Learn Italian: È una vecchia tradizione: si beve il vino così. - It is an old tradition: one drinks wine like this.

The word si is the impersonal si. It is used to talk about actions done by people in general, just like saying 'one drinks,' 'people drink,' or 'you drink' in English. If we just said beve, it would mean a specific 'he drinks' or 'she drinks'.

If we were talking about drinking multiple things, would si beve change?

Yes! When using the impersonal si with an object, the verb has to agree with that object. Because il vino is singular, we use the singular verb beve. If the object were plural, like i vini (the wines), the verb would change to the plural form: si bevono i vini.

Why is there an article before vino when the English translation just says 'wine'?

In Italian, you almost always need a definite article like il before a noun when talking about a general category or substance. While English drops the article to just say 'wine,' Italian keeps it as il vino.

Why does the adjective vecchia come before the noun tradizione?

Adjectives usually go after the noun in Italian. However, a few very common descriptive adjectives, including vecchio (old), nuovo (new), bello (beautiful), and buono (good), typically come before the noun.