 to 500 hectolitres sometimes more still),
divides into sheets (114 to 140 L),
barrel of Bordeaux (225 L),
was or part Burgundy (228 L),
part beaujolais wine (216 L),
barrel of Bordeaux (225 L),
barrel of Bordeaux (4 barrels),
divides into sheets Windfallen wood (132 L),
was of Armagnac (273 L),
was of Cognac (350 L).

Distribution of the worldwide production

Distribution of worldwide consumption

In the past, a Cabaretier served as the Vin with the detail. The wine can be bought directly in the producers, in specialized trade, signs general practitioners or on specialized Internet sites. The purchase in the producers can be an objective of the Oenotourisme but it is not only.

The European consumer became during the years, more demanding, more selective, more looking on quality and curious about the wines of other regions.

Effects on health

The ethanol present in the wine can involve harmful effects on health. On the level of the brain, it deteriorates neuronal survival and the maintenance of cerebral connections. On the level of the digestive system, it increases the cancer risk of the mouth and the higher air routes, of the cancer of the esophagus and the cancer of the colonist. It increases also the cancer risks of the center, other cancers and causes the cirrhosis of the liver. Moreover, it represents a factor worsening in the angina pectoris and the myocardial infarction.

One also finds in the wine of the carbinol traces. This last is powerful neurotoxic. There are always some with amounts varying from 35 to 350 Mg per liter. It comes from the hydrolysis of pectins of the grape during fermentation.

The wine also contains substances which have a beneficial effect of which polyphenols. Among them, the Resveratrol was the showing subject of many studies of beneficial potentials effects for many pathologies. Paradoxically, the wine would protect from cancer, would have a neuroprotector effect and would slow down cellular ageing. Lastly, it would improve health and survival of mouse according to a weak mode in calorie.

Several groups of research still discuss effect of the Resveratrol on the lengthening of the life expectancy, and certain companies already began its marketing. For review: Baur and Sinclair, 2006.

August 1st

A moderate wine consumption would have a beneficial effect on health, it is the presence of the polyphenols, in the red wine only, which would reduce the prevalence of the cardiovascular risks. Scientific research showed that mortality by cardiovascular attacks was relatively weaker among French, first wine consumers in the world, that in the other industrialized countries. The term of French Paradoxe was introduced to indicate this phenomenon.

Like any alcohol, the wine can have harmful effects on health of anybody having an easily raised rate of Triglycéride (Hypertriglycéridémie).

The wine belongs to the alcoholic drinks which can lead to the Alcoolisme.

Museums devoted to the trades of the wine

Not-exhaustive list.

the Museum of the Traditions vigneronnes, located at Vongnes in the Department of Ain, presents more than 1.500 tools of the trades of the Vigne, the Vin and cooperage.
the Vinimage museum, located at Ruoms in the Département of Ardeche makes it possible to discover the richness of the wines of Ardeche with animations and tastings. See the site.
Vineum " Paul Jaboulet Ainé" , located at Châteauneuf-on-Isere presents the wines of the area of the Vallée of the Rhone: C4otes-du-Rh4one wine, C4otes-du-Rh4one wine Village, Châteauneuf-of-Pope, Condrieu, Cornas, Coast-roast, Crozes-Hermitage, Gigondas, Hermitage, Saint-Joseph… History, films and tastings.
Loudenne Castle, Museum of the Vine and the Wine in the Victoriens wine storehouses of the castle Loudenne, Médoc.Ouvert all the year. Discovered old tools of the vine, and organization of workshops of tastings.
the Museum of the Vine and the Wine, located at Aubière in the Department of the Puy-de-Dôme.

See too

External bonds

wine|wine

Documents

Collection of the international methods of analysis of the wines and musts, first part and Collection of the international methods of analysis of the wines and musts, second part;
Payment of the European Council n° 1493/1999 of the bearing May 17th, 1999 wine common organization of the market.
'' International Oenological Codex 2006 ''

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