The wine represents the blood of Christ

The wine represents the blood of Christ

In Christian tradition, the wine takes on a more sober and metaphorical, to represent the blood of Christ, son of God, during the celebration of the Mass or worship. Therefore, the vineyards began to be cultivated with liturgical purposes in monasteries and abbeys that, over time, become major producers of fine wines.

The vine cultivated by Noah

The vine cultivated by Noah

According to Jewish tradition transcribed in the Pentateuch, the vine would have been the first plant cultivated by Noah after the Flood, and then there is the description of how he drank wine and appeared naked in his tent, alluding to binge made by such an illustrious personage . Coincidence or not, Noah's ark stopped in the "mountains of Ararat", a point between Turkey and Armenia today, reinforcing the theory that the wine originated in the Caucasus, even assuming legend the story of Noah
Previous to the Book of Genesis, the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, written around 1800 BC, but referring to a period far more remote, tells the story of Upnapishtim, which would be the original version of the Flood story, only this hero does wine. The citation to drink is another excerpt from the poem that recounts the entry of Gilgamesh in the fields of the sun, where he discovers the existence of a wine extracted from a vineyard delighted that would guarantee immortality, if he could drink it.

The Origin of Wine

The Origin of Wine

The wine undoubtedly originated in the East, the Caucasus region where today are Georgia and Armenia, about 7000 years BC, spreading later to Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Via Cyprus and Crete, the vines knew Europe, first to Greece, where viticulture met great development, leaving the Greeks spread it throughout the Mediterranean, then by Italy, France and other countries. (See Map)
Like so many other discoveries that allowed the chance to man, the wine was probably the result of forgetting some grapes in a container, resulting in a natural fermentation and causing her sweet liquid is turned into alcohol, wine alcohol. And men, even without understanding how it had arisen, saw that it was good and started to drink it.
As man's intelligence grows, he begins to realize the existence of phenomena over which they have control, and without knowing how to explain them, attributes its occurrence to higher authorities, the gods. To please them, create rituals of celebration, and the wine follows in the footsteps of several religions that are forming and changing the course of history.

History of Wine

History of Wine
Wall of the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii (Italy)
To what extent the story corresponds to reality and at what time the man starts to fill the gaps with imagination working fragments of facts narrated by their ancestors?
When talking about history, the more remote the period, become more nebulous events, but I think we can say that the wine history is intertwined with that of the civilized man.
Civilization was born in the Neolithic period, with agriculture as soon as the first nomads who sowed grains are forced to settle for waiting for the harvest. As the vine requires at least four years to bear fruit, the period in which it begins to be cultivated corresponds to the time of social transition, when men gradually abandon the nomadic life to settle in certain places, because otherwise would not be present to harvest the grapes when the vine began to produce.

The VINE

The VINE
The Ampelography is the study of vine growing, which, in a broader sense, is defined as a climbing shrub with long branches called flexible branches comprising thousands of varieties, of which at least 5,000 of them are cataloged and less than 50 their interest to wine lovers.
reach a good wine.

Despite its immense variety, we highlight two major species of plants producing grape:
The European, the botanical genus Vitis vinifera and specific name, is a vine that produces fruit with sugar and acidic elements in ideal proportions to
The American species, whose unpleasant aroma (foxy - "fox wet") and low alcohol fermentation reached at its limit their use in wine production, has its fruit used as table grapes or for the production of wines of low quality. The importance of this species stems from its application in grafting, for the strengthening of vines, since there are more than a century is not more planting in ungrafted, ie, left side is the practice of removing the stick of a oldest vine and stick it directly into the ground to get a new plan, adopting a technique called "horse".
The grafting emerged as the keeper of the existence of fine wines, to ensure the emergence of hybrid vines to replace the original decimated by phylloxera plague. In the late nineteenth century, between the years 1865 and 1885, a tiny insect, measuring less than a millimeter and baptized with the name Phyloxera vastratrix, was responsible for the complete change of the European wine industry, since that continent devastated the vineyards . As Vitis vinifera is vulnerable to the attack of this pest, created the practice of planting a resistant American vine that after a year, the stem is cut in order to do the graft of a stick or twigs of the European vine. So if you can a vine immune to phylloxera and produces good fruit for winemaking, the American rootstock (horse) functioning as simple conductor vine sap and European (Knight) contributing to the genetic part to ensure the quality of the grape and therefore the wine.
The only vine bears good fruit for winemaking after the fourth or fifth year of its planting, producing for over 25 or thirty years. In Chile, exceptionally, there are still fertile vines centuries, thanks to the special soil and because the Chilean vineyards were not affected by phylloxera, which were protected by excessively dry climate and the barrier of the Andes.

Definition of Wine

Definition of Wine

The wine, by definition, is the product of the alcoholic fermentation of grape must.
Unlike the old man, we know, since 1860 and thanks to Louis Pasteur, the wine is not the product of chance or a godsend, but that is produced by fermenting microorganisms.
Fermentation occurs when the natural bark of ripe break, allowing the yeast to penetrate the fruit and triggering process.
In winemaking, the grapes are crushed fresh suffering invasion of yeast, which mainly attack the fruit sugars, forming from them, ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. Numerous other substances will form in the process according to the grape employed, the type of yeast and fermentation.
The thick liquid formed by fruit juice, fragments of stems, the grape skins, seeds and pulp, after the fresh fruit is crushed, is what is called wort, which is the "raw material" of wine.
When tasting the various wines we find a variety of flavors - from bush cut the stable, through coffee, berries and more - and flavors that can frustrate or delight the palate, this is due to the nearly 500 natural chemicals, including alcohols , sugars, acids, etc.. suffering a multitude of different combinations, producing a huge constellation of wines for the pleasure of those who relish.
To ensure even more complexity to the manufacture of wine, and the factors called "chemical", external agents such as climate and soil variation guarantee the impossibility of having two identical crops, even if originating from the same producer.

Origin of the word wine.

Origin of the word wine.

The wine comes from the Latin word, vinu, which in turn comes from vena, Hindu word meaning friend, loving, beloved.
Many people may not know that meaning and some people consider wine as a companion.

No drink should be considered companion or loved one. The consumption of any alcoholic beverage to drown his sorrows is not recommended.

Wine is an alcoholic beverage and should be consumed in moderation enough.

Some attribute the culture of the vine the passage of man from his nomadic to sedentary state. Because they are laborious
and difficult, vineyards demanded that the nomadic tribes showered up, giving rise to the first cities. The wine, beverage obtained
by fermenting the juice of grapes, has a busy and extremely interesting history.

"Wine is a gift of nature, which is revealed in its fullness, if any effort, dedication and love." Raoul Blodin, French winemaker

How to make wine

How to make wine

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