Sweet grape

Eleuthera, Bahamas.

It is advisable never to peel grapes from the skin, because it is the most beneficial part for human health.
In the countries of Portugal and Spain there is a New Year's custom. At the last minute of the outgoing year, it is customary to enjoy grapes, making 12 grapes and making 12 wishes with each stroke of the chimes.

The vine is often found in artwork and is mentioned in myths. For example, one of the deities revered by our ancestors was the goddess of fertility, prosperity, love and fun - Alive (she was also called Lada, Penya, Seva). In her right hand, the goddess holds an apple, and in her left hand, a bunch of grapes, carrying them to every family as a symbol of success.

It takes 600 grapes to make one bottle of wine.
In grapes, all its parts have significant healing and preventive properties. In medicine, there is even such a thing as "ampelotherapy" - treatment with grapes, and not only berries, but also leaves, wood and everything that can be taken from this plant.
Some grape bushes grow up to 100 or more years, and the more time passes, the greater the yield of this bush brings.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 75,866 square kilometers of the world are dedicated to grapes. Approximately 71% of world grape production is used for wine, 27% as fresh fruit, and 2% as dried fruit. A portion of grape production goes to producing grape juice to be reconstituted for fruits canned "with no added sugar" and "100% natural". The area dedicated to vineyards is increasing by about 2% per year.

There are no reliable statistics that break down grape production by variety. It is believed that the most widely planted variety is Sultana, also known as Thompson Seedless, with at least 3,600 km2 (880,000 acres) dedicated to it. The second most common variety is Airén. Other popular varieties include Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon blanc, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Grenache, Tempranillo, Riesling, and Chardonnay.[16]

Grapes are a type of fruit that grow in clusters of 15 to 300, and can be crimson, black, dark blue, yellow, green, orange, and pink. "White" grapes are actually green in color, and are evolutionarily derived from the purple grape. Mutations in two regulatory genes of white grapes turn off production of anthocyanins, which are responsible for the color of purple grapes.[12] Anthocyanins and other pigment chemicals of the larger family of polyphenols in purple grapes are responsible for the varying shades of purple in red wines.[13][14] Grapes are typically an ellipsoid shape resembling a prolate spheroid.

The oldest known winery was found in Armenia, dating to around 4000 BC.[6] By the 9th century AD, the city of Shiraz was known to produce some of the finest wines in the Middle East. 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.[7]

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics record the cultivation of purple grapes, and history attests to the ancient Greeks, Cypriots, Phoenicians, and Romans growing purple grapes both for eating and wine production.[8] The growing of grapes would later spread to other regions in Europe, as well as North Africa, and eventually in North America.

In 2005 a team of archaeologists concluded that some Chalcolithic wine jars, which were discovered in Cyprus in the 1930s, were the oldest of their kind in the world, dating back to 3,500 BC.[9] Moreover, Commandaria, a sweet dessert wine from Cyprus, is the oldest manufactured wine in the world, its origins traced as far back as 2000 BC.[10]