Every day there’s something (actually, a lot) to be thankful for — today I’m particularly thankful that I don’t suffer from Oenophobia. Why? Because that is a fear of wine — and — today is National Drink Wine Day.
We know that humans have been making wine for thousands of years, but no one is certain who was the first to ferment grapes into what we now call wine. Evidence of ancient wine production has been found in China, the Middle East, and Greece — so it appears that many different cultures discovered the process at about the same time.
But wine is a popular drink all over the world and just the other day I discovered that you can get wine-flavored Kit Kats. I am not making this up — I haven’t seen them in stores, but they are available on Amazon.
According to Claire, she became a fan of wine years ago when she was visiting France — they were told not to drink the water, so wine became her drink of choice. The natural fermentation of wine kills germs caused by typhi (salmonella) and cholera. Luckily, she wasn’t visiting Italy, because during early Roman times, it was forbidden for women to drink wine. Wives who were caught by their husbands drinking wine could be killed if caught in the act. (This in no way implies that Claire is old enough to have been punished this way by the Italians.)
Grapes are the most planted fruit all over the world and there are 10,000 varieties of wine grapes existing worldwide — a ton of grapes can produce 720 bottles of wine.
In ancient Greece, the host of dinner would take the first sip of wine to assure that the wine served to guests wasn’t poisoned. This act of courtesy was where the phrase “drinking to one’s health” originated.
Even though China is only the fifth-largest wine-producing country in the world, it is the leading market for red wine. It’s not only because of the flavor, but the red color is considered lucky in Chinese culture and is favored by the government.
As I mentioned, China is only the fifth-largest wine producer — it trails France, Spain, Italy and the US.
Wine in the early days was kept in goatskin bags. The Englishman Sir Kenelm Digby invented the dark green wine bottle that’s popular today. There is a right and wrong way to hold a wine glass. The proper way is to hold by the stem so that the hand does not warm the glass and increase the temperature of the wine.
“Toasting” originated in ancient Rome when they retained Greek traditions — it’s derived from dropping a piece of toasted bread in wine to soften bitter tastes.
Wine with animal symbols on the label are known as “critter wine.”
You need to drink 7 glasses of orange juice or 20 glasses of apple juice in order to get the same amount of antioxidants in a glass of wine.
On a final note, deep below the ocean’s surface, the Titanic rests with most of its original wine bottles still intact and undisturbed. There have been rumors that a few bottles may have made their way to the mainland and were sold to a collector, but so far none of the actual wines from the Titanic have been recovered and/or tasted.
So now you know enough about wine to be really popular at your next cocktail party. The guests will all marvel at your knowledge — just remember to swirl you glass as you talk….
Cheers!!
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