Vine Facts

There are over 10,000 species of grapes, but the principal grape species used in winemaking around the world is the European Vitis vinifera, which probably originated in the Mediterranean area and Western Asia.  In the United States the eastern "fox grape" species, Vitis labrusca, is often used for wine making.

The first Old World vitis vinifera grapes were cultivated in California by Spanish monks who established a series of monasteries along the coasts.  Father Junipero Serra planted vines at Mission San Diego in 1769, and harvested and pressed the grapes in 1772, marking California's first vintage.

How many grapes does it take to make wine?  (these numbers can vary substantially depending on a number of variables)

• 1 grape cluster = 1 glass
• 75 grapes = 1 cluster
• 4 clusters = 1 bottle
• 40 clusters = 1 vine
• 1 vine = 10 bottles
• 1200 clusters = 1 barrel
• 1 barrel = 60 gallons
• 60 gallons = 25 cases
• 1 ton = 2 barrels
• 1 acre = 2 to 5 tons
• 5 tons = 332 cases

Grape vines are deciduous, and go dormant during the winter months.

"Brix" is the term used to designate the percentage of sugar in the grapes before fermentation. For example, 23° brix will be converted by yeast to 12.5% alcohol, more or less, depending on the conversion efficiency of the strain of yeast used.

Grapevines cannot reproduce reliably from seed. To cultivate a particular grape variety, grafting (a plant version of cloning) is used.

A crop of newly planted grape vines takes three to five years to grow before it can be harvested for grapes of a quality suitable for fine wine.

Wine Facts

The most popular corkscrew, the wing-type, is cheap and easy to use, but it frequently mangles corks and leaves small pieces of cork in your wine. It also tends to pull out just the middle of an old, dry cork. Far superior are the Screwpull, which is also easy to use, and the waiter’s corkscrew, which requires just a little know-how to use effectively. No matter what type you use, you should also have a two-pronged (Ah-So) device to remove problem corks.

Wine is often called the nectar of the gods, but Sangiovese is the only grape named after a god. Sangiovese means “blood of Jove.”

Wine has so many organic chemical compounds it is considered more complex than blood serum.

Important food and wine pairing rule:

Red wines are red because fermentation extracts color from the grape skins. White wines are not fermented with the skins present.

Since wine tasting is essentially wine smelling, women tend to be better wine testers because women, particularly of reproductive ages, have a better sense of smell than men.

Serving temperatures should be lower for white (45-50 degrees Fahrenheit) than for red wines (50-60 degrees Fahrenheit).  Most Americans drink red wine and “room temperature”, which is much too warm to enjoy the optimum flavor of red wine.

Not all wines improve with time. In fact, a vast majority of wines produced are ready to drink and do not have much potential for aging. Only a rare few will last longer than a decade.

Contrary to traditional belief, smelling the cork reveals little about the wine. Instead, if a server or sommelier hands you a cork, you should look for the date and other identifying information (inexpensive wine won’t have these features). Additionally, look for mold, drying, cracking, or breaks in the cork.

A wine that has a musty smell, similar to wet cardboard or mold, may mean that the bottle is “corked” (the bottle has a contaminated cork).

With age, red wines tend to lose color and will eventually end up a sort of brick red, and may even lose all color. On the other hand, white wines gain color, becoming golden and eventually brown-yellow.

Red wines are red because fermentation extracts color from the grape skins. White wines are not fermented with the skins present.

Since wine tasting is essentially wine smelling, women tend to be better wine testers because women, particularly of reproductive ages, have a better sense of smell than men.

Serving temperatures should be lower for white (45-50 degrees Fahrenheit) than for red wines (50-60 degrees Fahrenheit).  Most Americans drink red wine and “room temperature”, which is much too warm to enjoy the optimum flavor of red wine.

Not all wines improve with time. In fact, a vast majority of wines produced are ready to drink and do not have much potential for aging. Only a rare few will last longer than a decade.

Contrary to traditional belief, smelling the cork reveals little about the wine. Instead, if a server or sommelier hands you a cork, you should look for the date and other identifying information (inexpensive wine won’t have these features). Additionally, look for mold, drying, cracking, or breaks in the cork.

A wine that has a musty smell, similar to wet cardboard or mold, may mean that the bottle is “corked” (the bottle has a contaminated cork).

With age, red wines tend to lose color and will eventually end up a sort of brick red, and may even lose all color. On the other hand, white wines gain color, becoming golden and eventually brown-yellow.