5 Interesting Facts You Didn't Know About Wine

Here at Quantum, we love wine - so much, in fact, we offer insurance for wine collections, to ensure the protection of your most treasured bottles! 

For all the wine lovers out there, we have collated some interesting wine facts for you to peruse (maybe with a glass of wine in hand)...

Image sourced from Wikipedia

​1. The forefathers of wine-making were the Cistercian and Benedictine monks during the Middle Ages. They preserved and innovated the art of wine-making and it's thanks to their efforts that we have the wine-making technology we do today!

Dom Pierre Pérignon (1638-1715), a French Benedictine monk was one of these forefathers.

He advocated organic wine-making and experimented with new and successful wine-making methods. His wine-making practices and techniques are still used today.

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​2. The World’s (known) oldest bottle of wine is at least 1,650 years-old, dating back to the 4th Century.

In 1867, the bottle was unearthed in a Roman nobleman's tomb in Germany. It has since been on display in Germany's Historical Museum of the Palatinate in Speyer, Germany. 

Image sourced from my modern met

​The bottle remains tightly sealed, as experts are unsure of how the air would effect the liquid.

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Image sourced from Star Tribune

3. During the first 5 years of prohibition in the US, California grape growers increased their cultivation by 700%.

Grape concentrate was sold with a ‘warning’ label, stating; “after dissolving the brick in a gallon of water, do not place the liquid in a jug away in the cupboard for twenty-one days, because it will turn into wine.” 

Quote sourced from wine traveler

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4. Not all wines are naturally vegetarian or vegan.

Many wine producers utilise fining agents, such as; isinglass (fish bladder protein), albumin (egg whites) casein (a milk protein)  and gelatin (animal protein), in order to stabilise their wine.  These fining agents are often processed out, but traces may still remain. 

Luckily, there are specifically vegan wines, which use activated charcoal as a fining agent instead.

Image sourced from Vegan Wine

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5. Oenophobia is the fear of wine.

Yes, there is a wine phobia and it's called oenophobia. The origin of the word is Greek, where 'oeno' means wine and 'phobia' means fear.