The origins of the word ''wine'' are lost. Given its similarity in all the ancient languages (Greek oinos, Hebrew yayin, Latin vinum) it probably grew out of win-, a root word in a now forgotten Mediterranean language. The first recognisable wine made from grapes was produced in Bronze Age Georgia and Iran (c 6000BC), although rice wine was already being made in China. The Greeks were the first European winemakers and almost all the world's wine is now made from sub-varieties of a European species, Vitis vinifera. In most parts of the world this is grafted onto the rootstock of related North American species that are resistant to phylloxera, a root-eating louse. The phylloxera epidemic of the late 19th century destroyed 90 per cent of Europe's vineyards. Now only wine from the louse-free lands of Argentina and Chile and the Canary Islands is produced from original V. vinifera vines. Not all insect interventions are bad: the tannins that give red wine its complex flavour and longevity are produced by the grape to deter caterpillars.  The dark green wine bottle was an English invention, the work of Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-1665), a Catholic polymath and diplomat, who also managed his family's coal-fired gasworks. Previously wine had been kept in goat skin bags. In 2008 the British drank 1.66 billon bottles of wine. Even so, we still drink half as much wine per head as the French (but three times as much as Americans). In 2008, year-on-year wine sales in Britain slowed for the first time in almost two decades. But fine wine as an investment continues to outperform the stock market, perhaps because as a ''wasting chattel'' (goods that won't last more than 50 years) profits made on wine are exempt from capital gains tax. In 2007-08, the Liv-ex 100, a London-based internet ''wine exchange'' increased its value by 34 per cent. In the same period, the FTSE 100 fell 6.9 per cent.  The largest proportion of wine bottle corks are made from cork harvested in Portugal. There are 2,200,000 hectares of cork forest worldwide, 33 per cent of this in Portugal. Cork is the most eco-friendly wine stopper; cork trees live 200 years and cork can be harvested every nine years, once they reach 25 years old. Before cork was used, oil-soaked rags were stuffed into bottles.  Coca-Cola owes its existence to wine. In the mid 19th century ''tonic'' wines became popular. These were often fortified with coca, the South American plant extract better known as the source of cocaine. In 1863, Pope Leo XIII awarded a medal to Angelo Mariani, the formulator of Vin Mariani, a coca-wine drunk by millions across the world. Celebrity consumers included Queen Victoria, Thomas Edison, Sarah Bernhardt and Jules Verne. An American version, Pemberton's French Wine Coca, was produced in Atlanta by John Pemberton and developed a following among the city's intellectuals. In 1885 local prohibition laws forced him to produce a non-alcoholic version, which he pepped up with caffeine-rich kola nuts from Africa. The rest of the story is history.  There were other ways around prohibition. Some US grape-juices manufacturers would add a label to their product which read: ''CAUTION! Do not add these grapes to five gallons of water and five pounds of sugar with yeast, or it will ferment into wine, which is ILLEGAL.''  The son of a London sweetshop owner, Charles Gordon Maynard wanted to create a sweet that could be savoured like a fine wine. His ''wine gum'' plan nearly backfired, however, as his father, Charles Riley Maynard was a strict Methodist teetotaller who threatened to expel him from the business for introducing wine to his products. However, then as now, the ''wine'' label was merely a ruse: despite being named after port, sherry, champagne, burgundy and claret, the only flavourings wine gums contain are derived from fruit. Launched by Maynard's in 1909, by 2002 they were selling more than £40 million a year.
A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This   week: QI enjoys a glass of wine.