Portal:Wine

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W i n e

A portal dedicated to wine

The Wine Portal


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Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from fermentation of grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Although fruits other than grapes can also be fermented, the resultant wines are normally named after the fruit from which they are produced (for example, apple wine) and are known as fruit wine (or country wine). Others, such as barley wine and rice wine (e.g. sake), are made from starch-based materials and resemble beer more than wine; ginger wine is fortified with brandy. In these cases, the use of the term "wine" is a reference to the higher alcohol content, rather than the production process. The commercial use of the word "wine" (and its equivalent in other languages) is protected by law in many jurisdictions. Wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast which consume the sugars found in the grapes and convert them into alcohol. Various varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are used depending on the types of wine produced.

Wine stems from an extended and rich history dating back about 8,000 years and is thought to have originated in present-day Georgia or Iran. Wine is thought to have appeared in Europe about 6,500 years ago in present-day Bulgaria and Greece and was very common in ancient Greece and Rome; the Greek god Dionysos, and his Roman counterpart Liber represented wine. Wine continues to play a role in religious ceremonies, such as Kiddush in Judaism and the Eucharist in Christianity.


The Wine WikiProject


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Some Wikipedians have formed a project to better present and organize information in articles related to Wine. This project contains their suggestions; it is hoped that this collaboration will help to focus the efforts of other Wikipedians on the subject of wine. If you wish to learn more about wine and get involved, please visit the Wine Wikiproject page to see how you can help!

Selected article


Location of the Champagne province in France
The Champagne wine region (archaic English: Champany) is a historic province within the Champagne administrative province in the northeast of France. The area is best known for the production of the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name. The region is about 100 miles (160 km) east of Paris. The viticultural boundaries of Champagne are legally defined and split into five wine producing districts within the administrative province-the Aube, Côte des Blancs, Côte de Sézanne Montagne de Reims, and Vallée de la Marne. The towns of Reims and Épernay are the commercial centers of the area.

Located at the northern edges of the wine growing world, the history of the Champagne wine region has had a significant role in the development of this unique terroir. The area's close proximity to Paris promoted the regions economic success in its wine trade but also put the villages and vineyards in the path of marching armies on their way to the French capital. Despite the frequency of these military conflict, the regions developed a reputation for quality wine production in the early Middle Ages and was able to continue that reputation as the region's producers began making sparkling wine with the advent of the great Champagne houses in the 17th & 18th century.

The principal grapes grown in the region include Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. Pinot Noir is the most widely planted grape in the Aube region and grows very well in Montagne de Reims. Pinot Meunier is the dominant grape in the Vallée de la Marne region. The Côte des Blancs is dedicated almost exclusively to Chardonnay.



Selected person


Image of Charles Heidsieck used in Champagne ads in the US during the 1850's
Charles Heidsieck
B. 1820 – d. 1871

Charles Camille Heidsieck was a 19th century French Champagne merchant who founded the Champagne firm Charles Heidsieck in 1851. He is credited with popularizing Champagne in the United States and was known as "Champagne Charlie" during his stay. During the American Civil War Heidsieck was imprisoned under suspicion of being a spy for the French government and the Confederacy. His imprisonment sparked an international incident between France and US over what became known as The Heidsieck Incident.



Selected winery


The Kendall-Jackson Wine Center in Fulton, Sonoma County, California. August 2007.
Kendall-Jackson Vineyard Estates is a vineyard and winery, under the Kendall-Jackson brand started by the Jess Jackson family in Lakeport, California in 1974. That label now continues under the umbrella company, Jackson Family Wines, that Jackson later created.

In the 1980s, Kendall-Jackson rejected the California wine industry's trend toward vineyard-specific wine labeling. It ignored the concept of terroir in favor of blending wines from different regions to achieve desired wine characteristics. Jackson Family Wines is now a large and growing wine empire that owns many successful brands.

Their investments in wine have reached beyond US borders, now owning wineries in Italy (Tenuta di Arceno), France (Château Lassègue), Australia (Yangarra Estate Vineyards), and Chile (Viña Calina).

