To get us in a jolly Christmas mood I have researched and compiled a few wine facts, some interesting, some not, some humorous, some unbelievable, to get you excited.
Have you ever wondered where the word wine comes from? No, neither have I, but I researched it and found that the origins of the word are lost. There are similar words from all the ancient languages (Greek oinos, Hebrew yayin, Latin vinum) and it probably grew out of ‘win’, a word from a now forgotten Mediterranean language meaning ‘root’.
When was wine invented? We know it’s been around for thousands of years but the first recognizable wine made from grapes was produced in Bronze Age Georgia and Iran (c 6000BC). However, rice wine was already being made in China. Labels were not around though and these were first put on wine bottles in the early 1700s, but it wasn’t until the 1860s that suitable glues were developed to hold them on the bottles.
Champagne and sparkling wines are the perfect Summer tipple (they are pretty good in spring, not bad in the autumn and fantastic in winter) to drink with our friends and family. And when you open the first bottle have a think about how far you could pop that cork. The longest recorded champagne cork flight was 177 feet and 9 inches, at Woodbury Vineyards in New York State. So send the kids to the bottom of the garden to try and catch those flying corks. You may just beat the record!
Wine critics are plentiful, both on TV and in newspapers and magazines. The writer I most admire for his personality and his sheer passion about wine is Oz Clarke. He has been writing wine for a long time now and I remember watching him when I was younger on the Food and Drink programme thinking I would like to do that.
But the very first wine critic was Roman historian Pliny the Elder. He rated a wine from 121 B.C. as a vintage “of the highest excellence†and he wrote about it in The History of the Roman Empire around 70 A.D. The wine though was 200 years old at the time. Lovely!
To match with Kathy's recipe I have included a couple of sweet wines for you to try:
Hermits Hill Botrytis Semillon 2009 Australia 37.5cl £8.49 M&S
A rich sweet wine packed with peach and pineapple flavours and hints of marmalade on the finish.
Rare Pedro Ximenez NV 37.5cl £7.49 M&S
Sherry is quickly coming back into fashion and this luscious sweet number has a hints of raisin and citrus on the palate.