1.
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire.
After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD.
The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
2.
Dessert wine
Dessert wines, sometimes called pudding wines, are sweet wines typically served with dessert. There is no definition of a dessert wine. In the UK, a wine is considered to be any sweet wine drunk with a meal, as opposed to the white fortified wines drunk before the meal. In the United States, by contrast, a wine is legally defined as any wine over 14% alcohol by volume. Examples include Sauternes and Tokaji Aszú, makers of dessert wines want to produce a wine containing high levels of both sugar and alcohol, yet the alcohol is made from sugar. There are many ways to increase sugar levels in the final wine, add sugar, before fermentation as sugar or honey after fermentation as unfermented must. Add alcohol before all the sugar is fermented, this is called fortification, some grape varieties, such as Muscat and Huxelrebe, naturally produce a lot more sugar than others. Green harvesting reduces the number of bunches on an early in the summer. Unfortunately the vigneron cannot control the sun, but a year can help sugar levels a lot.
But most of the Muscats of ancient times were made this way. Honey was added to wine in Roman times, for sweetness, today sugar is usually added in order to boost the alcohol levels of flabby, unripe wines rather than for sweetness, although a degree of chaptalization is permitted in the wines of many countries. German wines must declare whether they are natural or not, in any case, the reserve of sweetness is a German technique in which unfermented must is added to the wine after fermentation. This increases the sweetness of the wine, and dilutes the alcohol somewhat—in Germany the final wine can contain no more than 15% Süssreserve by volume. Süssreserve allows winemakers to fully ferment the wine without having to worry about stopping fermentation before all the sugar has gone, since sulphites are used to stop fermentation, this technique reduces the usage of sulphites. Süssreserve is used by makers of German-style wines, particularly in New Zealand. The main fortified wines drunk with dessert are sweet sherry, particularly Pedro Ximénez, the Pedro Ximenez dessert wine is unique because it is a raisin wine that is fortified and aged in a solera system like other sherries.
Other sweet sherries such as Bristol Cream may be drunk as dessert wine, regardless of the grape, fermentation is stopped with up to 10% of 95% grape spirit. The Muscats are made in a somewhat oxidised style, the Grenaches less so, such wines were described by the Romans, and northern Italy is home to a number of passito wines, where the grapes are dried on straw, on racks, or hung from the rafters
3.
Roman Empire
Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated.
The senate appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine adopted Christianity which became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos.
The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
4.
Straw wine
Straw wine, or raisin wine, is a wine made from grapes that have been dried to concentrate their juice. The result is similar to that of the ice wine process, the technique dates back to pre-Roman times, and most production of these wines has been in Northern Italy and the French Alps. However producers in other areas are now starting to experiment with the method, Straw wines are typically sweet to very sweet white wines, similar in density and sweetness to Sauternes and capable of long life. The low yields and labour-intensive production method means that they are quite expensive, around Verona red grapes are dried, and are fermented in two different ways to make a dry red wine and a sweet red wine. A dried grape wine known as the Cypriot Manna was described in 800 BC by the Greek poet Hesiod, similar principles were used to make the medieval Cypriot wine Commandaria, which is still produced today. Various Mediterranean raisin wines were described in the first century AD by Columella, Pliny uses the Greek term for honey wine for the following raisin wine, The grapes are left on the vine to dry in the sun.
The liquor known as melitites is one of the sweet wines, Columella discusses the Passum wine made in ancient Carthage. The modern Italian name for wine, echoes this ancient word, as does the French word used to describe the process of producing straw wines. Barossa Valley producer, Turkey Flat Vineyards has been experimenting with this very successfully since 2002 with their 100% Marsanne aptly named The Last Straw. Air-dried on racks for approximately 6 weeks it is fermented in new oak & now bottle post-fermentation to retain freshness, stroh is German for straw, while Schilf means reed. The minimum must weight requirements for Strohwein or Schilfwein is 25 degrees KMW, the same as for Austrian Beerenauslese, and these regulations are part of the Austrian wine law. However, if the grapes have reached a must weight of at least 30 ºKMW after a minimum of two months, the grapes are allowed to be pressed at this earlier time, the Strohwein Prädikat exists only in Austria, not in Germany. The raisin wine most commonly seen in Croatia is Prošek which is traditionally from the area of Dalmatia.
