The History Of Red Wine
The history of red wine is as almost as long as mankind itself. There are countless types of red wine that people enjoy around the world every day, especially now that cancer experts have stated that drinking red wine prevents cancer. The biggest consumer of red wine in the world is the Catholic Church, since they use it in communion at every mass.
Bordeaux Red Wine
Wine has been grown in Bordeaux for over two thousand years. Most probably vines grew there before the arrival of the Roman in 56BC. But unlike most of the other French wine regions, wine in Bordeaux was developed by merchants. In other parts of France, wine was under the power of the monks.
At the beginning of the second millennium the Bordeaux region was under English domination. Hundreds of boats loaded with barrels of "Claret" were shipped to England. The "Claret" was a light red wine which Englishmen loved. The word is still used to refer to red Bordeaux. By the 14th century, half of the wine production was boarded on ships mainly to England. At that time, wines from Bergerac and Gaillac, east of Bordeaux, were very famous and strongly competed against Bordeaux wines. Nowadays they belong to the South West wine region.
Therefore the local winemakers and merchants banned those South West wines from entering the city of Bordeaux until their own wines were on board the ships.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, merchants from England, the Netherlands, and Germany controlled most of the red wines produced in the whole Bordeaux region. At that time, wineries sold their wines in barrels and casks just after they made them. Merchants bought barrels and casks, sometimes bottled the wines and matured them.
In 1855, these merchants created a ranking to distinguish the finest Bordeaux red wines. The classification still exists and is known as Grands Crus Classes.
Baron de Rothschild
At the end of the World War II, Baron de Rothschild was the first wine maker to bottle his wines and mature them in a cellar, before all wine makers did the same.
During the last decade, the trend in Bordeaux is to put a brand name on the bottle with grapes coming from all over the region and even beyond. Brand names such as Mouton Cadet and Malesan are increasingly popular.
Burgundy Red Wine
Burgundy wines are of a velvety and subtle red or sensual and characteristic white. The area of Burgundy experiences a continental climate characterized by very cold winters and hot summers. The weather is very unpredictable with rains, hail, and frost all possibly around harvest time. Because of this climate, there is a lot of variation between vintages from Burgundy.
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