Some facts about wine

• Wine is an alcoholic beverage that can be made from several fruits, vegetables and flowers, but the most notable plant in wine making is the grapevine.
• The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients.
• The great wine grapes belong particularly to the regions where the famous wines are made. Such grapes are the black Cabernet Sauvignon of Bordeaux, and the black and white Pinot of Burgundy and Champagne, all three districts of France; the Riesling of the Rivers Rhine and Moselle; the Pedro Ximenez of Jerez in Spain; and the Furmint of Tokay in Hungary.
• All these wine-growing regions have developed their own particular grapes which produce wines distinctive to each district.
• An expert taster can tell not only where a wine comes from but often the year in which it was made.
• Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts produce different types of wine.
• When grapes are crushed, the juice can be run off at once for the making of white wine, or it can be left to ferment in the presence of the stalks, skins and pips of the grapes to make red wine.
• A pink or rose wine can be produced by allowing the juice to ferment for a short while with the skins of the grapes, which contain the colouring matter.
• All the colouring of table wines comes from the skins of the grapes and has nothing to do with the colour of the growing fruit.
• The commercial use of the word "wine" (and its equivalent in other languages) is protected by law in many jurisdictions.
• The English word "wine" comes from the Proto-Germanic "winam," an early borrowing from the Latin vinum, "wine" or "(grape) vine,"
• Wine has also played an important role in religion throughout history. The Greek god Dionysus and the Roman equivalent Bacchus represented wine, and the drink is also used in Christian Eucharist ceremonies and the Jewish Kiddush.