What is Wine?
Wine is an Alcoholic Drink
made from
Fermented Grapes
During Alcoholic Fermentation, Yeast consumes the Sugar in the grapes and transforms it into Alcohol and Carbon Dioxide.
Alcoholic Fermentation
Alcohol stays in the wine, CO2 disappears in the air.
Alcohol by Volume or ABV is how we measure the per cent of alcohol.
12% ABV means that 12% of the wine is alcohol.
Wine Types
Different grapes, yeasts, and methods create different wine types:
Red Wine, White Wine, Rosé Wine, Sparkling Wine, Dessert Wine, and Fortified Wine.
The Wine Grape
The main components of a wine grape are stem, skin, flesh (aka pulp), and seeds.
Grapes are similar in the inside (Pulp) but have different skin colors.
Black Grapes
Red and Rosé wines are made from black grapes.
The skin of black grapes has a deep color and contains tannins.
White Grapes
White and Orange wines are made from white grapes.
The skin of white grapes has a yellow-green color.
Cultivated Grapes (Cultivar)
Wild grapevine seeds naturally in humid and shady riverbank forests.
Cultivated vines are not grown from seeds. They are spread from cuttings and selected via hybrids and clones. Cultivated vines produce grapes every year (2 years after planting).
The lifespan of a grapevine can be over 100 years.
Vitis Vinifera
Vitis Vinifera is the most cultivated and economically important fruit in the world. It produces high quality grapes with good aromas. There are between 5.000 and 6.000 different varieties, but only a few are used for wine production.
The world's most famous wine grapes are:
| Principal Black | Principal White |
 |
|
| Cabernet Sauvignon | Chardonnay |
| Pinot Noir | Sauvignon Blanc |
| Syrah/Shiraz | Pinot Grigio |
| Sangiovese | Pinot Blanc |
| Tempranillo | Riesling |