Wine is an alcoholic beverage, obtained from fermentation (total or partial)
of the fruit of the vine, the grapes (whether pressed or not), or of the must.
General
Wine can also be obtained from grapes belonging to crosses of
Vitis vinifera with
other species of the genus Vitis (for example Vitis labrusca or
Vitis rupestris) and from grapes
of different Vitis species (such as Vitis chunganensis).
In Italy (and throughout the European Union), to protect a product of higher quality,
price and value, the fermentation product of grapes other than Vitis vinifera cannot be
commercially called "wine". Therefore, when marketing other fermented products, the term
must be omitted. A common way around this restriction is, for example, to simply mention
the name of the grape variety used, without of course mentioning the term "wine".
This beverage can also give rise to a distillate which, if aged for at least 12
months in wood, takes the name of brandy. The quality and diversity of wines depend strictly
on the grape variety, the climate, the soil, its exposure to solar radiation
and on the more or less careful cultivation of the vine itself.
Etymology
Wine derives directly from the Latin vīnum, from a Mediterranean root from which
Ancient Greek
ϝοῖνος woînos, Classical οἶνος oînos, Hebrew יין yayin
and Armenian գինի gini also derive.
The Latin word was borrowed into Umbrian, Oscan, and Faliscan vinu,
Etruscan vin(um),
and Lepontic vinom; more recently, vīnum was borrowed into
the Celtic languages,
the Germanic languages, and from these into Finnish viini. The Slavic terms
for wine
are also likely to be Latin loanwords. The hypothesis that vīnum has
an Indo-European origin,
shared with Hittite wiyan, has little credibility today.
(source: Wikipedia)
(Selection 2026)