Details

“I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.”
― W.C. Fields

Everyone knows that almost all wine is made from grapes. Oh sure, there are the unusual wines made with pears, apples, rhubarb, cherries, strawberries, blueberries or or other things — but mostly, it’s grapes.

But what you may not know is that wine grapes aren’t the same type of grapes you buy in the grocery store. Wine grapes are smaller, contain seeds and have thick skins. While there are over 1300 different grape varieties used in wine making throughout the world, most wine is made from far fewer varieties.

An interesting trivia: the top planted grape in the world is Cabernet Sauvignon. Want another? When grapes are pressed — either red grapes or white — the color of the juice is white. It’s the contact with the grape skins that mostly determines the ultimate color of wine.

The main difference between beer and wine is that wine is made from fermented grapes. Beer, on the other hand, is typically made from fermented brewed grains. While there are always exceptions, the bottom line is that wine is most often made from grapes while beer is made from grains.