Results: Humanity's Love of Wine

The spread of viticulture Vitis vinifera was being cultivated in the Middle East by 4000 BCE and probably earlier. Egyptian records dating from 2500 BCE refer to the use of grapes for wine making, two amphora found in King Tut's tomb contained residue of white wine. Numerous biblical references to wine indicate the early origin and significance of the industry in the Middle East. Did you know The Greeks carried on an active wine trade and planted grapes in their colonies from the Black Sea to Spain?

The Romans carried grape growing into the valleys of the Rhine and Moselle (which became the great wine regions of Germany and Alsace), the Danube (of Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, and Austria), and the Rhône, Saône, Garonne, Loire, and Marne (which define the great French regions of Rhône, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Loire, and Champagne, respectively). The role of wine in the Christian mass helped maintain the industry after the fall of the Roman Empire, and monastic orders preserved and developed many of the highly regarded wine-producing areas in Europe. Did you know that the Romans were instrumental in Vineyard Development in the areas now known as Germany and France?

Following the voyages of Columbus, grape culture and wine making were transported from the Old World to the New. Spanish missionaries took viticulture to Chile and Argentina in the mid-16th century and to Baja California in the 18th. With the flood of European immigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries, modern industries based on imported V. vinifera grapes were developed. The prime wine-growing regions of South America were established in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. In California the centre of viticulture shifted from the southern missions to the Central Valley and the northern counties of Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino. Have you ever visited any of the Wine Counties in California?

Australia's winemaking history stretches back to 1788, when Governor Arthur Phillip brought the first vines to Sydney from Brazil. In 1833, James Busby, considered the father of the Australian wine industry, brought cuttings from Spain and France and introduced Shiraz (a.k.a. Syrah) and Grenache to the region. British settlers planted European vines in Australia and New Zealand in the early 19th century, and Dutch settlers took grapes from the Rhine region to South Africa as early as 1654. Do you drink wine from Australia?

Prior to the 19th century little was known about the process of fermentation or the causes of spoilage. The Greeks stored wine in earthenware amphorae, and the Romans somewhat extended the life of their wines with improved oaken cooperage, but both civilizations probably drank almost all of their wines within a year of vintage and disguised spoilage by adding such flavourers as honey, herbs, cheese, and salt water. Wooden barrels remained the principal aging vessels until the 17th century, when mass production of glass bottles and the invention of the cork stopper allowed wines to be aged for years in bottles. Were you aware that some wineries are returning to the amphora method over barrels, and, or stainless steel tanks?