Wine is a very old and complex drink with a long and fascinating history.
Years of study are needed to understand its complexity and become a good wine savvy.
*** Wine is much older than you think, and the place where its production began could be a surprise to you***
The Areni Cave Complex - 1. In January 2011, it was announced that the oldest winery in the world was found here.
Perhaps many of you associate the ancient wine with a set of toes, but until the Romans drank it, the drink itself was old-fashioned: the analysis of 7,000-year-old pottery found on the site the Zagros mountains in Iran have shown that they have a grape-specific origin.
Several kilometers further north, archaeologists have discovered numerous artefacts near the Armenian village of Areni (en), indicating that the systematic production of wine began here earlier than 4,000 BC.
*** It has gained popularity and has spread due to its simplicity***
Probably the production of wine began at such an early period of human civilization, because everything is so simple: Sprinkle some grapes and leave the mixture of juice and yeast naturally present in the grain skin for a few days. Voila! You have Paleovin.
The tastes change over time
The current lovers of dry wine matured in oak barrels will be surprised if they will sow a harvest of 5000 BC
A paper from 2008 suggests that the old wines were appreciated for their sweetness.
What's the difference?
A great difference between domestic grapes and their ancestors is pollination.
Wild grapes are dickey; the plants are male or female. Domestic grapes usually self-pollinate and are hermaphrodites, which improves their qualities.
Not all fermented juice is wine, the Europeans think
Whether it's sour or sweet, many dictionaries define wine as fermented fruit juice, while some, like the ones in the European Union, limit the term to products derived exclusively from grapes.
And the European Union is somewhat influential in the world of wine: In 2015, more than 60 percent of the world's wine comes from the EU.
For me there is only one wine, the one from the grapes.
What the dictionaries would not say, but the grapes have an ideal composition for making wine
Grapes are the ideal fruit for wine production because they contain the right proportion of water, tannins, sugar and acids needed to multiply yeast and decompose sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol.
Wines made from other fruits usually contain added sugar, flavors and other ingredients to balance the fermentation process.
Vinland, the country of grapes, but not wines
The Vikings once called North America, "Vinland," for the wealth of wild grapes they were paid when they arrived here.
But the native varieties on the North American shores are not best for making wine because of a "foxy" taste (moldy smell) or earth.
Even Thomas Jefferson, a viticulture enthusiast, could not have bottled a crop of American grape varieties on his vineyards.
He also did not manage to cultivate European grapes here either, due to their sensitivity to black rot and to the filoxera insect, a louse of the louse.
*** The Great Plague of Wine - the filoxera has not brought European viticulture to the ground***
North America has been the cause of the great damage to the vineyards of Europe as well as its salvation.
In the middle of the 19th century, through the imports from the New World, the filoxera insect hit the European continent and caused the Great Deprivation of Wine.
But the grafts of American grape-resistant strains rescued and destroyed the devastating outbreak created by them in central France, which also affected much of the continent.
Filoxera is harmful to wine, but how beneficial is it for us?
Red wines are known for their high content of beneficial antioxidants, such as polyphenol and resveratrol, which have cardioprotective effects and anticancer properties.
Particularly rich in antioxidants is the skin of grapes. Because red wine is fermented with the skin, it has more antioxidants than white wine, which is made without it.
White wine, as some studies show, may even slightly increase the risk of cancer, especially the digestive tract. So do not drink more than one or two glasses of white wine a day!
Still, we stop a little more on red wine, where possible things are not as good as I said above.
The titles of many articles proclaim that a glass of red wine is just as good for you as an hour spent in the gym.
The claims are based on a 2012 study, which examined the effects of only one component of red wine, resveratrol.
In addition, the effects of this component were examined in rats, not humans.
In fact, a 2013 study encompassing men older than 60 years, found that resveratrol seems to diminish many positive effects of the exercises.
Participants who were exercising and taking resvertrol supplements had fewer improvements in blood pressure and oxygen uptake than those who were simply exercising.
Although red wine most often comes into the spotlight of various studies, an analysis of more than 38,000 health professionals has found that it is not much better than beer or other spirits in terms of risk reduction heart attack, if moderate consumption of course.
However, a benefit of wine I know for sure.
A glass of red wine will undoubtedly increase your appetite and will make traditional stew with meatballs and much more delicious cheese.
Wine can improve your sexual life
This is probably one of the most interesting curiosities about wine.
A slight regular beating may, in fact, help to stimulate sexual appetite.
An Italian study showed that women who drink two glasses of wine a day enjoy more physical pleasure than women who do not serve wine.
As for men, a glass or two red wine not only relaxes them and increases their blood flow to essential areas but also seems to raise their levels of testosterone in the blood, an essential hormone when it comes to excitement male sex and "appetite".
A good reason to start drinking comes, is not it?
However, some remarks have to be made about the effect of alcohol in our body and how it can affect your sexual life.
You need to know that alcohol acts on the nervous system by inhibiting (slowing down chemical reactions) parts of it that are important for sexual arousal and orgasm.
Also, we all know that alcohol dehydrates our body.
Thus, dehydration in combination with a depressed nervous system may be an obstacle to sexual performance.
Drinking large amounts of alcohol (long-term) can cause problems for men to get an erection.
Although alcohol can "lubricate" a social interaction, it does nothing to lubricate a woman's vagina. In fact, dehydration contributes to fatigue, headaches and vaginal dryness (which can cause pain).
Thus, the key to success in both men and women is moderate consumption of red wine and alcohol in general.