History of wine
The earliest known traces of wine were found near Tbilisi, Georgia. The earliest known winery, from, is the Areni-1 winery in Armenia. The subsequent spread of wine culture around the Mediterranean was probably due to the influence of the Phoenicians and Greeks. The Phoenicians exported the wines of Byblos, which were known for their quality into Roman times. Industrialized production of wine in ancient Greece spread across the Italian peninsula and to southern Gaul. The ancient Romans further increased the scale of wine production and trade networks, especially in Gaul around the time of the Gallic Wars. The Romans discovered that burning sulfur candles inside empty wine vessels kept them fresh and free from a vinegar smell, due to the antioxidant effects of sulfur dioxide, which is still used as a wine preservative.
The altered consciousness produced by wine has been considered religious since its origin. The ancient Greeks worshiped Dionysus or Bacchus and the Ancient Romans carried on his cult. Consumption of ritual wine, probably a certain type of sweet wine originally, was part of Jewish practice since Biblical times and, as part of the eucharist commemorating Jesus's Last Supper, became even more essential to the Christian Church. Although Islam nominally forbade the production or consumption of wine, during its Golden Age, alchemists such as Geber pioneered wine's distillation for medicinal and industrial purposes such as the production of perfume.
In medieval Europe, monks grew grapes and made wine for the Eucharist. Monasteries expanded their land holdings over time and established vineyards in many of today's most successful wine regions. Bordeaux was a notable exception, being a purely commercial enterprise serving the Duchy of Aquitaine and by association Britain between the 12th and 15th centuries.
European wine grape traditions were incorporated into New World wine, with colonists planting vineyards in order to celebrate the Eucharist. Vineyards were established in Mexico by 1530, Peru by the 1550s and Chile shortly afterwards. The European settlement of South Africa and subsequent trade involving the Dutch East India Company led to the planting of vines in 1655. British colonists attempted to establish vineyards in Virginia in 1619, but were unable to due to the native phylloxera pest, and downy and powdery mildew. Jesuit Missionaries managed to grow vines in California in the 1670s, and plantings were later established in Los Angeles in the 1820s and Napa and Sonoma in the 1850s. Arthur Phillip introduced vines to Australia in 1788, and viticulture was widely practised by the 1850s. The Australian missionary Samuel Marsden introduced vines to New Zealand in 1819.
The 17th century saw developments which made the glass wine bottle practical, with advances in glassmaking and use of cork stoppers and corkscrews, allowing wine to be aged over timehitherto impossible in the opened barrels which cups had been filled from. The subsequent centuries saw a boom in the wine trade, especially in the mid-to-late 19th century in Italy, Spain and California.
The Great French Wine Blight began in the latter half of the 19th century, caused by an infestation of the aphid phylloxera brought over from America, whose louse stage feeds on vine roots and eventually kills the plant. Almost every vine in Europe needed to be replaced, by necessity grafted onto American rootstock which is naturally resistant to the pest. This practise continues to this day, with the exception of a small number of phylloxera-free wine regions such as South Australia.
The subsequent decades saw further issues impact the wine trade, with the rise of prohibitionism, political upheaval and two world wars, and economic depression and protectionism. The co-operative movement gained traction with winemakers during the interwar period, and the Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité was established in 1947 to oversee the administration of France's appellation laws, the first to create comprehensive restrictions on grape varieties, maximum yields, alcoholic strength and vinification techniques. After the Second World War, the wine market improved; all major producing countries adopted appellation laws, which increased consumer confidence, and winemakers focused on quality and marketing as consumers became more discerning and wealthy. New World wines, previously dominated by a few large producers, began to fill a niche in the market, with small producers meeting the demand for high quality small-batch artisanal wines. A consumer culture has emerged, supporting wine-related publications, wine tourism, paraphernalia such as preservation devices and storage solutions, and educational courses.
Prehistory
Vine domestication
The origins of wine predate written records, and modern archaeology is still uncertain about the details of the first cultivation of wild grapevines. It has been hypothesized that early humans climbed trees to pick berries, liked their sugary flavor, and then began collecting them. After a few days with fermentation setting in, juice at the bottom of any container would begin producing low-alcohol wine. According to this theory, things changed around 10,000–8000 BC with the transition from a nomadic to a sedentary style of living, which led to agriculture and wine domestication.File:A terracotta Kvevri used to ferment and age wine decorated with depictions of bunches of grapes, First half of the 6th millennium BC, from Khramis Didid Gora, National Museum of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia.jpg|thumb|250px|Georgian Kvevri, a jar dated to the 6th millennium BC found at the Shulaveri site.
