🍷 History of wine

History of wine is the story of how people have made and drunk wine over thousands of years. The history of wine goes back about 8000 years. The first traces of winemaking are found in the Caucasus and the Middle East.

The oldest finds are linked to Georgia, where traces of wine have been found in clay vessels. In the Areni-1 cave in Armenia, ancient vats and a press were found. At Hajji Firuz Tepe in Iran, jars with wine residue were found. Jiahu in China stands apart, with traces of an early fermented drink that was not made from grapes alone. From these places the craft passed to Egypt, where wine was a drink of the elite. Then the ancient Greeks spread winemaking, and after them the Romans, who brought the vine to the west and north of Europe.

In the Middle Ages wine was made mostly in monasteries: monks kept the knowledge of viticulture. Later came glass bottles, cork and new ways of ageing. There are ancient legends too, such as that of Noah and his vineyard. The history of wine shows how the drink grew from early experiments into a whole culture with traditions, regions and trades. Today vines are grown on every continent except Antarctica.