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W i n e
The Wine Portal
Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from fermentation of grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Although fruits other than grapes can also be fermented, the resultant wines are normally named after the fruit from which they are produced (for example, apple wine) and are known as fruit wine (or country wine). Others, such as barley wine and rice wine (e.g. sake), are made from starch-based materials and resemble beer more than wine; ginger wine is fortified with brandy. In these cases, the use of the term "wine" is a reference to the higher alcohol content, rather than the production process. The commercial use of the word "wine" (and its equivalent in other languages) is protected by law in many jurisdictions. Wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast which consume the sugars found in the grapes and convert them into alcohol. Various varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are used depending on the types of wine produced.
Wine stems from an extended and rich history dating back about 8,000 years and is thought to have originated in present-day Georgia or Iran. Wine is thought to have appeared in Europe about 6,500 years ago in present-day Bulgaria and Greece and was very common in ancient Greece and Rome; the Greek god Dionysos, and his Roman counterpart Liber represented wine. Wine continues to play a role in religious ceremonies, such as Kiddush in Judaism and the Eucharist in Christianity.
The Wine WikiProject
Some Wikipedians have formed a project to better present and organize information in articles related to Wine. This project contains their suggestions; it is hoped that this collaboration will help to focus the efforts of other Wikipedians on the subject of wine. If you wish to learn more about wine and get involved, please visit the Wine Wikiproject page to see how you can help!
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Throughout the first 1,800 years of church history, Christians consumed alcoholic beverages as a common part of everyday life and nearly always used wine (that is, fermented grape juice) in their central rite — the Eucharist or Lord's Supper. They held that both the Bible and Christian tradition taught that alcohol is a gift from God that makes life more joyous and that overindulgence, which leads to drunkenness, is a sin. In the mid 1800s, some Protestant Christians moved from this historic position of allowing moderate use of alcohol (sometimes called moderationism) to either deciding that not imbibing was wisest in the present circumstances (abstentionism) or prohibiting all ordinary consumption of alcohol because it was believed to be a sin (prohibitionism). Today, all three of these positions exist in Christianity, but the historic position remains the most common worldwide. Selected person
Charles Heidsieck
b. 1820 – d. 1871
Charles Camille Heidsieck was a 19th century French Champagne merchant who founded the Champagne firm Charles Heidsieck in 1851. He is credited with popularizing Champagne in the United States and was known as "Champagne Charlie" during his stay. During the American Civil War Heidsieck was imprisoned under suspicion of being a spy for the French government and the Confederacy. His imprisonment sparked an international incident between France and US over what became known as The Heidsieck Incident.Selected winery
Bodegas Vega Sicilia is a Spanish winery located in the Ribera del Duero Denominacion de Origen in the north of Spain. In 1848 a Basque landowner, Don Toribio Lecanda, met the bankrupt Marques de Valbuena and bought from him a 2,000 hectare estate, the Pago de la Vega Santa Cecilia y Carrascal, in the western part of what now is the Ribera del Duero wine region. At some stage that was shortened to Vega Sicilia.For the first 16 years, the land was used for agriculture, until Don Lecanda's son, Don Eloy Lecanda y Chaves, founded the winery in 1864. From one Monsieur Beguerié in Bordeaux he bought 18,000 young vines of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Malbec, Merlot and Pinot Noir. They may have made some wine at that stage, but most of the production went into brandy and ratafia. In due course Don Lecanda y Chaves went bust and the estate passed over to the Herrero family, and another Basque, Domingo Garramiola Txomin, who had trained as a winemaker at the Haro Oenological Centre. At first most of the wine was sold in bulk and – presumably – passed off as Rioja. When the Rioja vineyards had recovered from Phylloxera in 1915, Garramiola turned to making estate bottled wine. Initially this wasn't a commercial venture, but was given away to aristocratic friends and acquaintances of the Herrero family. The quality of these wines was obviously not an issue: the 1917 and 1918 wines won prizes at the World Fair in Barcelona in 1929, an achievement still celebrated on the labels of all Vega Sicilia's Unico today.
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Zinfandel is a variety of red grape planted in over 10 percent of California wine vineyards. DNA fingerprinting revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grape Crljenak Kaštelanski, and also the Primitivo variety traditionally grown in the 'heel' of Italy (Puglia).It is typically made into a robust red wine, but in the USA a semi-sweet rosé wine called White Zinfandel has six times the sales of the red wine. Zinfandel has such high sugar levels that it was originally grown for table grapes in the USA, and this sugar can be fermented into high levels of alcohol, sometimes 15% or more.
