Lecture 1 - Intro to Wine

Question 1

wine grapes

Answer 1

• very rich in sugars (22-30%) which is much richer than table grapes (10-15%)
• degenerate quicker than table grapes and must be gathered/processed quickly
• grapes are destroyed to release their juice then converted by yeast into alcohol rich solution

Question 2

sugars present in plants

Answer 2

-sucrose, fructose or glucose
-ripening grapes there is a 1:1 ratio of fructose and glucose
sucrose = 100, glucose = 75 and fructose = 140

Question 3

empyreumatic

Answer 3

how we describe toast, hot chocolate, hot rubber

-smell of hot burnt organic materials

Question 4

wine and greek culture

Answer 4

• grapes originally came from persia and in 700BC they became part of greek economy
• wine was part of economy as opportunity to use fields for production of luxury goods
• weapons and armour were traded for wheat and took pressure off Greek agriculture land

Question 5

Wine and Italy

Answer 5

began to spread in 200BC

-wines were sweeter in Italian peninsula, and general opinion was that sweet wines were better

Question 6

Wine and Romans

Answer 6

• vineyards were first planted in france by the romans
• wine was established in the south of the Roman province of Gaul by end of first century but took another century before vineyards were planted in current paris (Lutetia)
• once wine production was established, trading networks of wine extended to britain and germany