Early History
Wine has a long and varied history dating back for thousands of years and spanning many cultures and countries across the world. Its history is also intrinsically interlinked with other histories of farming, cooking, civilisation growth and indeed, man’s own history, as it seems that from man’s earliest days, early farmers and foragers created rudimentary alcoholic drinks from wild berries and fruits, including small and sour wildly growing grapes.
Evidence discovered by Archaeologists points to signs of the first production of wine as early as 6000 BC, probably in Iran and Georgia. Later on grapevines began to be initially cultivated in the early Bronze Ages, with vineyard sites found in Egypt and Sumer from around 3000 years BC. Wine actually became part of Egypt’s recorded social history and its importance in ceremonies is well documented. Signs of wine production in Europe have also been found as far as 6,400 years ago in Macedonia, with remains of the first evidence of grape pressing, and signs of a form of wild wine were also found in China, dated from the 1st and 2nd millennia BC.
Initial wines in the ancient world were mainly red, although evidence of the first ever white wines were found in Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt. The drinking of wine was surrounded by a good deal of superstition and folklore for the Egyptians, thanks to its blood like appearance. Egyptians believed that it might be the blood of fallen warriors, whose fallen bodies had merged with the earth and created grape vines.
Once initially established, with rudimentary production techniques being rapidly developed and refined, early wines quickly became an important part of the great ancient cultures of Rome and Greece, and indeed a greal deal of the main wine making regions in West Europe were created with Roman plantations.
The Romans
The Roman Empire played a pivotal role in the creation of modern viticulture. The Romans viewed wine as a key part of their daily diet, and so their production became a highly skilled business. Their wine production expanded along with the empire, and in fact nearly all of West Europe’s main wine making regions were initially established by the Roman Empire. The Romans also greatly improved wine making technology – with presses becoming common features in local manors. They introduced the first wine press and cultivated new varieties of grape, as well as developing new techniques and strong storage and transportation barrels. The resulting drink was often mixed with various minerals, potent herbs and even ground pearls for their perceived medical benefits.
Medieval Europe
Over time, as Medieval Europe replaced Roman rule, wine began to be produced on a wide scale in many countries, thanks primarily to the Catholic Church’s use of wine in the mass. For this reason the church was a key supporter of the wine industry. In fact, wine was actually viewed as a civilised drink, demonstrating conversion and commitment to the Christian church – strongly contrasting to the attitudes of the time towards beer, which in Germany was actually banned and viewed to be a barbaric drink favoured by pagans.
Wine was of course also forbidden in Medieval Islamic cultures, however Muslim chemists were responsible for pioneering the distillation techniques which allowed wine to be used in medicinal preparations. Wine also appeared as a core and recurring theme in Persia’s poetry for over 1,000 years, despite its outlawed status!
Middle Ages
Together, the production – and consumption – of wine steadily increased in all levels and groups of society, becoming highly popular from the fifteenth century onwards. In the Middle Ages, wine became a very common drink in the South, where the wine grapes were being cultivated – whilst beer remained the common drink for lower classes in the Northern regions where hops were more traditionally grown. Wine was also imported to the Northern regions, but due to its expense it tended to be drunk mainly by the noble upper classes.
Tragedy strikes!
Later on, as production across the world intensified, tragedy struck. The Phylloxera louse devastated vineyards all across Europe in the late nineteenth century, bringing tragedy to the livelihoods of the wine producers. Many indigenous grape varieties were lost forever and the effects of the blight were widespread. However, there was a positive side and the fittest varieties survived and eventually flourished.
Today
Today a huge range of countries produce wines of all types and quality, from the traditional French regions to the New world wines of Australia and South Africa. Even American wines, once looked down upon as being an inferior product to Europe, have grown in popularity in recent years with a wide variety of wines being produced in Chile, Argentina and California in particular.
