The History of Wine

Early in the development of agriculture men discovered how to make alcoholic drinks from grapes and corn. The ancient Egyptians drank both wine and beer, and the Greeks carried on a lively trade in wine throughout the Mediterranean. Grapevines are all of a single species although there are hundreds of varieties adapted to different soils and climates.
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Wine is the fermented juice of fresh grapes. The juice of the wine grape contains sugar, and growths of yeast form on the outside of the grape skins. In wine-making, the grapes are crushed in a wine press and the yeast converts the sugar to alcohol, when there is no air present, by a process called fermentation. Red wine is made from dark grapes, and white wine from white grapes or from dark grapes whose skins have been removed from the wine press at an early stage. The most famous wine¬growing countries are France, Germany and Italy. Wine was made in England in the Middle Ages,rift gold but the climate is not really suitable for grapevines. Wines must be drunk quickly once they are opened; otherwise, bacteria will use the air to convert the alcohol to vinegar. The bacteria are killed by a higher alcohol content than is found in wine and that is why sherry and port, the specialties of Spain and Portugal respectively, are fortified by the addition of spirits to make them last longer.