Origin of Wine

How did wine become so popular? How is it that almost the entire planet knows about wine and appreciates it properly? Not all beverages have managed to become so well-known, so why wine?

If you want to know these answers, that's perfect, because that's what this article is going to be about.

1. Is the origin of the wine in the Marseille region?

In our more recent research (in the 1990s), we believed that this whole story took place during the time of the Greeks in the region of present-day Marseille. Apparently, it occurred during the early 6th century BC .

Following this lead, we learned that the people living at that time had managed to export it to Roman Italy through trade. The Romans were so fond of this drink that they decided to start cultivating vineyards .

Later, we realized that our story wasn't accurate . The error wasn't in the events themselves; everything they had discovered was true because it was confirmed through rigorous scientific research. The mistake they had made was in the chronology.

Because they hadn't looked in the right place, they were unable to find the true origin of the wine .

2. The true starting point of wine history

In research published in 2017, other archaeologists found jar relics which, after thorough examination, proved to be even older than those we had found in the Phocaean city. These discoveries were made in the southern Caucasus, in what is now Georgia .

Based on the results provided by experts, we now know that the history of wine began approximately 8000 years ago in -6000 BC , which is about fifty-six centuries before the first date found.

Now that we know this, what proves that we are not mistaken again? If indeed the origin of wine is older than that, we have not yet found any trace of it.

3. Wine in the Time of the Pharaohs

Later, we found depictions of scenes left by the ancient Egyptians. These represented the time of the wine harvest in the vineyards .

We also learned during our research in this area that the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun contained amphorae of wine. In honor of this Egyptian god, you can purchase a Tutankhamun ring . According to the discoveries, the amphorae of wine were there so that he could continue to enjoy this beverage even after his death.

Meanwhile, wine was reserved for the rulers . It was also used in rituals and various religious practices of the time. It is therefore perfectly natural for the pharaoh to rest in peace, with wine by his side when he felt a little thirsty!

4. Wine in the time of the Greeks

A short jump through space and time, to rediscover the Greeks. But this time, we're going to look at the Greeks of ancient Greece, around 2000 BC.

The Greeks appreciated wine so much that they made it the most important element of their agriculture. For them, it was a way to show the world (or at least what they knew of it) that they knew how to cultivate the land and that they had the blessing of their wine goddess, the great Dionysus .

The Greeks were so proud of it that they had managed to export it almost everywhere around the Mediterranean basin.

5. Wine in the time of the Etruscans and Romans

A little later, while Etruscan civilization flourished on the Italian peninsula, winemaking continued thanks to the Greek legacy. And since wine was a highly valued beverage, they took advantage of this by selling it throughout the Mediterranean basin in order to prosper.

A few centuries later, when the Greek and Etruscan civilizations began to disappear, it was the Romans' turn to perpetuate viticulture in Europe . Thanks to their great political and military power, they were able to promote it in territories conquered around the Tyrrhenian Sea.

A quick geography reminder: the Tyrrhenian Sea is a small part of the Mediterranean Sea and lies between the west coast of Italy and the east coast of Corsica and Sardinia. And a little extra tidbit: the Romans could transport up to 10,000 amphorae, each with a capacity of 25 liters .

6. Wine in the Middle Ages

With the fall of the Roman Empire, Christianity took over as the dominant religion. And as you all know, wine plays a very important role in this belief system, thanks to the moment in the Bible where Jesus, holding up a cup of wine, says, “Drink, this is my blood.”

For this reason, the church wanted to market this beverage as much as possible . It is thanks to the church that the areas under grape production were able to increase so much and that the winemaking process was able to improve.

For much of the early Middle Ages, only white wine was produced. But during the papal reign of Clement VI, one vineyard distinguished itself by producing the first red wine in France. As this sweet nectar was a great success at the papal court, efforts were made to export it as widely as possible.

7. How wine conquered the world

Since the Middle Ages, we have gone through many periods of colonization. And the explorers and sailors of the time took advantage of this to bring wine with them, in order to "educate" the conquered populations in good taste.

For some, this period is truly regrettable. However, if we still have wine today, it is also because they were able to export vines to South America and South Africa .

During the 19th century, European vineyards suffered heavy losses due to phylloxera, an aphid that, just like us, loved grapes.

Fortunately, thanks to imports of African and American grapes that they had exported earlier and which increased, they were able to solve the problem. But before the wine could flow freely again, as it had before, it took 30 years to overcome the situation.

Even today, vines are either grafted or planted in sand to avoid being destroyed by those pesky aphids. Furthermore, wine can now be opened with electric corkscrews ; the evolution of bottle openers is also interesting to follow.

8. Wine today

Today, we have done a lot of research to optimize winemaking processes . This has also allowed us to create a new branch in science: oenology .

Moreover, the classification of vineyards, which you can obtain by continuing your research, was started during the 20th century.

Now, the only remaining question is how wine will continue to evolve in the future . It's a very interesting question, and one that will require a great deal of patience to answer!