Wine not? #1

the basics: what is wine

At some point in history, there was an inattentive grape-grower and a "why not" teen. At least, that is how I like to picture the discovery of wine. Farmer opens a two-year-old barrel of what used to be grapes, apathetic adolescent throws caution to the wind, and together they decide they need to make this funky stuff their full-time jobs. However, that is probably a bit idealistic.

Yet no matter how it started, wine has taken the world by storm, and wine grapes are currently grown on six continents (I'm sure if anyone wants to expand it to the seventh, Antartica, the wine community would be quite interested).

Wine, as most people know it, is made with wine grapes - although it can be made with almost any sweet fruit. Wine grapes, or Vitis vinifera, compared to 'table grapes' are smaller, sweeter, and are stock full of seeds.

There are two main ways to blend a wine:

• Single Varietal
  • primarily one type of grape, or one grape variety
  • requirements for the amount of main grape variety depend on location, i.e. if I was to make a bottle of Riesling in Oregon, 90% of that bottle must be made from Riesling grapes
• Wine Blend
  • traditional method: fermenting each varietal separately and mixing after fermentation
  • field blend: mixing varietals first, then fermenting together

I know that I am still learning, although I definitely feel as if I have reached 'enthusiast' on the Knowledge of Wine chart at the beginning of my post; however, I do believe you can be both a beginner and a lover at the same time. Any of you guys have wine topics you are interested in hearing about? Or relate to any of the knowledge levels like I do?

'wine not' is a segment focusing on all wine in all its forms. from tasting notes to basic wine knowledge to vineyard visits, I will take you on a tipsy journey through the world of sour grape juice

sources: knowledge of wine, famous blends