The taste of the red wine depends on the ripeness of the grapes from which it is made. Red berry fruits like raspberry predominate in wines from cooler areas such as the Napa Valley, whereas blackberry, anise and pepper notes are more common in wines made in warmer areas such as Sonoma County, and in wines made from the earlier-ripening Primitivo clone.
News
- 8 February: Ceja Vineyards to Open Wine Tasting Salon in Downtown Napa(Source:Business Wire)
- 7 February: Wine's impact on Washington: $3B per year (Source:Puget Sound Business Journal)
- 7 February: Cost Plus World Market Takes the Confusion out of Wine Selection with the Launch of Foodies, Its Latest Line of Wines from California(Source:Business Wire)
- 7 February: Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen to Host 2nd Riesling Rendezvous July 27-29(Source:Business Wire)
- 3 February - 5 February: Wine & Winemaking 2011 - 11th International Specialized Exhibition of Wine, Wine-making and Wine-growing in Odessa, Ukraine.(Source:Organiser)
- 30 January: Governor stars in new tourism ads touting Calif food and wine (Source:The Associated Press)
- 30 January: Positive Wine Industry Vibe: Even beleaguered growers are optimistic at Unified Symposium(Source:Wines and Vines)
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Things you can do
This list is transcluded from the tasks page, to edit this section click here.
Here are some tasks you can do for WikiProject Wine:
- Article request: Charles Krug, Esgana Cão, Georg Scheu, Gimblett Gravels, Merlot Blanc, John Patchett, Terrantez,Tunisian wine, Verduzzo Friulano, Viña Errázuriz, Vinexpo.
- Expand: any of the ~1000 wine stubs, particularly the region and "miscellaneous" ones, West Australian wine
- Improve: Canadian wine, Greek wine, Vitis vinifera, wine serving temperature, West Australian wine, other Start class articles
- Articles to GA: Wine, Australian wine, Bordeaux wine, Burgundy wine, California wine, Champagne (wine), Chianti, Dessert wine, French wine, German wine, Grenache, Italian wine, Merlot, Pinot gris, Pinot noir, Rioja (wine), Sauvignon blanc, Spanish wine, Sparkling wine, Syrah, Tempranillo, Winemaking
- Articles to FA: Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling
- Cleanup:
- Table wine, Wine competition, Wine tasting.
- Cleanup lists of wine-related articles: all articles and articles by category.
- Unreferenced biographies of living persons
- Peer review: Tempranillo, Alcohol in the Bible
- Copyedit: Aligoté, Cabernet franc, Chenin blanc, Malbec, Robert M. Parker, Jr., Pinot blanc, Rioja (wine), Tempranillo
- Photo request: Just about all of them! Any pictures of wine regions, grape varieties or wine would be useful. In particular we need wine region maps that can be licensed for Wikipedia.
- Collaboration: Operation stub-killer, Nominations for top level importance
- Infobox: Template:Infobox grape variety, Template:Infobox Winery
- Other: Comment on the grape article template and on the grape infobox. Add to the Wikiquote page for wine:[wine]
Categories
Wine Lists
Topics relating to Wine
Appellation • Oenology • Winery • Winemaking • Wine tasting • Vintage • Vinyard • Viticulture Wine styles Red/White • Rosé/Blush • Sparkling • Dessert • Fortified • Fruit • Ice Wine Notable varietals Albariño • Chardonnay • Chenin blanc • Gewürztraminer • Grüner veltliner • Muscat • Pinot blanc • Pinot gris • Riesling
Sauvignon blanc • Sémillon • Silvaner • Viognier • Barbera • Cabernet Franc • Cabernet Sauvignon • Carignane • Dolcetto
Gamay • Grenache • Malbec • Merlot • Mourvèdre • Nebbiolo • Petite Sirah/Durif • Petit Verdot • Pinot Noir • Pinotage
Sangiovese • Syrah/Shiraz • Tempranillo • ZinfandelNotable regions Bordeaux • Burgundy • California • Champagne • Mosel • Rheinhessen • Rhône • Rioja • Tuscany Notable nations Argentina • Australia • Chile • France • Germany • Italy • Spain • South Africa • United States of America Associated Wikimedia
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