Wine Making Supplies

Making the Drink of the Gods

Wine is perhaps the most iconic of beverages. It is a drink made from fermented grape juice. Grape juice is extracted by pressing, and to this juice yeast is added. The fermented juice is then allowed to mature in barrels or other vessels. After they have spent the desired amount of time maturing, the liquid is then bottled. These bottles are usually sealed with corks, in keeping with tradition. Of course, the production could not have been done without wine making supplies.

It has long been part of human history. In the olden days, clean water was rare. To avoid sickness, alcoholic beverages like beer and wine were the norm. The alcohol in beer and wine killed bacteria, and thus these two were safe to drink. Even then, wine was always more expensive than beer. Today, wine is still considered of a higher rank than beer and has also been part of religious ceremonies. Ancient cultures venerated it as a drink above all others, a drink of the gods, so to speak.

The process of wine making itself is not terribly complicated and a set of wine making supplies is mostly tanks, bottles, tubes, and barrels. it is made from ingredients that are not hard to find; higher-quality specimens will take a bit more effort to source, though.

Wine making supplies can be bought from specialty stores. The grapes can be a different story. While they can be bought from specialists, wine makers usually grow their own grapes, as the kind of grape affects the final product. It is quite rare that wine grape growers would sell their grapes for someone else to process. The complete wine-making process, after all, starts from the seeds and ends in the glasses.

Even after you have managed to locate purveyors of wine making supplies, you might encounter difficulties in acquiring knowledge of the process. Wine-makers can be an exclusive lot, with the majority of them having several generations' worth of history.

Some can be downright snobbish, even towards their fellow wine makers. As such, it might be challenging to get started on making wine, unless you would keep it to a small operation at home. Home wine makers are a more gregarious and open group. Home wine making supply stores are often meeting places, where wines and knowledge are exchanged. Home wine making supplies are also more affordable than the ones used for big-time operations.

Like the complexity of the flavour of wine, its lore is deep, and the techniques for making the best-quality wine are well-kept secrets. The best wine can fetch huge prices in the market, and can make fortunes for their producers. With so much at stake, it is not surprising that wine makers can be secretive about what they do.

Large-scale wine making requires a lot of space. The land for growing grapes must also possess certain properties. Space is required for the extraction and fermentation procedures. Wine maturation will also need a lot of space; bottles and barrels may need to be stored for years or even decades, and production goes on every year.

The quality of wine is often a function of the length of time invested in it. It is not uncommon to find out how good a wine will perform in the market years after production. If you have the space, have money for wine making supplies, and the patience to wait years on end for your investments to bear fruit, then wine making might be an appropriate endeavour. Just remember, with it as with everything else, haste makes waste.

An Overview of Wine - The Drink of Gods

Wine has been called the drink of the gods. This may be debatable, but it has definitely been the drink of the ages. Here is an overview of wine you can sip on.

An Overview of Wine – The Drink of Gods

Wine is one of the oldest drinks known to mankind. Although historians may not be entirely sure that this is how the fermentation of wine started, an overview of the history of wine is full of interesting tidbits.

Made of fermented grape juice, wine is an alcoholic beverage that is both made and drunk in many parts of the world. The history of wine starts over 5000 years ago. It was said to have been discovered when grapes were left for too long in amphorae or earthenware jugs. These grapes somehow became tainted with wild yeast, which caused the grapes to ferment. Some courageous individual took a drink and realized the fermentation process had produced something that would be come known as wine.

There are several different basic types of wine. The most basic breakdown is red wine and white wine. When the grapes that make these varieties of wine are combined, a rose or blush wine can be created. If the wine is allowed to ferment in a way that produces carbon dioxide bubbles, it becomes a sparkling wine. If the sparkling wine comes from a particular region in France called Champagne, it is known as Champagne. There are also fortified wines – these wines are also fermented from grapes, but additional amounts of alcohol from other sources are added to the wine to raise its alcohol content. An example of a fortified wine is brandy.

Making wine is not an easy process – the fermentation of a really good wine may take years or even decades to complete. The type of oak barrel that wine is typically fermented in is also the result of a difficult process. Out of the 400 species of oak that grow on Earth, only 20 species are used in oak barrels for winemaking. Of those 20 species, only 5 percent of the wood taken from these trees is deemed good enough to be made into wine barrels.

The amount of grapes needed to produce quality wine is another of the many mind boggling wine tidbits known. Generally, it takes four clusters or 300 grapes to produce just one bottle of wine. Since there are only about 40 clusters of grapes produced on a grapevine per year, this means that each vine is only capable of making 10 bottles of wine. Given this fact, it is pretty amazing that wine is as cheap as we find it.

As you can see, wine is a not a simple fermentation process. The next time you drink a glass of your favorite chardonnay, think about the difficult journey that it made from grape to bottle.

The Egyptian Wine Gods

Mythology holds within it tales of gods who once governed the heavens above and the world below. Many people are familiar with mythology, particularly Greek Mythology (Hi, Zeus) or Norse Mythology (What’s up, Thor), but Egyptian Mythology also contains significant importance, particularly when it comes to wine. Never mind walking like an Egyptian, it’s time to drink like an Egyptian, at least an Egyptian God.

