Sweet wines, on the other hand, are produced by interrupting the fermentation before all the grape sugars are converted into alcohol; this is called Mutage or fortification.

Epigraphy tells us about the presence of wine in the Middle East: it was produced in the "High Country" (the mountain borders between Anatolia and Armenia) and then imported into Mesopotamia especially from the 3rd millennium BC.

[citation needed] Knowledge about the culture of grapevines was conserved by the Catholic Church: Wine was necessary for the celebration of Mass, and the monks planted vines at high latitudes and increased the monastic acreages.

[5] At the same time, the dry white wine popular with the Dutch was produced to the north, around the port of Nantes from the current areas of Muscadet AOC and Gros-plant AOVDQS in the Loire Valley.

Between 40 and 60 thousand barrels each of 500 litres left the Spanish coast annually for England and the Netherlands[b 8] (this volume of some 300,000 hectolitres represented two-thirds of today's production).

Its use in Sauternes was attested in 1836 in the Château La Tour Blanche but at that time very late harvest gave a very rich wine that required several years to age in barrels.

Historian Hugh Johnson[b 13] assigns an important diplomatic role to champagne: Talleyrand would have offered this wine at the negotiating table of the Congress of Vienna, using it to relax his partners in the discussions.

The feeling of freedom infused into the German winemakers under French occupation during the First Empire prevented the aristocracy and the clergy from recovering all the vineyards from which they were dispossessed.

In Spain, paradoxically, Castile-La Mancha accounts for 50% of the Spanish vineyards, producing mostly white wine on a very large production area in a high temperature zone.

This process separates them as it happens and uses them to measure the progress of the "vintage", the first and second tailles, and finally the rebêches of insufficient quality to be made into AOC wine.

In the case of a harvest with a very clear wort and low temperature the yeast works in a limited way and the addition of thiamine can help avoid a difficult end of fermentation.

The practice of shaking or stalking has the advantage of separating the stems from the cluster of grapes and avoids giving the wine an herbaceous taste at pressing.

Settling by flotation is a technique where the introduction of a gas at the bottom of the tank creates bubbles which cause the particles to rise to the surface where they are removed by a scraper.

The majority of aromatic components (acetates of alcohol and ethyl esters of fatty acids) are synthesized by the yeast during fermentation of light juice below 18 °C.

[47] In contrast some producers grow their vines organically or biodynamically: the lees are of good quality without synthetic chemicals harmful to yeast so they are kept in the wine.

During the fermentation of the grapes, varietal aromas are reduced in favour of an increase in roundness and volume in the mouth of the wine during ageing in oak barrels.

The use of inert gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) isolates the grapes from oxygen from the air, and cold partially inhibits the action of oxidative enzymes in the must.

[56] This technique needs to be well controlled, however, otherwise the wine may take on a Goût de réduit (Reduced taste) due to the activity of reductase sulphite from the yeast.

The barrel has a dual role: it flavours the wine giving it a scent of toast, butter, and vanilla but it also helps to mature it by providing a very small regular quantity of oxygen through the wooden walls.

However, this solution not only acts on tartaric acid but also other compounds especially potassium which is responsible for the formation of insoluble bitartrate and also modifies the organoleptic qualities.

[63] Finally the study of the addition of cellulose gum or carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) conducted in recent years[64] led to its approval in 2009 (EC Regulation 606/2009[65]).

Some producers who sell their own products directly to the consumer, explain these natural phenomena to the customer who then serve the wine gently in order to prevent the crystals forming in the bottom of the bottle.

Over the ages, the flavones in the grapes were considered responsible for the yellow colour, but their very low dissolution in wine, due to short maceration, led to a search for other molecules.

This is the case especially in some white champagne wines partly made from black grapes and reminiscent of red fruit[74][75] (strawberry, raspberry,[76] blueberry,[77] gooseberry,[76] etc.).

[b 19] In California and Australia, the need to cool the grapes and wine during fermentation led winemakers to equip their cellars with adequate equipment: refrigeration units, circuits of pipes to carry the liquid refrigerant, and vats temperature-regulated by coils in the walls of the vessel or flag (a thin welded coil shaped like a flat plate with a high heat exchange capability).

Neutral white wines (Castilla-La Mancha, Italian Trebbiano) are well suited to sheep cheese and there are also Manchego and pecorino romano for a little spicy.

One munches them with salt on the sand with a basil branch and a glass of Brem iced white wine" - Pierre Desproges[102] Michel Onfray has written a book based on the Sauternes.

[104] I am Drunk, sung by Louis Byrec and written by Yvette Guilbert in 1895 gave the best part to knowledge of sparkling wines: "I come to the wedding of my sister Annette And, when the champagne is flowing, I could not hold you, I am tipsy, and I pinched my little tuft.

If bin before St. Martin J'mettrons the throat under the champ'lure" Closer to home Boris Vian celebrated "Muscadet in green glasses, a fresh wine, What cheers" in his song Mechanical Music.

[107] The sulphur dioxide additive commonly used in wine is not harmful in the amounts used but its effects are feared among asthmatics:[108] it can cause the onset of a crisis[109] (Difficulty breathing).