Her hair was the color of those blooms which in seed catalogues are referred to as `` black '', but since no flower is actually without color contain always a hint of grape or purple or blue -- he wanted to draw the broad patina of hair through his fingers, searching it slowly for a trace of veining which might reveal its true shade beneath the darkness.

By the eighteenth century, Chianti was widely recognized as a red wine, but the exact composition and grape varieties used to make Chianti at this point is unknown.

Ampelographers find clues about which grape varieties were popular at the time in the writings of Italian writer Cosimo Villifranchi who noted that Canaiolo was widely planted variety in the area along with Sangiovese, Mammolo and Marzemino.

Thus it has been proposed that Syrah red wine is named after Shiraz, a city in Persia where the grape was used to make Shirazi wine.

Orthodox Jewish authorities had little difficulty with the issue, because based on Talmudic sources virtually all agreed that grape juice was an acceptable substitute,, though some questioned whether it was acceptable for the Passover seder.

The earliest recorded mention of Merlot was in the notes of a local Bordeaux official who in 1784 labeled wine made from the grape in the Libournais region as one of the area's best.

The grape was introduced to the Swiss, from Bordeaux, sometime in the 19th century and was recorded in the Swiss canton of Ticino between 1905 and 1910.

In the early history of California wine, the Merlot was used primarily as a 100 % varietal wine until wine maker Warren Winiarski encouraged taking the grape back to its blending roots with Bordeaux style blends.

White Merlot was reputedly first marketed in the late 1990s, and should not be confused with wines made from the white mutant of the grape.

In 1880, the general conference included in the Discipline a broad statement which included, “ Temperance is a Christian virtue, Scripturally enjoined .” Due to the temperate stance of the church, the practice of Eucharist was altered — to this day, Methodist churches most commonly use grape juice symbolically during Communion rather than wine.

Grain wine was a spirit distilled from alcohol made from grain ( as opposed to grape wine ) and hence " vodka of grain wine " would be a water dilution of a distilled grain spirit.

By the 1880s, the French brandy industry was devastated by the phylloxera pest that ruined much of the grape crop ; as a result, whisky became the primary liquor in many markets.

" Parts of the ancient world that drank wine instead of beer used a paste composed of grape juice and flour that was allowed to begin fermenting, or wheat bran steeped in wine, as a source for yeast.

Pierre Galet disagreed with this assessment, believing that Chardonnay was not related to any other major grape variety.

Wente Vineyards developed a Chardonnay clone that was used to introduce the grape variety in several Californian vineyards throughout the 1940s.

Chardonnay was one of the first European grape varietals to have been grown commercially east of the Rocky Mountains.

In 2000, it was the most widely planted premium wine grape in the state.

During this period the number of Chardonnay plants increased fivefold and by 1990 it was the most widely planted white wine grape in Australia and third most planted overall behind Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Despite being more famous for its Sauvignon blanc production, Chardonnay was New Zealand's most widely planted grape variety from 1990 till 2002 when Sauvignon blanc finally surpassed it.

Chardonnay has a long history in Italy but for a large part of it, the grape was commonly confused with Pinot blanc — often with both varieties inter planted in the same vineyard and blended together.

In the Trentino-Alto Adige / Südtirol region this confusion appeared in the synonyms for each grape with Pinot blanc being known as " Weissburgunder " ( White Burgundy ) and Chardonnay was known as " Gelber Weissburgunder " ( Golden White Burgundy ).

By 2000, it was Italy's fourth most widely planted white wine grape.

Though many varietal form of Chardonnay are produced, and the numbers are increasing, for most of its history in Italian winemaking Chardonnay was a blending grape.

* Cardinal ( grape ), a table grape first produced in California in 1939

The grape vines, leaves and clusters look identical at first glance but there are some subtle differences.

The grape first rose to prominence in the Chablis and Burgundy regions.

Like many grape varieties, Chardonnay first came to Australia in the collection of James Busby in 1832, but it only really took off in the 1950s.

Being a rather neutral grape, Australian winemakers first approached Chardonnay in the same manner they were making wine from the similarly neutral Sultana grape.

Syrah first appeared as a wine grape in California in the 1970s, where it was planted by a group of viticulturists who called themselves " Rhône rangers.

The amphor ( itself not an item of sacrifice ) permitted presentation of its content on a table or could be added to a sacrifice ; this happened at the auspicatio vindamiae for the first grape and for ears of corn of the praemetium on a dish ( lanx ) at the

* His favourite wine was made with the Loire Valley red wine grape Pineau d ' Aunis which Henry first introduced to England in the thirteenth century.

In another view on the etymology, Athenaeus of Naucratis ( 2nd – 3rd century CE ) says that the original form of the word was trygodia from trygos ( grape harvest ) and ode ( song ), because those events were first introduced during grape harvest.

The specific variety, called the Criolla or " Mission grape ", was first planted at Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1779 ; in 1783, the first wine produced in Alta California emerged from the mission's winery.

The Criolla or " Mission grape ," was first planted at San Juan Capistrano in 1779 ; in 1783, the first wine produced in Alta California emerged from the Mission's winery.

California's first vineyard was located on the Mission grounds, with the planting of the " Mission " or " Criollo " grape in 1779, one grown extensively throughout Spanish America at the time but with " an uncertain European origin.

The first winery in Alta California was built in San Juan Capistrano in 1783 ; both red and white wines ( sweet and dry ), brandy, and a port-like fortified wine called Angelica were all produced from the Mission grape.

Upset by his death, Dionysus transformed Ampelos ’ s body into the first grape vine and created wine from his blood.

As his divine power was incarnate in the vine, grape and wine, he was offered the first, sacred pressing of the grape-harvest, known as sacrima.

Diane Sawyer called it " the first and maybe last annual GMA grape stomping contest in honor of Lucille Ball, who was born 30 minutes from Silver Creek ".

The first grape vines were planted around 1829, beginning the modern prominence of the wine industry.

The grape was first introduced to New Zealand in the 1970s as an experimental planting to be blended with Müller-Thurgau.