| Wine has a long and venerable history, with | | | | although we can't be sure, it seems that it |
| references to its use cropping up in ancient | | | | was from the ancient Egyptians that the |
| texts from thousands of years ago - not | | | | Greeks learned to make wine. |
| least, of course, in the Bible. We know for a | | | | |
| fact that it was firmly established in the | | | | Physical evidence of wine production in |
| Middle Eastern culture of around two thousand | | | | ancient Egypt includes remains of wine jars |
| years ago, and for it to be so commonplace at | | | | and stoppers dating back to the earliest |
| that time it must have been around for quite | | | | years of the civilization, and wine was used |
| some time before that. | | | | both as a food and a medicine. Wine in |
| | | | pharonic times was not only made from grapes, |
| Viticulture was certainly a large part of the | | | | but also from figs, pomegranates, and other |
| economy of the Roman Empire, and the spread | | | | fruits, a practice which continues across the |
| of Roman civilization included the spread of | | | | world to this day in the rural production of |
| wine growing and wine drinking as the | | | | 'country wines' such as damson and |
| colonizing soldiers moved across the Old | | | | elderberry. |
| World. In ancient Rome, a common form of wine | | | | |
| was known as mulsum, heavily sweetened with | | | | The first great civilization of historic |
| honey, and produced on large agrarian estates | | | | times was in Mesopotamia, close to Egypt, in |
| largely by the slave population. What | | | | what is modern day Iraq and surrounding |
| remained in the wine press after crushing the | | | | areas. Although records from this era are |
| grapes - seeds and skins mainly - was often | | | | sketchy, considering that writing was not |
| fed to livestock, or alternatively brewed | | | | invented until the latter part of the |
| into a very low quality 'wine' and given to | | | | civilization, there is evidence that wine was |
| the slaves who'd grown the grapes. | | | | produced here too. A clay jar bearing traces |
| | | | of what could have been wine has been |
| We also know that winemaking was familiar to | | | | discovered in what is now northern Iran, and |
| the ancient Greeks, from whom the Romans | | | | carbon dating shows that it was made around |
| learned so much, and there's physical | | | | 5000-5400 BC. This is the oldest known |
| evidence of this in the form of a stone wine | | | | evidence of wine consumption, but as this |
| press found in a Minoan villa on the island | | | | period of pre-history stretches back to 8500 |
| of Crete, dating back to around 1600 BC. The | | | | BC, it is likely that wine making had been |
| wine making facilities discovered there | | | | known and practiced for maybe thousands of |
| appeared to be quite advanced and | | | | years before that. |
| sophisticated, suggesting that the Minoans | | | | |
| had been practicing the art of wine making | | | | So, next time you relax with a glass in your |
| for a considerable period before that date. | | | | hand, ponder for a moment that what you are |
| | | | drinking could be the results of over ten |
| Prior to this, the trail is a little less | | | | thousand years of cumulative learning and |
| clear as we go further back into history. The | | | | experimentation with the magical process of |
| ancient Greeks had strong trading links with | | | | fermenting grapes! |
| nearby eastern cultures such as Egypt, and | | | | |