From the Neolithic to Ancient Rome: Wine in Antiquity

The Origins: Stone Age Transcaucasia

  • As is true for many of humanity's most significant advances—the wheel, for example—no one knows for sure who made the first wine or when. However, archaeological evidence of seeds from cultivated vines found in Georgia (Caucasus) was carbon-14 dated to the period between 7000 and 5000 B.C.

In addition, there is evidence of the domestication of wild grapevines dating from the Stone Age, around 6000 B.C. We could describe this moment as the birth of viticulture... Much earlier than the invention of writing!

Mesopotamia, Egypt and... China!

  • The grapevine soon made its way southeast to arrive in the Middle East. Evidence shows that the Mesopotamian and Sumerian civilizations (in what is now Iraq) systematically grew grapevines for wine production. Wine was considered a sacred beverage, only accessible to the elites, whereas beer was the people's drink.

  • At the same time, Egyptian dynasties around 3000 B.C. were already getting buried with their favorite wines, dedicating entire frescoes to the winemaking process. This is how we know about the Kakomet variety, attributed to the era of Ramses II, which also coincided with the introduction of wine “labeling,” as you can see below:

“In the year 30. Good wine of the large irrigated terrain of the temple of Ramses II in Per-Amon. The chief of the wine-dressers, Tutmes.”

  • The Egyptians may not have been the first civilization to make wine, but they broke new ground by integrating it into their artistic and pictorial expression, as well as their oral tradition.

  • In China, archaeological and written records point to the existence of a law that threatened serious punishment for anyone caught mixing grape wine and rice wine. Furthermore, vestiges of the world's first wine bottle—made in ceramic—were found in China.

Of Gods and Men: Wine in Ancient Greece

At the end of the 5th century B.C., Thucydides said, “the people of the Mediterranean began to emerge from barbarism when they learned to cultivate the olive and the vine.”

  • Dionysus taught humans how to grow grapes and make wine. That was what the people of Ancient Greece believed. A similar link is often attributed to Polyphemus and even Ulysses. Whatever the case may be, it is clear that the relationship between gods and wine was a pillar of Greek civilization.

  • This link between gods and wine saw its raison d'être validated through countless rituals, customs and celebrations that brought people together. It thus introduced a new dimension to social relations that ranged from the relaxed and leisurely philosophical symposia of the Greeks to the Ancient Roman Liberalia festival.

  • Ancient Greeks drank wine with retsina or resinated wine to which they added pitch and spices as preservatives.

  • The Greeks, along with Phoenicians and Romans, were also responsible for spreading viticulture and winemaking from the banks of the Rhine in Germania to the south of what is now England. This has been proven by archaeological findings of hundreds of amphorae.

  • In the Penedès, the archaeological site of Font de la Canya, where amphora-like receptacles of Phoenician origin were found, is an example that provides clear evidence of all stages of wine consumption and winegrowing. It is a strategic site in the introduction of the grapevine to Catalonia.

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Partial aerial view of the proto-historic archaeological site at Font de la Canya (2009)

Etruscans and Romans. In vino veritas.

  • The Greek model of viticulture reached Italy via the southern shores of Sicily, but does this mean that winemaking didn't exist in Italy before the Greeks showed up? Actually, it did. The Etruscans, based in what is now Tuscany, most likely brought their vines in from the east and dominated all aspects of winegrowing.

  • We don't know much about their culture except that they grew grapes, made wine and even traded in it. In fact, we know for certain that they sold their wines in Burgundy before the Greeks did.

  • The Romans also inherited the widespread Greek tradition of making and drinking wine, discovering that in wine there is truth—in vino veritas—clearly an allusion to the social spirit of the drink.

  • The Romans can be credited with creating highly specialized wine-related jobs. One of them was the blending of different imperial wines, a primitive coupage only entrusted to expert hands.

  • The Romans were also the first to discover the aging potential of wine, storing it in Gaulish barrels (the equivalent of modern-day French oak) for 25 years. Barrels came to replace the old clay amphorae.

  • The origin of our appellations of origin can be traced to the Roman's particular method of linking specific characteristics to a wine’s provenance. According to the poet Marcial, the wines of Tarraco, Valencia, Gerona, Baleares and Baetica were comparable to those of Campania in southern Italy.

This has only been a very brief overview of the history of wine; a tiny taste of one of the oldest and most exciting and timeless chapters in human history. A legacy that has moved our civilization forward.

Bibliography:

  • The Story of Wine by Hugh Johnson. Published by Blume
  • The World of Wine, published by Larousse
  • Diccionario Salvat del Vino, MW. Published by Salvat.

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