Wine, as it is known today, is an alcoholic beverage derived from the fermentation of grape juice, which is produced thanks to the action of the yeasts present in the skins of the grapes.
The name wine comes from the Latin vinum, which is believed to come from the Greek oinos and even the Sanskrit vêna.
Today, we tell you the history of wine and its origin, so that you know more about this elixir.
Origin of the wine
The wine was produced for the first time during the Neolithic, according to archaeological evidence found in the Zagros Mountains, in the region now occupied by Iraq and Iran, thanks to the presence of Vitis vinifera sylvestris and the appearance of pottery during this period.
The oldest evidence of the production and consumption of this drink is a vessel from 5400 BC. C., found in the Neolithic town of Hajii Firuz Tepe, in the Zagros mountains.
The pot contains a reddish residue, presumably wine. Although recently the oldest known winery has been found, dating back to 6000 BC. C., which places the oldest production in Armenia.
Subsequently, the consumption of the drink spread westward, reaching Anatolia and Greece; and towards the south, reaching Egypt, already famous in Bahariya during the Middle Kingdom (20th century BC)
Oldest records
The oldest Greek documentation on the care of the vine, the harvest, and the pressing of the grapes is the works and the days, by Hesiod, from the 8th century BC. In ancient Greece, it was drunk mixed with water, and kept in goat skins.
The first thing that should be noted is that wine, throughout history, has been highly regarded by Western high society, being an essential witness at any event or banquet of importance and around it, the great treaties and events have been signed.
Already in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, Dionysus or Bacchus (god of the vineyards) was worshiped and the Bible refers to it in various passages, among others where it relates the Last Supper of Jesus, who offered a glass of wine to his disciples representing his blood. We know that, in China, 4000 years ago, they already knew the process of fermentation of the grape, and that, in Egypt, in the fourteenth century BC. C., they already knew viticulture.
Viticulture owes its greatest development to the spread of Christianity, as it is the necessity of this drink for the celebration of mass. The monasteries, with their own production and extraction methods, were the forerunners of viticulture and viniculture, leaving traces as clear as priory wines, from the word prior.
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