The Egyptians of yore were very into wine; on the ground Egyptians used their pyramids as makeshift wine cellars, placing a great importance on every batch. In the skies, Egyptians held a belief in a variety of wine and wine-related gods. The following is just a taste of the beings who governed the grape and valued the vine.

Geshtinana: Geshtinana, known as “Lady of the Vine,” was a goddess of wine. In mythology, she was the sister of Dumuzi, a shepherd married to the goddess Inanna. When Inanna went missing, Dumuzi didn’t seem to care: he was found enjoying life. Inanna returned to find her husband’s indifference and allowed the underworld to take him. When Dumuzi tried to escape capture, he went to Geshtinana’s house where he proceeded to turn into a gazelle (if I had a dollar for every time that’s happened). He was eventually captured and taken to the underworld. Dumuzi spent half a year imprisoned in the underworld until Geshtinana took over and spent the other half. During this time, I suspect that this “Lady of the Vine” was forced to revert to making wine in the toilet.

Ninkasi: The goddess of alcohol, also known as the matron goddess of beer, Ninkasi was legend to have been born of “sparking fresh water.” Her duties as goddess of alcohol included satisfying desire, and calming the heart. Ninkasi was the daughter of Ninti, the Queen of Abzu, and Enki, the lord of Nudimmud. I’m not really sure what her parents’ clout means in present day, but I think it’s kind of like being a Hilton.

Asar: As the Egyptian God of agriculture, Asar (spelled Osiris in the Greek language) was responsible for both wine and beer. He was also known as the Egyptian God of life, death and fertility (seeing how he was one of the oldest gods, he had a lot of time to build up his resume). Appearing in pyramid texts as far back as 2400 B.C., Asar was a granter of life, and a grower of vegetation. But, he was also a benevolent judge in the afterlife; it was believed that those who passed on became associated with him. A leader of the divine, Asar was a virtual god among gods.

Renenutet: As a goddess of the harvest, Renenutet was a deity particularly important to grape growers. This made her a goddess of wine and led to many people sacrificing to her during times of harvest, hoping that their sacrifices would lead to fertility and growth. She was sometimes viewed as the wife of Sobek, who was often credited with annually flooding the Nile and allowing harvesting to take place. Coincidentally, this allowed him to also be viewed as a wine god, leaving me to believe that Renenutet and Sobek’s wedding must have been open bar.

Wine gods likely exist in all kinds of mythology: the Egyptians are just a tasting. Whichever mythology a wine god is rooted, chances are each one will agree that the greatness of wine is as far away from a myth as possible.

Your Questions about Cooking with Wine Answered!

Wine doesn't only make an exceptional complement to you meal, it can also be used to cook up an exceptional meal itself!

No respectable chef would ever allow his or her kitchen to run out of wine for cooking. Wine is an integral part of French and Chinese cooking, and is also the basis for good marinating and barbeques. It finds good company in the kitchen with vinegar, fish paste, and soy sauce which all lend a tangy flavor to all sorts of dishes.

Many are tentative to using wine in cooking because of the many questions they may have. Here are a few answers to the questions that most people want to know when using wine in cooking.

1. Does wine quality affect your cooking?
Whether you use normal wine or a quality wine for your cooking doesn't make a difference in the flavor of your dishes. Save your quality wine instead for sipping and use the regular wine for cooking.

2. I’m worried about whether the wine can make me or my kids tipsy
It depends on how you cook your dishes. Alcohol in the wine evaporates at 172 degrees. Also you will never add too much wine to any dish, so it is very unlikely that any wine fortified dish can make you tipsy. This allows anyone – even those that do not drink wine for religious and personal reasons – to use it in their cooking.

3. I’m afraid I might put too much wine in my dishes. Will it ruin its flavor?
You will have to proceed carefully when working with wine as it adds a powerful flavor to any dish. You will generally want to follow recipes until you get the hang of using wine. You will then be able to add or lessen the wine you use for a certain recipe.

Make sure you allow the wine to cook a bit before adding more to a dish. It usually takes 10 minutes for it to exhibit its full flavor. Less is more when initially experimenting with wine.

4. What is the difference between cooking wine and regular wine?
Cooking wine has salt and chemicals added which make them unfit for drinking. While it is reported to be better for cooking, you will want to steer clear of using this unless the recipe specifically calls for it. This will probably be done most often in Chinese recipes.

How to Create the Perfect Wine Tasting Party

When planning to host a wine tasting party, it's important to remember that there's no exact formula regarding the kind of wine that guests will enjoy. Each individual has his or her own wine preferences and its perfectly alright if not everyone enjoys the same wine.

What are the factors to consider in hosting a wine tasting get-together?

1. Type of wine that should be served
The host can serve various kinds of each wine, or only one can be chosen. If the plan is to serve different kinds of wine, the sparkling kind should go first since it tickles the taste buds. The general rule is to start with the light ones before moving on to the full-bodied wines.

