| Wine has a long and venerable history, with | | | | largely by the slave population. What |
| references to its use cropping up in ancient | | | | remained in the wine press after crushing the |
| texts from thousands of years ago - not | | | | grapes - seeds and skins mainly - was often |
| least, of course, in the Bible. We know for a | | | | fed to livestock, or alternatively brewed |
| fact that it was firmly established in the | | | | into a very low quality 'wine' and given to |
| Middle Eastern culture of around two thousand | | | | the slaves who'd grown the grapes. |
| years ago, and for it to be so commonplace at | | | | |
| that time it must have been around for quite | | | | We also know that winemaking was familiar to |
| some time before that. | | | | the ancient Greeks, from whom the Romans |
| | | | learned so much, and there's physical |
| Viticulture was certainly a large part of the | | | | evidence of this in the form of a stone wine |
| economy of the Roman Empire, and the spread | | | | press found in a Minoan villa on the island |
| of Roman civilisation included the spread of | | | | of Crete, dating back to around 1600 BC. The |
| wine growing and wine drinking as the | | | | winemaking facilities discovered there |
| colonising soldiers moved across the Old | | | | appeared to be quite advanced and |
| World. In ancient Rome, a common form of wine | | | | sophisticated, suggesting that the Minoans |
| was known as mulsum, heavily sweetened with | | | | had been practising the art of winemaking for |
| honey, and produced on large agrarian estates | | | | a considerable period before that date. |