ORIGIN OF WINE, YEAST, BARRELS, AND CHIPS

 

ORIGIN OF WINE, YEAST, BARRELS, AND CHIPS

            The origin of wine as mentioned earlier might have been accidental, when the juice of some fruit might have transformed itself into such a beverage having exhilarating or stimulating properties. When humans became civilized, wine and brandy were at the top of the list of requirements. Their consumption induced euphoria and pleasing relaxation from the strains of life, so it eventually gained social importance and was used for religious feasting and celebration as well as for entertaining guests. Starting about 1000 BC, the Romans made major contributions by classifying grape varieties and observing color and charting ripening characteristics, identifying diseases, and recognizing soil type preferences. Pruning skills and increased yields through irrigation and fertilization were also acquired by the Romans. The Greeks introduced viticulture to France, northern Africa, and Egypt, whereas the Romans exported the vines to Bordeaux, to the valleys of the Rhone, Marne, Seine, etc.,  and to Hungary, Germany, England, Italy, and Spain.

 

            Evidence of the existence of grape farming in India has also been documented. The ancient Aryans possessed the knowledge of grape culture as well as preparation of beverages from it. Grapes have been known in India since the 11th century BC.

            The famous Indian scholars Sushruta and Charaka, in their medical treatises entitled Sushruta Samhita and Charaka Samhita, respectively, written during 1356–1220 BC, mentioned the medicinal properties of grapes. However, the information about other fruits or fruit wines is totally lacking except that of cider, which was made and consumed widely (Vine, 1981), especially in England and France, well before the 12th century.

 

Alcoholic Fermentation

            It is interesting to note that historical developments in the microbiology and biochemistry of alcoholic fermentation paralleled the developments in wine fermentation. Some of the important events in the history of alcoholic fermentation are summarized here. Jan Baptist van Helmont (1577–1644) explained some of the concepts of fermentation and the chemistry involved in it. Antoine Lavoisier (1743–94) restored the term “alcohol” and quantitatively determined the amount of carbon dioxide and ethanol produced during fermentation of grape juice and gave us the equation of ethanolic fermentation. The “Father of Microbiology” Leeuwenhoek, in 1680, observed yeast cells with his ground lens, for the first time, in fermenting beer, and Schwann, in 1837, recognized it as a fungus and gave it the name “Zuckerpilz” (sugar fungus). This was perpetuated in the generic term Saccharomyces. From 1855 to 1876 the idea that fermentation was a physiological action associated with the life processes of yeast was considered as a milestone in the development of the biochemistry of fermentation. Later on, the substances responsible for fermentation were named “enzymes,” which means “in yeast,” coined by Wilhelm Kühne in 1878; however, in 1897 Buchner obtained an enzyme from cell-free juice from yeasts that was not capable of fermentation. Neither the filtrate nor the residue from the yeast cell dialysis was capable of fermenting glucose. But on combination of the two, the fermentation took place, indicating that fermentation required the presence of another substance, “coenzyme,” which was dialyzable and thermostable.