Archeological Proof
Because the presence of grape seeds, fruit skins, stems, and stalks at an archaeological site does not automatically suggest the manufacturing of wine, it can be challenging to find archaeological evidence of winemaking. However, scholars agree that domesticated stock and signs of grape processing are the two primary indicators of winemaking.
Hermaphroditic blooms, which allow domesticated grape varieties to self-pollinate, were the primary mutation that occurred during the domestication of grapes. Thus, vintners may choose the features they want and need not worry about cross-pollination affecting the grapes of the following year as long as the plants are kept on the same slope.
Another widely acknowledged indicator of domestication is finding plant components outside their original range. For example, Vitis vinifera sylvestris, the wild parent of the European wild grape, is indigenous to western Eurasia between the Mediterranean and Caspian Seas; as a result, the existence of V. vinifera outside of this region is likewise seen as proof of domestication.
Wines from China
The natural history of grape-based wine starts in China. It has been shown that residues on ceramic fragments radiocarbon dated to between 7000 and 6600 BCE from the early Chinese Neolithic site of Jiahu came from a fermented beverage consisting of a combination of rice, honey, and fruit.
The tartaric acid/tartrate remains at the jar’s bottom, revealing the fruit’s existence. (Anyone who now drinks wine from corked bottles will be familiar with these.) Researchers could not distinguish between grape, hawthorn, longan, cornelian cherry, or a mixture of two or more of those substances as the species of the tartrate. Jiahu has yielded both grapes and hawthorn seed finds. Although not explicitly grape wine, textual evidence for the usage of grapes dates to the Zhou Dynasty in the period from 1046-221 BCE.
If grapes were used to make wine, they were from a wild variety indigenous to China and not from western Asia. There are between 40 and 50 distinct species of wild grapes in China. Along with other Silk Road imports, the European grape was first imported to China in the second century BCE.
Wines of Western Asia
The Neolithic era site in Iran known as Hajji Firuz (dated to 5400–5000 BCE), where a layer of sediment preserved at the bottom of an amphora was shown to be a mixture of tannin and tartrate crystals, provides the oldest conclusive evidence for winemaking in western Asia to date. In addition, five other jars, each holding about nine litres of liquid, like the one with the tannin/tartrate sediment, were found in the site deposits.
A soil core from Lake Zeriber, Iran, which was discovered to contain grape pollen shortly before roughly 4300 cal BCE, is one of the sites outside the typical range for grapes with early evidence of grapes and grape processing in western Asia. At Kurban Höyük in southeast Turkey, remnants of burned fruit peel dating from the late sixth to the early fifth millennia BCE were discovered.
An early dynasty of people found Egypt to have imported wine from western Asia. Around 3150 BCE, the Scorpion King’s tomb contained 700 jars that were thought to have been manufactured and filled with wine in the Levant before being transported to Egypt.
Wild grape (Vitis vinifera) pips have been discovered in Europe in several prehistoric locations, including Balma de l’Abeurador, France, and Franchthi Cave, Greece (12,000 years ago) (about 10,000 years ago). Although comparable to that of the grapes from western Asia, the evidence for domesticated grapes is more recent than that for East Asia.
Creating Wine in Europe
The earliest known example in the Aegean is grape pips and empty skins that have been directly dated to between 4400 and 4000 BCE and were discovered during excavations at the Dikili Tash site in Greece. At Dikili Tash, a clay cup containing grape juice and grape pressings is supposed to be proof of fermentation. There have also been discoveries of wood and grapevines.
At the site of the Arena-1 cave complex in Armenia, a wine production installation with a platform for crushing grapes, transferring the crushed liquid into storage jars, and perhaps even proof of red wine fermentation has been discovered. This installation dates to around 4000 BCE.
By the time of the Romans, viticulture had expanded over much of the Mediterranean region and western Europe, perhaps due to Roman expansion, and wine had become a highly prized economic and cultural good. As a result, it had become a significant speculative and commercial commodity by the end of the first century BCE.
Leif Erikson, an Icelandic explorer, named the newly found region Vinland (sometimes written Winland) because of the abundance of wild grapevines growing there when he arrived on the coasts of North America in 1000 CE. Unsurprisingly, the abundant potential for viticulture was clear when European people started to come to the New World around 600 years later.
The Difficult Path to New-World Wines
Unfortunately, most of the natural grape species that early settlers found did not lend themselves to creating tasty—or even potable—wine, except Vitis rotundifolia, also known as the muscadine or “Scuppernong” grape, which thrived mainly in the South. Even a modicum of winemaking success required multiple trials, years, and the use of more suited grapes for colonists.
Thomas Pinney, an award-winning author of culinary works and emeritus professor of English at Pomona College, writes, “The struggle to make the New World yield wine such as they had known in Europe was begun by the earliest settlers and was persisted in for generations, only to end in defeat over and over again.” “The endeavour of producing European types of grapes to create wine might hardly have been more ardently tried and frustrated in American history. Winemaking in the eastern portion of the country didn’t have a chance until people realized that only native grape types could survive against North America’s endemic illnesses and severe environment.
According to Pinney, American viticulture only underwent a significant transformation in the colonization of California in the middle of the 19th century. In California’s temperate environment, European grapes thrived, sparking an industry. He attributes the expansion of winemaking outside of California to create new hybrid grape varieties and cumulative trial and error.
He argues that at the turn of the 20th century, winemaking and grape cultivation were well-established and significant economic activities throughout the United States. “The dreams of the original settlers were at last achieved, after nearly three centuries of tribulation, defeat, and fresh endeavour.”
Yeast is used to fermenting wine, and until the middle of the 20th century, the process depended on naturally occurring yeasts. These fermentations frequently produced inconsistent results and were susceptible to spoiling since they took so long to complete.
Wine innovations from the 20th century
The introduction of pure starter strains of Mediterranean Saccharomyces cerevisiae (commonly known as brewer’s yeast) in the 1950s and 1960s was one of the most critical developments in winemaking. Since then, these S. cerevisiae strains have been used in commercial wine fermentations. Hundreds of trustworthy commercial wine yeast starter cultures worldwide produce consistent quality wine.
The advent of screw-cap tops and synthetic corks was another game-changing—and contentious—innovation that significantly influenced winemaking in the 20th century. These innovative bottle stoppers tested the traditional natural cork, which has its roots in ancient Egypt.
According to Allison Aubrey, a James Beard broadcast award-winning writer, screw-top wine bottles were first linked with “value-oriented jugs of wine” when people introduced them in the 1950s. It was challenging to get over the mental image of cheap fruit-flavoured wines in gallon jugs. Corks were still far from ideal because they were a natural product. Pins that were not securely sealed spilled, dried up, and disintegrated. (In actuality, the phrases “corked” or “cork taint” refer to ruined wine regardless of whether the bottle was corked or not.)
Australia, one of the top wine-producing nations in the world, started to reconsider the cork in the 1980s. Even in the high-end wine business, improved screw-top technology and the advent of synthetic corks made progress over time. While some oenophiles insist on using pins alone, most wine enthusiasts now accept the more modern methods. The wine packaged recently in boxes and bags is also gaining popularity.