Wine is the fermented juice of the grape. It is the oldest and most important of fermented beverages. It could not escape early discovery, because fruits of all kinds, when crushed and left to natural causes, undergo the alcoholic fermentation. Primitive man must, therefore, have been acquainted with the properties of the fermented juice of fruits, especially of grapes. Wine was known in the remotest historial times, as evidenced by references to it in the earliest preserved literatures.

Similarity Of The Name

Another point which is of interest in this connection, is that the term "wine" is not only of ancient origin, but has been preserved practically unchanged in many languages. The Greek name for wine, oinos; Latin, vinum; German, wein; French, vin; Italian, vino; and the English, wine are all the same word. It is not often that the name of a common object is preserved in this way throughout so many years and through so many tongues.