It’s sold in most supermarkets, and it’s one of the nation’s most loved tipples of all time, but there are still quite a few things to learn about wine. Did you know that…

Natural wine is better - You may have thought that the wine that you’ve been consuming over the years is natural but in face it’s not. Various chemicals are used throughout the process of producing the wine and later, preservatives are added to keep it fresher for longer. The sulphates that are added to wine are known to be partly responsible for the hangovers we get the next day. Why not give natural wine or organic wine a try next time.

Wine should not be stored upright – That’s right, all the supermarkets are doing it wrong. Wine that is topped with a cork should always be stored on its side. This is to prevent premature oxidisation which can naturally occur if the cork begins to dry out. As we all know, premature oxidisation will ruin the wine’s flavour making it very unpalatable.

Not all wines improve with time – According to Vinepair, only 1% of all the wine produced in the world is meant to be aged. The rest should be consumed within five years for the best flavour. This doesn’t mean to say it’s lower quality but it does make wine that is meant to be aged, a rarity.

Climate change has caused a boom in UK wine production – In the last decade; the increasing temperatures have benefitted UK wine productions which have caused a boom in the industry. That being said, extreme weather changes make yield prediction virtually impossible. Changes in yield mean a change in pricing.

Wine can be made from other fruit - Grapes are the number one wine making fruit because they contain the perfect amount of natural sugars, water and tannins to create the right balance for fermentation. Wine can be made from other fruit too, but it takes more additives to create the same final product.