History (wine)

The oldest evidence of ancient wine production has been found in Georgia from BC (the earliest known traces of grape wine),
Greece from BC, Armenia from BC (large-scale production), and Sicily from BC.
The earliest evidence of fermented alcoholic beverage of rice, honey and fruit, sometimes compared to wine, is claimed in China ( BC).

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. at greekwinemakers.com 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.

Wine production and consumption increased, burgeoning from the 15th century onwards as part of European expansion. Despite the devastating 1887 phylloxera louse infestation, modern science and technology adapted and industrial wine production and widespread consumption now occur throughout the world.

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.

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 ( BC), Hajj Firuz, West Azerbaijan province of Iran ( BC), Greece ( BC), and Sicily ( BC). The earliest evidence of steady production of wine has been found in Armenia ( BC) while the earliest evidence of a grape and rice mixed-based fermented drink was found in ancient China ( BC). 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.

Persian wines were widely famous in ancient times. Carvings on the Audience Hall, known as Apadana Palace, in Persepolis, demonstrate soldiers of subjected nations by the Persian Empire bringing gifts to the Persian king.

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''Temple, Robert. (1986). ''The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention''. With a foreword by Joseph Needham. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc. . Page 101. 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 (modern Xinjiang) reached the Hellenistic successor states of Alexander's empire: Dayuan