Chapter 3
Wine
Wine is a drink, which is based on fermented grape juice. Growing grapes is one of the world’s most common farming activities. Wines are produced in red, white or rose colors and is also divided into groups depending on whether they are sweet, medium dry or dry. Natural wines ferment to an alcohol percent between 8 and 14.
Yeast causes the grape juice to ferment, a process where sugar is converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The alcohol draws the color out of the skin of the grape. Red wines are always made from red or blue grapes and the skin is taken away when the wine has the right color. Making a rose wine means that the skin of the red or blue grape is removed earlier in the process. The juice itself is not colored in any of the grapes. White wines can be made from any grapes, as long as the colored skin is taken away at once.
Fortified wines are wines where liquor has been added to stop the fermentation and give a stronger percentage of alcohol than the natural wines. They are put into groups according to origin and flavor. The most famous kinds are sherry, vermouth, port and madeira.
Cultivation of the vine was started many thousand years ago, and you hear about it several times in the Old Testament. It was produced already in ancient Egypt and Greece and even exported in large quantities.
Early European immigrants tried to make wine in their colonies and were particularly successful in California. The first vineyards were started by Franciscan monks around 1770. Around 1835 a commercial production of wine was a fact. This industry grew till prohibition put a stop to it in the beginning of the 20th century. After 1933 the Californian wine production has gradually recovered.
The finest wines are made in the Napa and Sonoma valleys north of San Francisco.
The Napa Valley in northwestern California probably is the most famous wine region in North America. It stretches out about 55 km and is about 3 km wide. Almost the whole territory is utilized by the wineries. The name Napa is an Indian word, which means plenty. It really serves this fertile valley right to carry such a name. There are about 200 private wineries in this valley. Their products have been exported all over the world and have brought California a very good reputation for its wine production.