Word on Wine

Basically, wine is ‘an alcoholic drink made by fermenting the juice of fruits or berries.’ This general definition also includes the fermentation of sugars from flowers and herbs, but excludes the fermentation of starches from wheat and barley, which become beer.

A narrower definition, accepted throughout Europe, is ‘an alcoholic beverage obtained from the fermentation of the juice of freshly gathered grapes, the fermentation taking place in the district of origin to local tradition and practice.’ This is to distinguish ‘proper’ wine from alcoholic drinks made from imported grape concentrates. These are sometimes known as ‘made wines’ and includes ‘British Wine’ and some homemade wines using canned juice concentrate. In the New World they use the same narrower definition as in Europe, but omit the last phrase, to allow a mixture of grapes to be used from areas miles apart.

Where does the word ‘wine’ come from?

The modern English word ‘wine’ comes from Old English ‘win’, pronounced ‘wean’. Chaucer, however, used the word ‘wyn’ in his texts, while Shakespeare pronounced it similarly to the way we currently say it today.

adventurous beers – what you are more likely to see is lower ABV, more crowd-pleasing ‘safe’ beer styles.

I don’t know what the answer is; there are so many variables at play and every brewery’s struggle will be different. What we are likely to see is an increase in the number of smaller breweries starting up, possibly out of the ashes of those that have fallen. These won’t have any plans for world domination, just a desire to serve their local communities.

By Sean McKeown Twitter: @belperbeerclub

The Old English word is derived from the Latin ‘vinum’, the Romans often wrote it as ‘vinvm’. Around Europe, various countries have similar words. Germany – ‘wein’, Iceland – ‘vin’, France – ‘vin’, Spain – ‘vino’, Welsh – ‘gwin’ and Ireland – ‘f ion’.

From Latin, the Romans used ‘vinea’ to describe a vineyard. Latin also used ‘vitis’, which then created ‘viticulture’, to describe the process of making wine. The Latin also created in France ‘vigne’, which was used by the Normans when they came over to England, but as the English language evolved the French ‘gn’ sound was dropped and replaced by ’n’, giving us ‘wine’. With the spread of wine production from Greece to Italy it was thought that the some of the words came from Ancient Greek, but this has now been disproven.

So now, when you ask for a glass of wine, you know the history behind the word!

If you would like to learn more about wine why not come along to our wine appreciation club at Kilburn Wine Circle? For more details and to see our future programme of tastings visit our website at www.kilburnwinecircle.weebly.com.

By David Savidge, Kilburn Wine Circle

Strictly by appointment only. All measures possible will be taken to protect the safety of our patients with the guidelines provided.