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