Wine is believed to have come from the southern Caucasus, located between Turkey, Armenia and Iran, which is more or less where Noah, well known for his love of wine, is believed to have landed his ark after the Flood. According to Genesis, one of the first things Noah did was to plant wine grapes: "And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: and he drank of the wine, and was drunken" (Gen. 9:20-21).
The spread of wine to Europe came via Greece during the 17th century BC. Homer documented the cultivation of wine in both The Iliad and The Odyssey. The Romans are given credit for developing viticulture in Western Europe during the 11th century BC. Of all the pleasures and privileges of power, none was rated more highly than the possession of a vineyard. The highest favor bestowed by the Roman emperor Julian was the gift of a vineyard prepared - actually planted and pruned - by his own hands. The Romans also invented cooperage (containers used for storing and aging wines) and perhaps even the first glass bottles, and imported both grapes and wine to England, France, Spain and Germany, which quickly began developing burgeoning viticultures of their own.
The oldest known chemically confirmed traces of wine were found in a jar about 7,000 years old that was excavated by a University of Pennsylvania Museum expedition at Hajji Firuz Tepe, a Neolithic settlement in the northern Zagros Mountains of Iran. The analysis was carried out by Professor Patrick McGovern of the University of Pennsylvania Museum and colleagues. The jar dates from 5400 to 5000 BC; the tests also showed that terebinth tree resin had been added to the wine, probably to preserve it. See also amarone, Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, aromatized wine, assemblage, Asti Spumante, Auslese, Banyuls, Barbaresco, Bardolino, barley wine, Barolo, bâtonnage, bead, Beaujolais, Beerenauslese, blanc de blancs, blanc de noirs, blush wine, Bordeaux, botrytis cinerea, brunello di Montalcino, Burgundy, Byrrh, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Catawba grape, cava, Chablis, Champagne, character, Chardonnay, Charmat method, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Chenin Blanc, Chianti, claret, cognac, cooking wine, Côtes-du-Rhône, cru, Delaware grape, dessert wine, Dom Pierre Pérignon, Dubonnet, elderberry, enologist, fermentation, fining, fortified wine, Gamay, Gewurztraminer, grape, grappa, Grenache, hippocras, ice cider, ice wine, Kabinett, Kir, lambrusco, late harvest, Liebfraumilch, Lillet, Madeira, Marechal Foch, Marsala, meritage, Merlot, méthode champenoise, muscatel, must, Nebbiolo, nonvintage, off-dry, pH, phenols, pomace, port, proof, prosecco, red wine, retsina, Rioja, ruby port, Sangiovese, Sauternes, Sauvignon Blanc, scuppernong, sec, semidry, Setúbal, sherry, sommelier, sparkling wine, Spätlese, still wine, table wine, tannin, tastevin, terroir, Tokay, trocken, Valpolicella varietal wine, vermouth, vin de paille, vineyard, Vino Nobile de Montepulciano, vino santo, vintage, vintner, viticulture, Vouvray, white wine, wine bottles, wine-tasting terms, zinfandel, zymurgy.
From The Food Encyclopedia by Jacques Rolland and Carol Sherman
