Why Wine is Actually Made from Berries

Grapes are the most harvested fruit globally. Annually, between 50 and 60 million tons of these sweet grapes are picked and processed.

When the word "berry" comes up, you immediately think of strawberries, blueberries, currants, and so on. But no one immediately thinks of grapes. Why would they? After all, a grape is a grape, not a berry. Think again!

When you think of "grapes" (Weintraube), you immediately picture the familiar red or green clusters. However, that's not quite accurate. The individual fruits of what we call a "grape cluster" are actually named wine berries (Weinbeeren). All these berries together on a single stalk then form the grape cluster (Weintraube).

The grape is one of humanity's oldest cultivated plants, and to this day, around 16,000 grape varieties are known.

The grape, which is actually classified as a berry, has many uses. And anyone who previously thought a grape was just a "grape" probably also assumed that this "berry" is most often consumed directly as fresh fruit. However, that's not the case.

Only 10 percent of grapes are eaten directly as so-called table grapes. A massive 85 percent of the harvested grapes go into wine production, and just 5 percent of the harvest is dried and sold as raisins.

Grapes are delicious for everyone, big and small. But anyone who has ever bitten into a grape seed and tasted that bitter flavor probably wished they had bought seedless grapes. So why do seedless grapes even exist? They are the result of breeding. Naturally, grapes have seeds, but apples, pears, tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplants can also be bred without seeds through a specific process. This entire process is called parthenocarpy, and it's most commonly applied to grapes.