It is made using dried wine grapes in the passito method, there are only a few commercial producers as it is typically a homemade affair. Slámové víno is the Czech term for wine that, under Czech wine law, is classified as a Predicate wine. Straw wine in the Czech Republic is typically made from grapes that are well-ripened and undamaged. Vin de Paille is the French for straw wine, made only in the ripest vintages, perhaps the best known example is made in the Cotes du Jura from a blend of Chardonnay and the red grape Poulsard. Vins de paille are made from Marsanne in Hermitage, in Corrèze, it is called Vin Paillé
5.
Phenolic content in wine
These compounds include phenolic acids, flavonols, anthocyanins, flavanol monomers and flavanol polymers. This large group of natural phenols can be separated into two categories and non-flavonoids. Flavonoids include the anthocyanins and tannins which contribute to the color, the non-flavonoids include the stilbenoids such as resveratrol and phenolic acids such as benzoic and cinnamic acids. The natural phenols are not evenly distributed within the fruit, phenolic acids are largely present in the pulp and stilbenoids in the skin, and other phenols in the skin and the seeds. During the growth cycle of the grapevine, sunlight will increase the concentration of phenolics in the grape berries, the proportion of the different phenols in any one wine will therefore vary according to the type of vinification. Red wines will have the phenols found in white wines, anthocyanins react with catechins, proanthocyanidins and other wine components during wine aging to form new polymeric pigments resulting in a modification of the wine color and a lower astringency.
Average total polyphenol content measured by the Folin method is 216 mg/100 ml for red wine and 32 mg/100 ml for white wine, the content of phenols in rosé wine is intermediate between that in red and white wines. In winemaking, the process of maceration or skin contact is used to increase the concentration of phenols in wine, phenolic acids are found in the pulp or juice of the wine and can be commonly found in white wines which usually do not go through a maceration period. The process of oak aging can introduce phenolic compounds into wine, most wine phenols are classified as secondary metabolites and were not thought to be active in the primary metabolism and function of the grapevine. However, there is evidence that in some plants flavonoids play a role as regulators of auxin transport. They are water-soluble and are secreted into the vacuole of the grapevine as glycosides. Vitis vinifera produces many phenolic compounds, there is a varietal effect on the relative composition. In red wine, up to 90% of the phenolic content falls under the classification of flavonoids.
These phenols, mainly derived from the stems and skins are often leached out of the grape during the period of winemaking. The amount of phenols leached is known as extraction and these compounds contribute to the astringency and mouthfeel of the wine. In white wines the number of flavonoids is reduced due to the contact with the skins that they receive during winemaking. There is on-going study into the benefits of wine derived from the antioxidant. Within the flavonoid category is a known as flavonols, which includes the yellow pigment - quercetin
6.
Sweetness of wine
The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine, but the relative levels of alcohol and tannins. Sugars and alcohol enhance a wines sweetness and bitter tannins counteract it and these principles are outlined in the 1987 work by Émile Peynaud, The Taste of Wine. Vintage, the Story of Wine, by Hugh Johnson, presents several methods that have been used throughout history to sweeten wine, the most common way was to harvest the grapes as late as possible. This method was advocated by Virgil and Martial in Roman times, in contrast, the ancient Greeks would harvest the grapes early, to preserve some of their acidity, and leave them in the sun for a few days to allow them to shrivel and concentrate the sugar. Stopping the fermentation enhanced a wines potential sweetness, in ancient times, this was achieved by submerging the amphoras in cold water till winter. Wine can be sweetened by the addition of sugar in some form, among the components influencing how sweet a wine will taste is residual sugar.
It is usually measured in grams of sugar per litre of wine, residual sugar typically refers to the sugar remaining after fermentation stops, or is stopped, but it can result from the addition of unfermented must or ordinary table sugar. Even among the driest wines, it is rare to find wines with a level of less than 1 g/L, due to the unfermentability of certain types of sugars, such as pentose. By contrast, any wine with over 45 g/L would be considered sweet, for example, the great vintages of Château dYquem contain between 100 and 150 g/L of residual sugar. The sweetest form of the Tokaji, the Eszencia – contains over 450 g/L, such wines are balanced, keeping them from becoming cloyingly sweet, by carefully developed use of acidity. This means that the finest sweet wines are made with grape varieties that keep their acidity even at very high levels, such as Riesling. How sweet a wine will taste is controlled by such as the acidity and alcohol levels, the amount of tannin present. A sweet wine such as a Vouvray can actually taste dry due to the level of acidity. A dry wine can taste if the alcohol level is elevated.
