Origins & History of Wines (Summary)

1. History of Wine – The Truth!
• Bible: ‘Noah, who was a farmer, was the first man to plant a vineyard.
After he drank some of the wine . . .’ (Genesis 9:20-21)
9:20-
• Fable: Wine discovered quot;accidentallyquot; by a Persian princess (circa 2900 BC)
• Greeks: Earliest civilization reported to start ‘making wines’
(From Archaeologists, Philosophers(1) , Poets (2),
, Legends/Myths (3) ,
Festivals (4) to Divinities (5) )
(1) Philosophers who mention wines: Plato, Socrates, Arisotles etc
(2) Poets who mention wines: Homer in ‘Iliad ‘& ‘Odyssey’ - wine refer as a daily drink)
Odyssey’ drink)
(3) Legends/myths who mention wines: Hippocrates - medicinal etc
(4) Festival ‘Anthesteria‘ celebrated in February dedicated to wines – with processions &
Anthesteria‘
wine-drinking contests
wine-
(5) Dionysus: God of Wine
• 500BC: Greece monopolized wine commerce in ancient world
(Aegean Sea, Black Sea & Danube - believed today to be some of the busy trading routes
of ancient Greek wines).
• Amphorae: Storage of wines in a form of airtight, ceramic vessels, called
amphorae
(exported all over Europe; remains of these found even in the southern coast of France)
southern
All Rights Reserved. WineCaviar LLP @Copyright 2008. Unauthorised reproduction & circulation strictly prohibited.

2. History of Wine – The Truth!
• Roman Empire: Romans played a major role in laying the foundation of
viticulture
(classification of grape varieties, identification of different phases involved in
wine making process, methods of charting ripening characteristics of grapes,
characteristics
studying diseases affecting,. the quality of the harvest & yield were improved)
• Roman Empire: Romans - 1st to start bottling wines into bottled glass
• ~1st century AD: Italy began exporting wines all over Europe
(to Spain, Germany, France and England etc)
• Before long: most countries also started producing their own wines
• Today: France, most developed & comprehensive establishment
- one of the major dominant force in the wine industry in
present time
(France invented Oak barrel for aging of wine, amongst others)
All Rights Reserved. WineCaviar LLP @Copyright 2008. Unauthorised reproduction & circulation strictly prohibited.