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Selected grape


Tempranillo grapes
Tempranillo is a variety of black grape widely grown to make full-bodied red wines in its native Spain. Its name is the diminutive of the Spanish temprano ("early"), a reference to the fact that it ripens several weeks earlier than most Spanish red grapes. Tempranillo has been grown on the Iberian Peninsula since the time of Phoenician settlements. It is the main grape used in Rioja, and is often referred to as Spain's noble grape. Grown early in the 20th century to produce jug wines in California, toward the end of the 20th century Tempranillo enjoyed a renaissance there and throughout the world as a fine wine. The grape has been planted in Mexico, New Zealand, South America, USA, South Africa, Australia, Argentina, Turkey and Canada.

Often blended with Grenache and Cariñena (known in Rioja as Mazuelo), Tempranillo is bottled either young or after several years of barrel aging. In Portugal, it is blended with others to produce port wine. Often growing its best at higher altitudes, the grape yields wines that are ruby in colour, with aromas and flavours of berries, plum, tobacco, vanilla, leather and herb.

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Selected quote


Once... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were forced to live on nothing but food and water for days
— W. C. Fields
My Little Chickadee


Did you know...


...that French Champagne merchant Charles Heidsieck was imprisoned for espionage during the American Civil War, sparking an international incident?
Other "Did you know" facts... Read more...


Selected picture


Sprinklers in vineyard in the region of Trentino-Alto Adige (Italy)
Credit: Marek Ślusarczyk (Tupungato)

Sprinklers in vineyard in the region of Trentino-Alto Adige (Italy)


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Improve the bird's eye view

The entire subject and Wikipedia's coverage of it is intended to be summarized in the Outline of wine. It in turn is part of Wikipedia's outline system which is one of Wikipedia's main contents systems.

Please look it over and fill-in missing topics. If Wikipedia has an article or article section about those topics, please add links to them.

While analyzing the outline, please answer the following questions (and fix the outline as needed):

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  2. Is the structure of the outline (sections and indents) representative of the subject?
  3. Does the outline help understand the relationships between the topics presented in the best way possible?

The overall purpose of the outline is to help readers comprehend the subject by showing what belongs to it, and within the subject what belongs to what.

The outline is a taxonomy of the subject, and also serves as a table of contents and navigation aid to browse Wikipedia's articles (and article sections) about the subject.

It is also a useful tool for the WikiProject to analyze, plan, develop, and revise wine-related material. It is a hub from which to organize related topics.

It was built as a "reverse outline", a structural model of an existing work, which in addition to being a summary of the work, can reveal the gaps and other weaknesses for revision purposes.

Please help improve it.

It's our bird's eye view.

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This list is transcluded from the tasks page, to edit this section click here.

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Here are some tasks you can do for WikiProject Wine:

  • Photo request: Just about all of them! Any pictures of wine regions, grape varieties or wine would be useful. In particular we need wine region maps that can be licensed for Wikipedia.
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Categories


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The following entries are categories relating to Wine:

Wine


Wine Lists

Topics relating to Wine


AppellationOenologyWineryWinemakingWine tastingVintageVinyardViticulture
Wine styles Red/WhiteRosé/BlushSparklingDessertFortifiedFruitIce Wine
Notable varietals AlbariñoChardonnayChenin blancGewürztraminerGrüner veltlinerMuscatPinot blancPinot grisRiesling
Sauvignon blancSémillonSilvanerViognierBarberaCabernet FrancCabernet SauvignonCarignaneDolcetto
GamayGrenacheMalbecMerlotMourvèdreNebbioloPetite Sirah/DurifPetit VerdotPinot noirPinotage
SangioveseSyrah/ShirazTempranilloZinfandel
Notable regions BordeauxBurgundyCaliforniaChampagneDouroMoselRheinhessenRhôneRiojaTuscany
Notable nations ArgentinaAustraliaChileFranceGermanyItalyPortugalSpainSouth AfricaUnited States of America


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