The earliest act of cultivation appears to have been the favoring of hermaphroditic members of the Vitis vinifera species over the barren male vines and the female vines, which were dependent on a nearby male for pollination. With the ability to pollinate itself, over time the hermaphroditic vines were able to sire offspring that were consistently hermaphroditic.
Wine fermentation
The earliest archaeological evidence of wine fermentation found has been at sites in Georgia, Hajj Firuz, West Azerbaijan province of Iran, Greece, and Sicily. The earliest evidence of steady production of wine has been found in Armenia while the earliest evidence of a grape and rice mixed-based fermented drink was found in ancient China. The Iranian jars, which contained a form of retsina, using turpentine pine resin to more effectively seal and preserve the wine, are the earliest firm evidence of wine production to date. Production spread to other sites in Greater Iran and Greek Macedonia by BC. The Greek site is notable for the recovery at the site of the remnants of crushed grapes.The oldest-known winery was discovered in the "Areni-1" cave in Vayots Dzor, Armenia. Dated to BC, the site contained a wine press, fermentation vats, jars, and cups. Archaeologists also found V. vinifera seeds and vines. Commenting on the importance of the find, McGovern said, "The fact that winemaking was already so well developed in 4000 BC suggests that the technology probably goes back much earlier."
The seeds were from Vitis vinifera, a grape still used to make wine. The cave remains date to about 4000 BC. This is nine hundred years before the earliest comparable wine remains, found in Egyptian tombs.
Domesticated grapes were abundant in the Near East from the beginning of the early Bronze Age, starting in 3200 BC. There is increasingly abundant evidence for winemaking in Sumer and Egypt in the 3rd millennium BC.
Legends of discovery
There are many etiological myths told about the first cultivation of the grapevine and fermentation of wine.The Biblical Book of Genesis first mentions the production of wine by Noah following the Great Flood.
Greek mythology placed the childhood of Dionysus and his discovery of viticulture at Mount Nysa but had him teach the practice to the peoples of central Anatolia. Because of this, he was rewarded to become a god of wine.
In Persian legend, King Jamshid banished a lady of his harem, causing her to become despondent and contemplate suicide. Going to the king's warehouse, the woman sought out a jar marked "poison" containing the remnants of the grapes that had spoiled and were now deemed undrinkable. After drinking the fermented wine, she found her spirits lifted. She took her discovery to the king, who became so enamored of his new drink that he not only accepted the woman back but also decreed that all grapes grown in Persepolis would be devoted to winemaking.
Antiquity
Ancient China
A 2003 report by archaeologists indicates a possibility that grapes were mixed with rice to produce fermented drinks in ancient China in the early years of the seventh millennium BCE. Pottery jars from the Neolithic site of Jiahu, Henan, contained traces of tartaric acid and other organic compounds commonly found in wine. However, other fruits indigenous to the region, such as hawthorn, cannot be ruled out. If these drinks, which seem to be the precursors of rice wine, included grapes rather than other fruits, they would have been any of the several dozen indigenous wild species in China, rather than Vitis vinifera, which was introduced 6000 years later.Archaeologists have discovered production from native "mountain grapes" like V. thunbergii and V. filifolia during the 1st millennium BC. Production of beer had largely disappeared by the time of the Han dynasty, in favor of stronger drinks fermented from millet, rice, and other grains. Although these huangjiu have frequently been translated as "wine", they are typically 20% ABV and considered quite distinct from grape wine within China.
During the 2nd century BC, Zhang Qian's exploration of the Western Regions reached the Hellenistic successor states of Alexander's empire: Dayuan, Bactria, and the Indo-Greek Kingdom. These had brought viticulture into Central Asia and trade permitted the first wine produced from V. vinifera grapes to be introduced to China.
Wine was imported again when trade with the west was restored under the Tang dynasty, but it remained mostly imperial fare and it was not until the Song that its consumption spread among the gentry. Marco Polo's 14th-century account noted the continuing preference for rice wines continuing in Yuan China.