Healthy Diet Plans >> Articles >> Diet and Wellness

All About Wines

Submitted by Loring A. Windblad on December 30, 2009

Wine Alcoholic Beverage | Layered Wine Cakes For Christmas

Wine is an alcoholic beverage which is made by naturally fermenting the juice of fresh fruits. Most of the time grapes are used. Wine has been around in some form or the other from the beginning of civilization. There are very few beverages that have been such an integral part of the history of human beings. Traces of wine production lead us back to 6000 BC in the area which is the present day border of Georgia and Iran.

Its consumption in Europe goes back to 4500 BC as per some of the experts.

The use of wine became an integral part of Christian and Jewish ceremonies. Wine is not just used as a beverage alone but it also plays an important role as a flavoring agent as its acidity gives balance to savory and sweet dishes. Wine is used in the preparation of many traditional European dishes, with wild boar being the prime example.

The popular wines are red, white and the sparkling wines, with only 10 to 14 percent of the alcohol content, while dessert wines have at least 15 to 20 percent of alcohol in them. Some wines are required to be kept in open bottles so that the wine can breathe. Yet other types of wine should be consumed just after the bottle is opened.

Wine is also used in the sacred rite called the Eucharist in Christianity.

Even in the Last Supper, it was wine and bread that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples. Wine is also served in the Hindu temples of ‘Kali’ (the goddess of blood and death) and ‘Shiva’. However, in Islam, the consumption of wine is considered to be a sin.

Iran had a big wine industry running till the time the Islamic Revolution took place. In Islam, wine is only allowed to be used for medicinal purposes.

Traditionally a European beverage, the popularity of wine has slowly spread all over the world. In fact nowadays you can wine making industries in almost all the continents of the world.

Anything in excess is bad for the human body system. So is the case when wine is taken under consideration. However, if wine is consumed in moderate measures, it is considered good for the cardiovascular system and can help prevent heart ailments. Studies have found out that wine can be used as a medicine, an antiseptic and at times, as a water purifier.