2. Theme that will accompany the party
For instance, if the host plans to serve an all-French wine selection, then the other stuff should be used for the occasion should also be French, or at least resemble something that is French, in order to put guests in the mood.

3. Way to serve the wine
Temperature is of the essence. Room temperature will do for red wines, but white wines will require at least a couple hours of chilling. Put wine in the glasses and let it sit, the appropriate amount would be 1 1/2 ounces. Wines should be served with the right glasses. Big, glasses that are bowl shaped should be used for red wines to heighten aroma and flavor, while small, curved ones are for white wines to help maintain the chill.

4. Food needed for the occasion
Many people want small snacks to go with their wine. Cheese is a staple food in wine tasting parties.

5. The right way to enjoy the party
Always bear in mind that wine tasting is an occasion that involves a majority of the senses: the taste, smell and sight. Glasses should be lifted towards the light before the first sip to ensure that there is brilliance and clarity to the color of the wine. Then slightly swirl the liquid around the glass so that the aroma will release as the air mixes with the wine. Next, smell the wine, before taking a sip. Make sure to savor the taste of the wine in the mouth, then determine its palatability.  

Hosting the perfect wine party shouldn't be any trouble at all. Remember that tasting wine is an enjoyment of the senses, and it should be savored fully for the total experience. 

The Art of wine tasting

You can easily detect a genuine wine expert by the way he handles the wine in terms of smelling and tasting it and not merely just drinking the wine.  Anybody can drink wine but it takes a lot of experience to taste wine.

Wines have become a staple feature of every household during meal times, particularly when they are eating red meat. Red meats like pork or beef roasts are best with red wines.  On the other hand, white meats like fish and chicken are better with white whine.

There are a thousand and one varieties, or type of wines depending on the vineyard where they were grown as well as the type of grapes they are made of.  It takes experience and a real romance with wine to be able to distinguish its characteristics just by smelling and tasting.  

Basically, wines that have been stored properly should taste smooth.  Wines that taste off or stale are either not of good quality or they were stored improperly and their corks tainted.

So how should you taste wine?  Wines should be tasted by swishing the wine in your mouth, allowing your taste buds to perceive the flavor and taste of the wine.  While the act of tasting makes uses of your tongue, a person’s sense of smell actually does most of the detection.  Both a person’s sense of taste and sense of smell should be used when tasting wines.

While the two senses are indeed very important tools in determining a wine’s quality, the physical appearance of the wine is equally important.  You can get a better look at a wine’s appearance and color by pouring them in a clear glass and look through it using a white table cloth or other white background.

If wines are generally red or white, then why do we have to study their colors?  White wines are actually not perfectly white because their color ranges from yellow to brown and green.  White wines with darker colors have more flavor and are older.  While aging improves the flavor of red wines, this doesn't hold true for white wines which may go bad with time.  Red wines that are lighter in color are older.  You will be able to examine a red wine’s age by tilting a glass with red wine, allowing some to settle on the glass rim, and examining its color.  When the color of the wine that settles on the glass rim is brownish, then it has been aged.

Wine experts also swirl the wine to observe how it moves in the glass.  A wine that swirls nicely wine may mean it has a higher sweetness and alcohol content.

While the taste of wine is generally subjective as it depends on a persons taste and preferences, wine connoisseurs follow specific guidelines in wine tasting.  Being able to taste and smell wine the right way can certainly to the pleasure of drinking them.

Wineries on a Big Scale

Wine can be consumed for any occasion. They go well with steak during special occasions. You can try making a batch at home with the right equipment and see how others like it.

Wines go through a process that transform the grapes into the liquid form. This doesn’t just involve squishing them into small pieces but also fermenting with yeast to add flavor. Then it needs to be stored in containers for quite awhile before being bottled and served.

The process of making wine can be done at home. If this was to be done commercially, a facility would have to be constructed. You would have to have the right machinery and the grapes available to make the bottles in volume and then sold on the local and international scene. 

Wines are produced throughout the world. The best are those made from Europe. In the United States, there are also some good varieties and a good place to check these out is in Napa Valley.

Wineries started in Napa Valley in the late 1800’s. They has survived various problems such as the ban on alcohol during the 1930’s. To date, there are over 250 wine manufacturers in this area who sell their products locally and export abroad.

Characteristics of a winery are the vast acres of the vineyards. They are manned by farmers who plant and harvest these crops when harvest season comes.  The weather and the type of soil in the ground play a key role in the quality of the wine produced at the winery.

Farmers can harvest their crops by hand or manually. They are then transported to a big tank to be mashed until the grapes all transform to liquid form. The longer they are stored will determine the kind of wine that will be produced whether it is white or red.

The fermentation process can be done using oak wood barrels or metal storage tanks. This will take two weeks to a month to combine with the yeast. Afterwards, depending on the kind of wine being produced, they can be bottled then ready for transport to the various outlets.

Wineries big or small have the necessary equipment and resources to be able to produce good quality wine. A person who wants to know more about this can visit one of these facilities to witness the entire process. 

You can make a reservation online or call a travel agent to schedule such an event. These places also serve as a recreational area with many amenities for the whole family to enjoy.