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Wine making is considered an art form by thousand’s of people across the globe. An art form that can trace it’s roots back to 4000BC, a time with limited technology and resources. But that has not stopped or hindered today’s connoisseurs of the bottle, who year after year are able to provide us with that elegant glass of liquor that set’s atop our dinner tables.

Although today’s technology has allowed for mass production of wine on a global scale, many of the original concepts of wine making are still in use today. With thousand’s of varieties grape’s and types of wine, the literal possibilities seem endless. All of this aside, just like in times of old, the process still begins the same. And that amongst all other obstacles, is choosing the proper grape to plant and time to harvest. Of these decisions the wine maker must consider the area in which he is growing, as well as favorable or unfavorable weather conditions that could have a serious detrimental impact on his finished product. For this is a wine maker’s job, the initial stages if not completed correctly, could mean months of work down the drain after the wine ferment’s and is properly aged.

After the grapes are grown and harvested, they are crushed and then allowed to ferment. The pulp of red or black grapes that ferment together with the skin is used to make red wine. This differs greatly from the process of creating white wine. Which is usually made by fermenting only the juices pressed from white grapes. During primary fermentation of the grapes which can take anywhere from one or two weeks, yeast is used to convert most of the sugar in the grape juice into alcohol. After the initial fermentation, the juices are transferred slowly into another container. This secondary fermentation process is where the remaining sugar’s are converted into alcohol and the wine becomes clear.

Following the fermentation process, wine is allowed to age in oak barrel’s before bottling is ever even considered. The oak barrels, add special aromas to the wine, while others however can be directly bottled. Depending on the type of wine and the actual wine making process that is used, the bottle on your dinner table could be a couple months, to a couple decades old. Yes, that is correct, a couple decades old, Beaujolais nouveau wines are aged for twenty years or more for their finer selections. This usually isn’t the case however with all of the wine makers, seeing as how less that 10% of all wine produced will actually taste better after seven years as compared to only a single year.

For something to last six millenia, is an accomplishment in and of itself. Continent’s move thousand’s of miles, rivers are formed and dry up, canyon’s even erode away. This natural effect of time however did not have a negative impact on wine making as we see it today. Today, even though we are much more advanced as a society, wine making still retains some if not the majority of it’s original creation methods.

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