Wine

The history of winemaking parallels that of civilisation: historians believe that wine was being made in the Caucasus and Mesopotamia as early as 6000 BC.

European explorers in the 16th century introduced the wine into the New World. In 1530 the Spanish conquistadors planted Vitis vinifera in Mexico, Argentina, Peru and Chile. In 1655 Dutch settlers in South Africa planted French vine cuttings on the lower slopes of the Cape of Good Hope's majestic Table Mountain. Planting in California followed soon thereafter, and in Australia and New Zealand more than a century later in 1813.

Disaster struck the world of wine in the 1870's, when the root-eating insect Phyloxera vastatrix threatened almost every vine in Europe and the New World. They were pulled up and replaced with new V. vinifera vines grafted onto phyloxera-resistant rootstocks from the native American vine. Despite attacks by phyloxera and the spread of other diseases, such as downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola) and powdery mildew (Oidium tuckerii), the Office International de la Vigne et du Vin in Paris reports that today there are some 8 million hectares of vineyards across the world, mainly concentrated within the earth's temperate zones. Each of these vineyards reflects the terroir, history, culture and traditions of its region.

A look at the early days of winemaking makes it obvious that while different techniques produced varied styles of wine, the basic principles changed very little. During the last 150 years or so, however, the scientific basis of winemaking has gradually become clearer, and many practices once thought impossible have now become routine.

In 1863 Louis Pasteur revealed for the first time the hidden world of microbial activity during wine fermentation. He proved conclusively that yeast is the primary catalyst in wine fermentation, basing his work upon Antonie van Leeuwenhoek's first microscopic observation in 1680 of yeast cells and the claims by three other independent pioneers, Cagniard-Latour, Kutzing and Schwann, in the late 1830's, that these cells are living organisms. With the knowledge that yeast was responsible for the biotransformation of grape sugars (mainly glucose and fructose) into alcohol and carbon dioxide, winemakers could control the process from the vineyard to bottling plant. Pasteur also made it possible to destroy unwanted souring bacteria. As a result, the quality and quantity of wine production was vastly improved.

These fundamental innovations in winemaking practices revolutionised the wine industry, and today the forces of market-pull and technology-push continue to challenge the tension between tradition and innovation. There will continue to be further improvements in winemaking by refining viticultural and oenological practices. These factors will remain important to the improvement of the overall quality and endless variety of wine.

But today there is a new, and for the moment controversial, focal point for innovation in winemaking - the genetic modification of the two main organisms involved, the grape cultivar and wine yeast. The diversity of yeast species associated with winemaking, the tailoring of wine yeast and the possible use of strains expressing novel designer genes make possible exciting new approaches to winemaking in the 21st century.

Wine Making

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Wine making has been around for centuries. To begin the wine making process, in days gone by, townspeople used to stomp grapes with their feet. The wine making process was a lengthy and ceremonious event. Today, wine making efforts are much easier, due to technology and the mass production of wine.

Still, wine making is not as easy as it looks. There are many wine making shops that will let you mix your wines and bottle them yourself. While this wine making process is relatively easy, most viticulturists think this is cheating. However, there are skills involved to know what you like, how long to store the wine and the fermentation process involved.

Wine making on your own is much harder. If you grow your own grapes you must be aware of vine canopy management, which is an art and science unto itself. Not only can you make wine from grapes, but pretty much anything organic can be made into wine. There are many people who are wine makers who use elderflowers, dandelion and blackberries. You can always incorporate these into your grape