Winery

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A winery is a place or business that makes wine. It has developed and changed for thousands of years. In wine's journey along the centuries and around the world, winery has changed, and all ends in wine production today.

Process

The first wine-like beverage was made in around 7000 bc, in China. This is considered wine, because the beverage follows the basic rules of winery. These are to follow a certain chemistry of yeast and glucose. Glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆), a certain type of 'sugar', is consumed by yeast, the fermentation tool. Glucose is from the grapes. Then, the yeast slowly converts them to ethanol (C₂H₅OH), carbon dioxide (CO₂), latic acid (HC₃H₅O₃), hydrogen (H), and energy. The carbon dioxide and hydrogen is not used. The latic acid can be used for cheese another time. The energy is consumed by the yeast, and lastly the remaining water and ethanol is for our wine.

The chemical composition of glucose

There are different types of grapes, yeast, and climate for the grapes to grow, so vintners (people who make wine) have a hard time choosing and experimenting on different flavours of wine. There were many processes too, in the old times. In ancient Egypt, slaves or workers crushed juice out of grapes, and put them in pots and jars. The juice is left to ferment. In some ancient wineries, grapes were fermented with wild yeast, which is already on grapes without human activity. Other wineries use selected yeast, which are cultivated by humans.

Spread

Ancient Egyptian wine press. 4 men on the right carry pots full of grapes. Several men in the wine press crush grapes with their feet to make wine.

Wine-like beverages were first recorded in China. But 'true wine' began in ancient Persia (modern-day middle east). Then, though trade across the Red Sea and the Mediterrainean Sea brought Persian wine to many other countries, such as Egypt, Greece, Carthaginia, and Rome. Rome was very interested in wine, and almost couldn't live without it, so they even invented a new object for the fermentation and storage in time; wine barrels. Throughout the Roman times, the wine loving nation spread the beverage across Europe, and especially along the Rhine River, the border between modern-day France and Germany. Later in the 17th century, the wine bottle and cork was invented for the storage of wine in a smaller container that is easier to carry. Nowadays, wine is made in many major countries by the tonnes, and people drink the beverage almost everywhere.

Culture

Wine was very impressive and rare. In Assyria, peasants and other people considered 'normal' were not allowed to drink wine. Only the king and other important dignitaries drink wine. In feasts, celebrations and religious rites, the poor watched the magestic liquid full of fragance draining down the throat of their powerful leader. But the poor were not really jealous; they had beer in their hands.

Jesus turns the water in the jars into wine

Soon, when wine began spreading everywhere, everyone began to drink it too. It appears in many religious myths and scripts too. In Persian legends, it was said that a women fired by the king decided to commit suicide (kill herself), and tried this by drinking a beverage. She thought that it was poison, but found it delicious; it was wine. She brought it to the king, and the king became intoxicated. He then ordered all grapes in his empire should be converted to wine.

In Christianity, Jesus (the son of the Christian god) was said to turn water into wine in a party. Many religious people, monks, priests, hermits and the pope began drinking wine as a symbol of Jesus' blood lost on the cross.

In Greek and Roman myths, there is a wine god, Bacchus, or Dionysus. He is the son of Zeus and Semele, one of his minor sex-partners (the major is Hera). He is worshiped almost every day be the Romans, and are typically worshiped for a good harvest of grapes by the farmers.

So this is the major use of wine in culture, life, and religion, and wineries are the places that make this capable.

Wine-Race

When wine was drank by everyone and grew extremely popular, two old rivals fought over the monopoly of the wine-producing industry; Rome and Greece. Several decades later, Rome one the race, with the help of their wine barrels and amazing wineries. Their territory near the Rhine River also contributed deeply to major wine-production. Also, the Greek lands were eventually taken by the Romans, so there is no doubt they win. Even in 2022, the top producer of wine is Italy, Rome's origin, making 50 million hectoliters of the beverage.

Related pages

• Vineyard
• Wine
• Beer
• Ethanol
• Fermentation
• Grapes
• Yeast