Medium and sweet wines have a perception among consumers of being of lower quality than dry wines. Süssreserve is a term referring to a portion of selected unfermented grape must, free of microorganisms. This technique was developed in Germany and is used with German-style wines such as semi-sweet Riesling or Müller–Thurgau, the technique not only raises the sugar level of the wine, but lowers the amount of alcohol. Under German law, no more than fifteen percent of the final volume may be the reserved juice
7.
Quality Wines Produced in Specified Regions
Quality Wines Produced in Specified Regions is a quality indicator used within European Union wine regulations. The QWpsr category identifies wines with protected geographical indications, the European Union regulates and defines the status of quality wines according to production method and geographical location. At the time the EEC had only six members, four of which were major producers, Germany, Italy. The French initiated Community recognition of their principles which differentiated between quality wines and table wines in order to standardise the marketing of exported wine, French production was highly regulated, where Italians were proud of the free commercialisation of their wines. Where plantation was strictly regulated in some states, it was practically uncontrolled in others, early agreements respected the broad outlines of French national legislation and were acceptable to Italy. Today, with domestic demand falling and a boom in sales of New World wine, European growers are seeing increasing amounts of quality wines destined to become ethanol and other biofuels.
As a consequence, where German wines are classified as QWpsr, Italian. The following national levels of wine classification correspond to QWpsr, many EU countries have more than one QWpsr level, and in such cases, there is typically a national hierarchy between them, although they all follow the same EU rules. Protected designation of origin – EU legislation against non-genuine produce Traditional food
8.
German wine classification
The German wine classification system puts a strong emphasis on standardization and factual completeness, and was first implemented per the German Wine Law of 1971. In a country as far north as Germany, the ripeness of grapes varies tremendously and profoundly affects the types of wine that can be produced. The ripeness categories are referred to as quality levels, which is a misnomer - ripeness is always a clue to a wines body, ripeness is determined by sugar content at harvest and does not reflect the sugar content in the final wine. Thus a wine in any of the German categories can be dry or fairly dry The quality system of wines has been reorganized since 1 August 2009 by the EU wine market organization, the traditional German wine classification was superseded by an origin-related system. The already existing protection of geographical indication was transmitted through this step as well to the wine classification, there are two major categories of German wine, table wine and quality wine.
Table wine includes the designations tafelwein and landwein and these are rock bottom categories of inexpensive, neutral wine. In 2005, Tafelwein and Landwein only accounted for 3. 6% of total production, quality wine is divided into two types, Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete, or quality wine from a specific region. This is wine from one of the 13 wine-growing regions, and it is a basic level of everyday, mostly inexpensive quaffing wines. The grapes are at a low level of ripeness, with must weights of 51°Oe to 72°Oe. The alcohol content of the wine must be at least 7% by volume, QbA range from dry to semi-sweet, and the style is often indicated on the label, along with the designation Qualitätswein and the region. Some top-level dry wines are officially QbA although they would qualify as Prädikatswein, Prädikatswein, renamed from Qualitätswein mit Prädikat in August 2007 Translated as quality wine with specific attributes, this is the top level of German wines. These prominently display a Prädikat on the label and may not be chaptalized, Prädikatswein range from dry to intensely sweet, but unless it is specifically indicated that the wine is dry or off-dry, these wines always contain a noticeable amount of residual sugar.
Spätlese - meaning late harvest typically half-dry, often sweeter and fruitier than Kabinett, the grapes are picked at least 7 days after normal harvest, so they are riper. While waiting to pick the grapes carries a risk of the crop being ruined by rain, in warm years, Spätlese can be a relatively full-bodied dry wine if designated so. While Spätlese means late harvest the wine is not as sweet as a dessert wine, Auslese - meaning select harvest made from very ripe, hand selected bunches, typically semi-sweet or sweet, sometimes with some noble rot character. Sometimes Auslese is made into a dry wine. Auslese is the Prädikat which covers the widest range of wine styles, Beerenauslese - meaning select berry harvest made from overripe grapes individually selected from bunches and often affected by noble rot, making rich sweet dessert wine. Eiswein made from grapes that have been frozen on the vine
9.
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented grapes. These grapes are generally Vitis vinifera, or a hybrid with Vitis labrusca or Vitis rupestris, grapes are fermented without the addition of sugars, enzymes, water, or other nutrients. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol, different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts produce different styles of wine. These variations result from the interactions between the biochemical development of the grape, the reactions involved in fermentation, the terroir. Many countries enact legal appellations intended to define styles and qualities of wine and these typically restrict the geographical origin and permitted varieties of grapes, as well as other aspects of wine production. There are made from fermenting other fruits or cereals. Wines made from other than grapes include rice wine and various fruit wines such as those made from plums or cherries. Some well known examples are hard cider from apples, perry from pears, pomegranate wine, Wine has been produced for thousands of years.
