Level 1

What is wine?

The definition 

The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) defines wine as the ‘beverage resulting from the complete or partial alcoholic fermentation of fresh grapes, whether crushed or not, or of grape must’. (Must being the juice together with the skins.) Furthermore, wine is required to have an alcoholic strength of at least 8.5%, or 7% in certain regions.

And what of my grandmother’s raspberry wine?

Wines made from fruits other than grapes are not, stricto sensu, ‘wine’. Indeed, the fruit of origin must then be specified: raspberry wine, peach wine…

Does it matter? 

It does, for the two aspects set out in the definition are what give the beverage its very particular interest. The grape is an extraordinary fruit which, on ripening, produces not only an abundance of sugars but also a wealth of aromas and aroma precursors of great diversity. Fermentation, finally – the conversion of these sugars into alcohol – yields in turn an entirely different range of aromas.