How Is Wine Made? A Sip Of History

There’s nothing better than sitting back and relaxing with a glass of wine after a long day of work. Or even better — sitting back and relaxing on vacation while watching the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean with a glass of great wine.

But have you ever asked yourself, “how is wine made?”

Wine is history in a glass bottle. Read on to learn more about the winemaking process and its long history.

History of Wine

When you think of wine, what countries come to mind? France and Italy are the two most famous wine-producing countries in the world.

But Europe is not where the story of wine begins. The history of wine goes back to 6000 B.C in Georgia.

Yes, you read that right! People have enjoyed wine for thousands of years. From there, other neighboring countries started making the delicious drink. Then the rest of the world followed suit.

How Is Wine Made?

Wine came about before Google, computers, and communication across countries was even possible.

So how did they do it? How did these ancient cultures make their wine?

1. Grow and Pick the Grapes

To make wine, you need grapes. Growing them in specific soil gives them different tastes and ultimately changes the flavor of the wine.

While the subtleties of terroir weren’t known to winemakers in ancient times, we know them now!

Once the grapes are grown, it’s time to pick them!

2. Crush ‘Em

Once picked, the grapes get crushed. Crushing used to be done by hand and was a painstaking process. Now there are machines that can do it and produce gallons of grape juice.

Crushing the grapes gets the juices out of them to make the wine.

3. Time to Ferment

Sugar turns to alcohol during the fermentation process, and this is when your grape juice becomes wine!

Yeast is added to the vats to cause fermentation to occur. For white wine, this can be the end of the process.

Try out a delicious White Cabernet Sauvignon now that you know the process!

Red wine often sees aging in oak barrels depending on the style and grape varietal. These barrels add a depth of flavor and tannins to the red wine before its bottled.

4. Bottle the Wine

Once the wine is ready, it’s time to bottle! From there, the vineyards ship it to stores and restaurants.

Now You Know: Wine History and Winemaking

Next time you’re enjoying a glass of wine, you can think back to the people over 6,000 years ago making the first types of wine and thank them for that nice, crisp glass of wine in front of you.

And if you want, you could even try to get started with making your very own bottle now that you have the answers for how is wine made! If you do, good luck!

If you enjoyed learning about how wine is made and its history, check out the other blog posts on our site!