Bonjour! My name is Sophie, and I live in France.
Today I am visiting my grandfather at his vineyard where he grows grapes for making wine.
Wine is made from grapes and contains alcohol.
I can't drink wine because I'm too young.
I can tell you how it is made because my grandfather makes wine!
Today adults drink wine with dinner at home or in a restaurant, but wine has a long history.
Archaeologists discovered wine jugs in Iran that were seven thousand years old.
In Ancient Egypt the pharaohs were buried with wine so they could drink wine in the afterlife.
The ancient Greeks and Romans drank wine mixed with water and used wine in religious ceremonies.
When the Roman Empire expanded, the Romans brought wine grapes to France, Italy, Spain, and Germany.
From the fifth century until the Middle Ages, Christian monks were the main winemakers of Europe.
The monks made wine at the monasteries where they lived.
They improved the quality of wine and developed better methods for making wine.
Making wine is not difficult, but you need lots of patience.
It takes at least a year before the wine is ready!
Let me tell you how my grandfather makes wine.
First Grandfather grows the grapes in cool weather with lots of sun.
In France where we live, the weather is perfect for growing grapes.
Grapes grow on vines, and the field where the grapes grow is called a vineyard.
When the grapes are ripe, Grandfather harvests the grapes from the vines.
He takes them to the winery and puts them in a huge vat.
The ripe grapes are juicy and sweet and full of sugar.
The next step is to crush the grapes.
A long time ago, people used their feet to crush the grapes.
They would climb into the vat with bare feet and jump and stomp until the grapes were crushed.
Boy, that sounds like fun, and very messy too!
My grandfather uses a machine to crush the grapes.
Crushing the grapes breaks the skins and turns them into a wet, juicy pulp.
Over the next few days, yeast on the grape skins causes the wine to ferment.
When the wine ferments, the sugar in the grapes changes to alcohol.
The juice and pulp in the vat will begin to fizz.
After a week the fizzing subsides. Now my grandfather must separate the liquid from the skins, pulp, and seeds.
He uses a machine called a winepress, and then he pours the wine into barrels.
Until now, the wine has been open to the air.
But now the barrels are sealed to keep the air away from the wine.
Three weeks later the fermentation is finally complete.
Now the wine is ready for the final step. This step is called racking.
My grandfather filters the leftover yeast, grape seeds, and grape skins from the wine, and scrapes the barrel clean.
Then he pours the wine back into the barrel and seals it airtight.
The barrels of wine are stored in a cool, dark place.
Four months later, Grandfather racks the wine one more time.
Now the wine is perfectly clear. Grandfather puts the barrels away in a cool, dark place again and leaves them for a whole year!
My grandfather keeps his barrels of wine in the cellar.
One year later, the wine is ready!
Sometimes vineyards wait two years or longer before they sell their wine, and some wines are kept for decades.
People say that wine gets better with age.
The wine is poured into bottles, and each bottle is plugged with a cork to prevent air getting in.
Corks are made from the bark of the cork tree, which grows mainly in Portugal.
Cork is very elastic, but it is also airtight. It is ideal for wine bottles.
France is famous for its wine, and many tourists visit France just to tour the wineries.
However, wine grapes are grown in warm climates all over the world.
France and Italy have the oldest wineries, but Australia, New Zealand, Chile, South Africa, and California are all famous for their wine as well.
Now I will help Grandfather get the wine ready for the stores.
First, we put fancy labels on the bottles.
Then, we put the wine bottles into boxes.
Tomorrow a truck will pick up the boxes and take them to restaurants, bars, supermarkets, and wine stores.
Thank you for visiting my grandfather's vineyard.
Now you know everything about making wine.
Next time you can help us harvest the grapes!