The earliest known traces of wine from Georgia in Eurasia where 8000-year-old wine jars were found and in Iran with 7, the earliest known winery is the 6, 100-year-old Areni-1 winery Armenia. Wine reached the Balkans by 4500 BC and was consumed and celebrated in ancient Greece, throughout history, wine has been consumed for its intoxicating effects, which are evident after the normal serving size of five ounces. Wine has long played an important role in religion, the earliest chemically attested grape wine was discovered at Hajji Firuz in the northwestern Zagros Mountains dating back to 5400 BC. The earliest evidence of a fermented drink was found in Georgia, where wine residue inside ceramic jars dates from 6000 BC. The earliest evidence of a production facility is the Areni-1 winery in Armenia and is at least 6100 years old, presumably. A2003 report by archaeologists indicates a possibility that grapes were mixed with rice to produce mixed fermented beverages in China in the years of the seventh millennium BC.
Pottery jars from the Neolithic site of Jiahu, contained traces of tartaric acid, other fruits indigenous to the region, such as hawthorn, cannot be ruled out. The spread of wine culture westwards was most probably due to the Phoenicians who spread outward from a base of city-states along the Lebanese, the wines of Byblos were exported to Egypt during the Old Kingdom and throughout the Mediterranean. Evidence includes two Phoenician shipwrecks from 750 BC discovered by Robert Ballard, whose cargo of wine was still intact. As the first great traders in wine, the Phoenicians seem to have protected it from oxidation with a layer of oil, followed by a seal of pinewood and resin
10.
Alsace wine
Alsace wine or Alsatian wine is produced in the Alsace region in France and is primarily white. Along with Austria and Germany, it some of the most noted dry Rieslings in the world as well as highly aromatic Gewürztraminer wines. Both dry and sweet wines are produced. Of the vineyard surface, 78% was classified for the production of AOC Alsace wines, 4% for AOC Alsace Grand Cru, about 90% of the wine produced is white. 25% of the production is exported, and the five largest export markets for still Alsace wine in terms of volume are Belgium, Germany and the United States. In the early history of the Alsace wine industry, they were traded together with other German wines since Rhine provided the means to transport the wines, in the same era, Alsace has experienced a drive to higher quality, which led to AOC status being awarded. The total vineyard surface in Alsace has increased over the last decades, in 1967, there were 9,400 hectares of Alsace vineyards, in 1982,11,750 hectares, and in 2007,15,300 hectares.
Over the same period of time, among the varieties, Pinot gris has increased the most, from 4% to 15% of the vineyard surface, the grape variety Pinot gris is believed to have been taken to Hungary in the 14th century, where it was named Szürkebarát. It is further believed to have brought back to Alsace by General Lazarus von Schwendi after his campaign against the Turks in the 16th century. It was planted in Kientzheim under the name Tokay, taken from Hungary’s most famous wine Tokaji, for a long time, the Alsatian wines produced from this variety were labelled Tokay dAlsace. However, in 1993, an agreement was reached between Hungary and the European Union to phase out the name Tokay from non-Hungarian wine, in the case of Alsace, the name Tokay Pinot gris was used as an intermediate step, with the Tokay part eliminated in 2007. The geography of the growing area in Alsace is determined by two main factors, the Vosges mountains in the west and the Rhine river in the east. The vineyards are concentrated in a strip, running in a roughly north-south direction, on the lower eastern slopes of the Vosges.
Those altitudes provide a balance between temperature and sun exposure under Alsaces growing conditions. Because of predominantly westerly winds, the Vosges mountains tend to shelter Alsace from rain and maritime influence, rainfall in Colmar is 500 mm, but can vary greatly between sites, and is the driest city in France. While the slope down the Vosges is generally east-facing, many of the best sites are south-west to south-east facing, Alsaces geology is quite varied, with many different kinds of soils represented in the vineyards. Alsace’s soils are a result of its location at a geological fault, Alsace as a whole is located on the western part of the Rhine Graben, which is the result of two systems of parallel faults, with a dropped down block between the Vosges and the Black Forest. Almost all wines are white, except those made from the Pinot noir grape which are red, often rosé
