A drop of delight: wine history and myths (Part 1)

Today, we are going to treat you to a drop of delight: wine history and myths. A classy bottle of wine can be an excellent present option for Christmas, not to mention that a good glass of quality liquor goes excellently with the rather heavy Christmas or New Year’s Eve dinner.

But first, a short history of wines. Intermingled with everything the Western civilization stands for, wine production started thousands of years ago, though recorded history mentions China as the origin of the first fermented drink (7000 BC is the date, and grapes are the origin of the beverage). Grapes are the main elements and wine is made of their fermented juice turned into alcohol. Wine was present in the earliest Egyptian depictions, in ancient Israelite scriptures, the Greeks worshipped Dionysus and the Romans continued his cult with their own version of “interpretation Romana”: the god Bacchus. Advances in science and technology improved the production and distribution of wine, but also created several myths surrounding wine.

The first myth about wine is that all wines age well. Well, you have to think about it like the process of aging in people: some age with grace, while others only get wrinkles and disease. So no, not all wines age well. Some wines should be drunk “fresh”, such as white wines and light red ones. It is the same with the greatest red wines, wine tasters tell us: Bordeaux, Burgundia, Toscana and Piemonte wines are best consumed while they are fresh and young. On the other hand, Bordeux wines such as Margaux, Pomerol or Paulliac reach maturity after 10-20 years and it is then that they acquire their sweetest bouquet.

Sealing the wine bottle with cork is another myth, as is the advice to appreciate the quality of the wine by the smell of the cork. Apparently it works!

We will take the time to talk more about wines, the stories and myths, in a future article.