Wines Place In Time

Welcome to vine to wine this is your host Linda Moran. The definition of the word wine means fermented grape juice. But you know any fermented product could be referred to as "wine". Almost any type of berries, dandelion flowers, barley, figs, apricots, apples, and elder-flowers can be fermented and called wine. Even honey, ferments to mead. Let’s take a look at where wine fits on the history timeline. The making of wine seems to have been developed in the Mediterranean area of the world. Other regions have since acquired and refined the art. Wine making has been in existence for thousands of years and is closely intertwined with the history of agriculture and civilization. Archaeological evidence suggests that early wine production came from sites in Georgia and Iran, as far back as 6000 to 5000 BC. The archaeological evidence becomes clearer and points to domestication of grapevine in from around the third millennium BC. The earliest European wine production was  uncovered at sites in Macedonia, dated to 6,500 years ago. In Egypt, wine became a part of recorded history, playing an important role in ancient ceremonial life. As we all know wine was popular in classical Greece and Rome^, with many of the major wine producing regions of Western Europe being established with Phoenician and later Roman plantings. Wine making technology, such as the wine press, improved considerably during the time of the Roman Empire; many grape varieties and cultivation techniques were known and barrels were developed for storing and shipping wine. Wow! Who would have thought way back then there would be so many wine lovers. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thanks for joining me on today’s Vine to Wine.