ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF WINE

 

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF WINE

            It is established that wine is the oldest fermented product known to humans. Rather, the history of the alcoholic beverage is as old as that of humans. Among the alcoholic beverages, wine was the first to be made and has been used as a food adjunct by humans ever since their settlement in the Tigris–Euphrates Basin. In addition, it has a long history as a therapeutic agent. A peep into the history of humankind would clearly reveal that the preparation of fermented products like wine might have started accidently as a means of storage of perishables, but became an important method of preservation and preparation of products with appealing qualities, even today.

 

            Ancient scriptures like the Rigveda and the New Testament have referred to wine, whereas literary writings have described wine profusely. The actual birthplace of wine is unknown, although it had been prepared by the Assyrians by 3500 BC. The qualities of wine were praised in pre-Christian as well as post-Christian times. In the past, the addition of spices and herbs to wine was a common practice, both for flavor and for medicinal or aphrodisiacal properties.

Features in the History of Wine

·        The Romans organized grape and wine production and during that era the flavor of wine was developed.

·        The Greeks stored wine in earthenware amphoras, and the Romans extended the life of their wines with improved oak cooperage.

·        Both Greek and Roman civilizations drank almost all of their wines within a year of vintage and disguised spoilage by adding flavoring agents.

·        After the collapse of the western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, the survival of viticulture depended on the symbolic role that wine played in Christianity.

·        Muslims destroyed the wine industry of the countries they conquered.

·        The need for wine for religious ceremonies led to the development of wine in central Europe.

·        In western Europe, vineyards were developed.

·        Early colonial fermented beverages were from sugar-rich fruits.

·        The more aristocratic colonists preferred imported wines.

·        By the 17th century, coopers were building more and better casks and barrels for longer and safe aging of wine.

·        Wooden barrels remained the principal aging vessels until the 17th century, when mass production of glass bottles and the invention of the cork stopper allowed wines to be aged for years in bottles.

·        The trend of wine consumption shifted toward distilled beverages in the 18th century after the discovery of distillation.

·        By the 19th century, the scientific work of Pasteur revolutionized the wine industry by recognizing the roles of yeasts and bacteria.

·        Pasteur also identified the bacteria that spoil wine and devised a heating method (called pasteurization) to kill the bacteria.

·        In the 1960s, mechanization (grape harvesters and field crushers) in the vineyards contributed to better quality control.