Ancient Wine

Wine has been produced for thousands of years, with evidence of ancient wine production in Georgia from BC (the earliest known traces of wine),
West Azerbaijan province of Iran from BC, Armenia from BC (large-scale production), and Sicily from BC.
The earliest evidence of a grape and rice mixed based fermented drink sometimes compared to wine was found in ancient 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.The history of wine in ancient Greece
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 wine 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 sedentism style of living, which led to agriculture and wine domestication.

Wild grapes grow in the Caucasus region (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia), the northern Levant, coastal and southeastern Turkey, and northern Iran. The fermenting of strains of this wild '' Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris'' (the ancestor of the modern wine grape, '' V. vinifera'') would have become easier following the development of pottery during the later Neolithic, BC. The earliest discovered evidence, however, dates from several millennia later.

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),.
Prehistoric China – The Wonders That Were Jiahu The World’s Earliest Fermented Beverage. Professor Patrick McGovern the Scientific Director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia. Retrieved on 3 January 2017. The Iranian jars contained a form of retsina, using turpentine pine resin to more effectively seal and preserve the wine and is 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.Ancient Mashed Grapes Found in Greece
Discovery News.

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 900 years before the earliest comparable wine remains, found in Egyptian tombs.

The fame of Persian wine has been well known in ancient times. The 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 also 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.Pellechia, T. ''Wine: The 8,000-Year-Old Story of the Wine Trade'', pp. XI–XII. Running Press (London), 2006. .

Antiquity

Ancient China

According to the latest research scholars stated: "Following the definition of the CNCCEF, China has been viewed as "New New World" in the world wine map, despite the fact that grape growing and wine making in China date back to between 7000BC and 9000BC. Winemaking technology and wine culture are rooted in Chinese history and the definition of "New New World" is a misnomer that imparts a Euro centric bias onto wine history and ignores fact." Furthermore, the history of Chinese grape wine has been confirmed and proven to date back 9000 years (7000 BC), including "the earliest attested use" of wild grapes in wine as well as "earliest chemically confirmed alcoholic beverage in the world", according to Adjunct Professor of Anthropology Patrick McGovern, the Scientific Director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia. Professor McGovern continued: "The Jiahu discovery illustrates how you should never give up hope in finding chemical evidence for a fermented beverage from the Palaeolithic period. Research very often has big surprises in store. You might think, as I did too, that the grape wines of Hajji Firuz, the Caucasus, and eastern Anatolia would prove to be the earliest alcoholic beverages in the world, coming from the so-called "Cradle of Civilization" in the Near East as they do. But then I was invited to go to China on the other side of Asia, and came back with samples that proved to be even earlier–from around 7000 BC." Furthermore, other scholarly research has stated that: "There is also evidence for various types of alcoholic beverage production, including rice and grape wine, beer, and various liquors including baijiu in China, ca. 7000 B.C." Additionally, Professor Hames' research stated: "The earliest wine, or fermented liquor, came from China, predating Middle Eastern alcohol by a few thousand years. Archeologists have found pottery shards showing remnants of rice and grape wine dating back to 7000 BC in Jiahu village in Henan province."

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

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