their content of water, sugar, acid, alcohol,
and other components. The effects of barrel
and bottle aging can be simulated
inexpensively and rapidly by means of oak
chips or sawdust, and the bubbling of pure
oxygen through wine stored in huge steel
tanks.
Industrial wines are marvels of reverse
engineering, and often taste good, clean, and
without obvious faults. Wine made on a small
scale with minimal manipulation is less
predictable in its quality, but this is because it
is more distinctive, an expression of grapes
that were grown in a particular place and year,
and transformed by a particular winemaker.
Such wine is more expensive than industrial
wine, sometimes much better, and usually
more interesting.
Wine Grapes
Grapes provide the substance of wine, and