gofer articles

Wine is an alcoholic beverage with a rich history that goes back over eight thousand years to the heart of Eurasia, modern-day Georgia. Most commonly it is made from fruits, and in particular grapes, however many other things that could be fermented have been used as well, for example grains, vegetables, and the milk of different species of livestock.

However, for many an oenophile, or wine connoisseur, only grapes will do, as barley and vegetable wines are much more similar to beer and spirits. It is not just a matter of semantics, either, as with many countries wines are subject to legal definitions and regulations. Indeed, with regards to the jurisdicition involved, there could be several laws that govern exactly what is allowed to be sold as wine, though across the industry worldwide a distinction might be made between so-called “real” wine and that which happens to be merely labeled so.

Thus, the word is considered to be used as an adjective rather than a noun when it comes to something such as the rice and sorghum wines so popular in Asia, made as they are from starch-based grains which make them more like beer than anything else. Used as an adjective, the term refers to the higher alcoholic content as opposed to the production process, an important part of which concerns the appropriate ingredients. In fact, the word “wine” is believed by scholars to originate from the Proto-Indo-European word for “grape!”

Though such fine distinctions may seem trivial to an outsider, they form some of the reasons for wine’s enduring interest among oenophiles. And with thanks to the internet, wine-lovers have started and coalesced around blogs dedicated to all the many different details possible, especially with regards to particular wine-cultivating regions. If anything, then, it would seem that further differentiation is to be expected, and even encouraged, making the field more varied and ever richer!