Making Fine Wines

History of Wine Making
Wine making is an art which has its origins in the dawn of civilization. Botanical data indicate that the wine grapes of today are descended from older species found in the mountains of Armenia, located south of the Caucasus. Archaeological records show that the cultivation of grape vineyards, known as viticulture, probably began in that region and spread to Mesopotamia over five thousand years ago. Wine was a luxury available only to the wealthy in Mesopotamia, as it had to be imported great distances from the highlands, where the soil was more amenable to the growing of grapes.
Wine making spread to Egypt, where the vines thrived in the rich soil and climate. On tombs, dating as far back as the first dynasty (ca. 3000 B.C.) are depictions of the dead lying on a bed of grapes which accompany them on their journey. The vineyards gradually spread along theNile Delta to Memphis. Records show that the grapes were pressed by treading them with bare feet and the juices fermented in cool cellars. The Egyptians began the custom of classifying wine. They had inspectors who judged the quality of wine, and the pottery containers had inscriptions bearing details of the vintage: the name of the vineyard, the date of harvest and pressing, the name of the vintner, and the brand. The Egyptians were also the first to try to improve their various brands of wine by blending them with the grapes from other regions, notably Palestine and Syria. Even with the Egyptians' penchant for scientific experimentation and blending, however, we know from the ancient authors of the period that their wines were inferior to those produced in Syria and Palestine. It is interesting to note that in all these countries the wine was always diluted with water before it was consumed. Since these areas had poor drinking water, this custom probably developed more from a need to improve the water than from a desire to weaken the wine.
Viticulture spread to the Aegean Sea around 1500 B.C. The Greeks were quick to learn the techniques developed by the Egyptians and improved on them with their own botanical discoveries. They even came to the conclusion that it was not the Egyptian god Osiris but the Greek god Dionysus who made the first grapes. The Greeks must be credited with a major advance in the art of wine making by their development of the beam press, used in separating the juice from the grape. Theretofore, the primary method of collecting the juices for making white wine was the use of a wringer developed by the Egyptians. It was a rather bulky arrangement consisting of a large fabric bagsuspended from a support. The bag would be filled with grapes and wrung out by turning a long wooden rod inserted through the bottom, thus squeezing the juice from the grapes. The Greek press worked more on the principle of a standard wine press. The Greeks developed vessels for transporting their wines, which were coated with resin or bitumen on the inside to render them nonporous. These substances gave the wine a peculiar flavor, for which the Greeks acquired a taste and which is still evident in their retsina, or resinated wine. They credited wine with many medicinal properties, and a large portion of the various healing potions used by Greek physicians had a grape wine base.
The Romans were avid practitioners of the art of viticulture and seemed to imbibe as eagerly as the Greeks. Graphic evidence of this is a hill in Rome, 150 feet high, called Mount Testaccia, which consists entirely of broken wine jars! The Romans carried the art of wine making to all the territories they conquered, notably present-day France, Spain, and Germany. They invented the screw press, which was more efficient than the Greek beam press and was the most common type of press used up to the present time. The Romans were also able to create a hardier species of grapevine which could withstand frost. They grew these grapes along the banks of the Moselle and the Rhine. When the Roman Empire declined and the widespread wine industry was destroyed during the barbarian invasions, the Church protected and carried on viticulture, although only on a small scale. Wine was used as a sacrament at all Church rituals, and wherever a new church was built, a vineyard was planted. Since wine wasnot made for profit, the emphasis was on quality rather than quantity.
England had a limited wine industry around the eighth century, as indicated by some of the writings of the Venerable Bede (probably a distant ancestor of the Venerable Beadle). By the ninth century, the landed gentry and nobility along with the churches were actively engaged in viticulture. After the Norman Conquest, the number of English vineyards greatly increased. However, when the English subsequently acquired a vast amount of French territory, including the huge vineyards of the Bordeaux region in southwestern France, they diminished considerably because the British preferred the imported French wine to their own home-grown variety. The French could easily produce enough wine for England's needs, and over the next three hundred years the vineyards of England were destroyed and other crops planted in their place. In the meantime, the wine-producing areas of France became larger and more efficient in their production. Charlemagne, in the eighth century, is credited with planting the Burgundian vineyards, which continue to produce some of the world's finest wines. The Benedictine monk, Dom Pérignon, did extensive experiments with blending various grape varieties in the seventeenth century. Spanish sherry became the popular wine in England in the sixteenth century, followed by port in the eighteenth century. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, the vineyards of Europe were ravaged by the accidental importation of a small, parasitic louse from America called Phylloxera vastatrix. The American vines were resistant to this scourge, but the European vines were devastated by thepest, which burrowed into the roots of the grapevines and consumed them. After much experimentation, it was found that by grafting grapevine roots from American vineyards to the European vines, the vineyards were rendered immune to this destructive parasite.
Copyright @ 1972 by Leigh P. Beadle