It is very obvious that wine and history have greatly influenced
each other. The earliest scientific evidence of grapes is the Fossil
vines which are millions of years old. The first written account of wine
vines is in the Old Testament of the Bible. It states that Noah had
planted a vineyard and made wine.
An ancient Persian tale tells
the story of a lady of the court who discovers wine by accident. The
princess, had lost favor with the King so she decides to attempt to
poison herself by eating some table grapes that had spoiled in a jar.
After eating them, thinking that this would kill her, instead she became
intoxicated, giddy and quite sleepy. After waking from her nap, she
discovered that she felt very different about the stresses that had been
making her life miserable. These spoiled grapes had become a source of
relief for her and she became a changed person with a mild and favorable
demeanor. She regained her favor with the King and shared with him her
discovery who inturn ordered the increased production of these spoiled
grapes. It was established that grape cultivation and wine drinking had
started around 4000BC. The first developments were in Mesopotamia,
Persia and around the Caspian Sea, also writings were found in the
ancient Egyptian tombs proving that wine was being consumed. The
Egyptians had recognized the difference in wine quality and had
cultivated the first arbors and pruning methods.
Wine came to
Europe during the spread of Greek civilization around 1600BC. Wine
became very important to Greece's economy and was used by physcians,
including Hippocrates, for medicinal purposes. The Greeks also started
to add herbs and spices to curb the bitterness of the spoiled grapes. The
spread of viniculture in Western Europe was primarily due to the strong
influence of the Romans. Starting around 1000BC, the Romans made
strides in the classifying of grape varieties and colors. They
identified diseases and the preference of different types of soil. They
may also have been the first to use glass bottles, as glassblowing had
become more common during this period.
The Roman Empire started
exported the wine in barrels to Spain, Germany, England and France. It
wasn't long before these countries began developing their own vineyards
and exporting their own barrels. To eliminate competition with the local
wineries, the Romans forbade the import of French wines. Over the next
few centuries France dominanated the world wine market. The Monks became
responsible for establishing many vineyards in Burgundy, Champagne, and
the Rhine Valley.
During the Reign of Henry II, England had been
the principal customer of Bordeaux. At the end of the Hundred Years War
in 1453, their was little to no trade of wine between England and
France. Ultimately political conflicts limited the export of French
wines and England began importing their wines from Portugal. They
discovered and developed a great love of Port wine.
Explorations
and conquests brought wine to Mexico, Argentina and South Africa in the
late 1500's. Although there were many attempts to grow wine vineyards
along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, after 2 to 3 seasons the vines would
die off and no one took the time to investigate why they were dying in
these areas. Mexico and California vineyards didn't seem to have these
problems.As in Europe, vineyards were under the care of the
Church missions and in 1769, a Franciscan missionary Priest planted the
first California vineyard in San Diego. From there Father Serra
established eight more missions and vineyards until his death in 1784.
Since then, he has been proclaimed the "Father of California Wine" The
variety he planted from the original Mexican plantings became known as
the "Mission Grape" that dominated the California wine production until
the late 1880's. Part I of 2. http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Ancient-History-of-Wine&id=7657766
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