When was wine first created

Many will think that the Romans invented wine — This is not the case though they added a great deal of advancing some of the viticulture practices and of course broadening its fan base as they expanding their empire. The biggest thing to consider with the birth of wine is that no it was not in France and wrong again, it was not in Italy either!

Some facts and claims are a little harder to prove compared to others which give wine a long and varied history life span already. Wine appears in the likes of the Bible and Hebrew Bible Noah planted a vineyard and became inebriated — Famous pieces of artwork include wine to include Twelfth-night The King Drinks and The Last Supper — Many of us will have also heard that wine is a gift from the Gods and that Jesus Christ himself was able to turn the water into wine!

In this article I wanted to take a quick look at some sparkling wines from a country, which I have visited myself, that holds one of the longest and what many consider the most important history when it comes to wine — Georgia.

For white, look for rkatsiteli, Chinuri which also makes lovely sparkling , and for a qvevri-made wine, kakhuri mtsvivani is beautiful. When it comes to red, look out for those made from the local grape separavi, which is the dominant variety in the country and creates a strong colour with serious depth of flavour. Usakehlouri, from the west, and Tavkveri in Kartli are also recommended.

Generally Georgian wines are dry but thanks to the Slavic market, sweet and semi-sweet wines are growing in popularity. Try Usakhelauri, Khvanchkara, Akhasheni and Tvishi varieties to satisfy your sweet tooth. All rights reserved. Georgian wine and traditional foods are at the center of the culture in this country. Modern Georgian winemaking The tumultuous years around the Soviet period were initially good for Georgian wine production. During this time, wine production spread widely across South America.

Spanish missionaries established the first winery in Chile not surprising since wine was a mainstay of the Catholic Church by then. In the late 18th century, Spanish missionary Junipero Serra traveled to San Diego, California, where he established the state's first mission and first known vineyard. As the friar and his fellow monks developed missions up and down the state, they continued to plant the Mission grape, a varietal of Vitis vinifera from Spain.

Four types of wine were made from this grape: a sweet white wine that fermented the juice without the skins; a dry and sweet red wine made by fermenting the juice with the skins on; and a sweet fortified wine. After that, other European settlers in Los Angeles added several European grape varieties to their vineyards.

In the early 19th century, Scottish-born, British-raised, and Australian-based viticulturist and writer James Busby triggered the dawn of a new era for wine growing in the geographic region of Oceania. After much research and cross-continental travel between Australia and Europe, he took grapevine cuttings from Europe and planted vineyards in Australia.

Nearly years later, descendants of his original cuttings are still thriving in vineyards throughout Australia and New Zealand. It's no wonder he's considered the father of the Australian wine industry.

In a full circle moment, we'll conclude our walk through the history of wine back where we started: in China. As the Chinese economy started to boom in the late s, the nation grew into one of the world's largest consumers and producers of wine. While rice wine remains the most popular alcoholic beverage in the country — harkening back to its ancient roots — grape wine has grown in status and preference. However, overall wine production in China has dropped significantly in recent years.

There's no clear reason why this is happening, but some experts suggest the downturn might be due to unfavorable growing conditions, waning interest in locally produced wine, and the influx of imports from better-known wine regions. No matter how this story continues, it's clear that wine is here to stay. In fact, the only continent on the planet where vineyards do not exist is Antarctica. Knowing how various cultures have produced and used wine over the years can enhance your wine drinking experience.

It's a lesson in history that you can savor every time you take a sip. For even more captivating facts on the wonders of wine, be sure to check out the Usual Wines blog.

Liquid error: include usage is not allowed in this context Your cart looks a little empty! Continue Shopping. When and Where Did Winemaking Begin? Ancient World Wine vs. It is no well-kept secret that the Greeks like to mix their wine with water including sea water amazingly and to add honey and spices.

This shows us of how thoroughly embedded in the culture wine traditions were. The ancient Greeks used to line the amphoras with tree resin, which gave it a very distinctive flavour. It is thought that developed into the wine Greeks and much of the world drink and enjoy today, known as retsina. Greeks and their recent wine history. During the Turkish occupation, the wine industry of Greece was almost whipped out as the Muslim Turks discouraged winemaking and heavily taxed wine farmers.

This meant many farmers went out of business and the only people who were excluded from the heavy tax where monks. Fortunately, the monasteries kept the craft alive in Greece for the years it was occupied. The Greeks then achieved independence in After France recovered, the demand for raisins went down and the Greeks started to grow wine vines again.

These prevented a stable wine trade from being established until At first the winemakers just churned out standard table wine and it looked like the nation who first produced fine wines would never return to its former glory. Fortunately though, the Greek winemakers are on the up and with an arsenal of different native grape varieties - each with very distinctive flavours - they would soon resume their position as one of the leading producers and worldwide distributors of quality wine.

The only thing that remains for the Greeks triumphant return to the top is for the promotion of fine winemaking to Greek farmers, and to let the world know the Greeks are back. The Roman wine journey. The next group to start developing winemaking and the actual growth of the vine in roughly BC were, in fact, a Greek colony that had grown so strong they had become independent of the Greeks.

The Romans made major contributions to the science of winemaking. They took huge steps to the classification of many varieties of grapes. They also invented the wooden wine barrel. This was a huge development considering the kind of wood used to make the barrel imparts its own distinct flavours to the wine. Also, the barrels allow for the wine to evaporate a little bit during the aging process. It is important to remember the Romans laid down the foundations.

The Romans are also thought to be the first to use glass bottles for wine. The oldest bottle of wine to be found has been dated to AD. Corking had been invented at that time, but the Romans preferred to preserve their wine by floating a layer of olive oil on it. They classified many diseases that afflict grapes. The Romans preferred drink was beer and mead, because of their warrior past. Thanks to this book, beer and mead were a thing of the past and wine was the drink of the future.

After another hundred years there would be defined regions for winemaking. Apparently, the most desired regions were Falernian and Caecuban, but they disappeared after just 50 years due to Neronian public works. If the wine was as fine as it is claimed, then this conclusively proves the mental condition of Emperor Nero was very poor indeed. The Romans, much like the Greeks, enjoyed drinking parties where philosophical debates and poetry readings took place.

The difference in these parties was that the Romans tended to get very drunk and dancing girls and orgies were also a standard part of the night. The master of ceremonies would choose the type or blend of wine, how much water should be mixed with the wine and call out the toasts.

In short, he had the best job going at the party. The people who attended these parties were rich, but the poor got there fair share of wine also. At the theatre and at the games, there was a drink called muslum, which consisted of cheap wine mixed with honey. This was provided by politicians that needed support for the next election. If only our MP did the same! It was also consumed a lot at the graveside funeral feasts.

Wine was poured down specially designed orifices in the tombs, so that the dead could share wine with the living. Wine continued to play a significant role in the Catholic religion.