The History of Wine - Essay Example

History of Wine Wine is the foundation of western civilization and many appreciate it as a part of their culture and tradition. For instance, in ancient Greek wine was part of the meal, and bread is dipped in it during breakfast. In the Catholic Church, wine is a symbol of the blood of Christ during supplication; moreover, it is a part of all aspects in life be it religion, medicine, science, war, discovery and dreams (Estreicher 3). The advantage of wine is that it is safe to drink, as it is purified by natural enzymes and yeast during its production, and has medicinal value hence used as an antiseptic. Hunter and gatherers groups in the forest first encountered wine berries during their hunting and gathering sessions (Mc Govern 6). Hunters picked the berries and ate them for nourishment, and also after observing how other animal’s especially birds behaved after eating the ripe berries. This made them realize that rotten wine berries presented a sweeter taste than ripe one on trees, hence discovered the process of fermentation to make the berries sweeter, which is believed to be the origin of wine. However, the beginning of vineyard and viniculture can be traced back to the medieval times in the period 4000 BC to 6000 BC in Caspian region, Eastern Turkey. Viticulture was prominent in north of Tigris and Euphrates and, this formed the core of Sumerian, Acadian, Assyria and Babylon Empires. There were physical evidence of the presence of wine in different regions such as in Mesopotamia and Egypt, where wine was found in the pharaoh’s tombs. Other wine areas in the Middle East included Iran, formerly Syria where it wine is dated back to 3500 BC (Haapala 2 & Simpson 1). In Egypt, the evidence of the presence of wine in the pharaoh’s tombs indicated only the upper class in society used wine. The prevalent wine species in this era were the vitis vinifera of wine berries, which originated from the Caspian Sea and Nile delta, was suited for growth in the temperate climate of the Middle East (Haapala1). Through trade in the Middle East between the Sumerian, Egyptians and Phoenicians wine was traded and distributed to other parts of the world. The Greek then spread wine throughout the Mediterranean Sea while trading, till it reached Rhode Valley in France. Later on in the 3rd century, the Romans spread the vitis vinifera plant to Germany and Italy, while in Europe, the wine species developed well in plantations due to the favorable climatic conditions. The wine business flourished in Europe under the Roman Empire as it controlled the majority of the land in Europe, allowing their nobles to cultivate and practice viniculture peacefully. This success of wine in Europe changed in the middle ages with the collapse of the Roman Empire in Europe leaving the whole region in politically instability. The whole of Europe experienced no law and order, and peasants paid the nobles for protection. Vandalism of property especially vineyards became common in Europe, causing a reduction in the wine quality and quantity (Estreicher 44). In the second half of the Middle Ages, wine quality improved in Europe especially in wine growing regions in France for instance the Burgundy and Bordeaux, increasing trade between France and Britain from1154-1452. America experienced its first wine plantation in 1521 after Spain successfully conquered Mexico, and the commanding officer Cartez ordered wine be imported and planted in America (Haapala5). By the 1600s, father Juan Ugarte had spread the wine plantations from Mexico to the present day California. The 17th century saw product innovation and improved vineyard technology being employed in the viticulture in Europe. In Champagne, Bordeaux, Porto and Madeira improved wine processing was practiced, however, wine production was still labor intensive, as care for the vineyards was sole through human labor even with these changes. With these changes wine prices soared up and since the majority of the people were poor, it became a luxury item. In Europe for instance during this period, there were 250 vineyards owned by nobles across a 3200 hectares land (Simpson 4). High prices prevalent in Britain in 1703 made her sign a treaty to allow Portuguese wine be sold in the British market. This period saw the increase in trade of wine between America and Europe as the different climates produced different qualities of wine. This had bad effects as wine plants imported from America carried diseases and pests in their roots, which greatly affected the wine plantations in Europe. In 1800, North American vineyards experienced fungal diseases, which affected all the green parts of the vinifera making the plant look powdery. Later in 1863, Phylloxerin arrived and almost wiped out the entire wine plantations in Europe and America. It attacked the roots of the plants, fed on the sap and injected the roots with poisonous saliva which, killed all the plants (Simpson 5-6). In 1878, Downey mildew appeared in France from imported vinifera, which left the plants with a white cottony growth on leaves due to lack of photosynthesis. The second industrial revolution in the 19th century brought in the economies of scale, changes in retailing and distribution, and the United States and Britain introduced chain stores and mass marketing techniques to market wine they produced to the market. In the 1900s, wine producers combined capital to enable them built large wineries in the country. They also created cooperatives with the sole purposes of marketing and distribution their wine and storing the excess. After the middle ages, the new world ear developed that saw massive immigration of people, improved transportation and better understanding of the needs of wine users. High import tariffs and increased fertility rates increased the market for wine: between 1850-1910, Australia population rose from 0.4 to 4.4 million, united states rose from 23.3 to 92.8 million (Simpson 14). However, in 1919 a law was passed that prohibited the sale of any alcoholic drink in the United States that dealt a blow to wine production (Pinnery 2). Consequently, the wine industry disintegrated as wine prices fell and the number of vineyards holding licenses reduced and declined. People resort to homemade wine as wine ingredients were renamed and sold in shops with instructions on how to ferment. The law was later repelled in 1933, and the California Vineyards Association was created to market, inspect research and lobby for wine producers in the country. Above all this, the association has the sole role of trying to devise methods of orderly marketing wine after the law disrupted it. Therefore, through this process to the present brought about the production of modern wine brands from different regions in the world. Europe dominates the wine production brands with France having two main regions famous for wine production. The Bordeaux region is known for its two wine brands classified as red (1955) and white (1959), while the burgundy region also produces the red Pinet Voir and white chardonnay. The other common practice in wine production today is the blending of different brands of wine to suit a certain house or brand. This is experienced in the creation of champagne as different blends especially the chardonnay and Pinet Noir in different quantities to produce different tastes. Italy is famous for the Lambert which means sparkling wine, vignette which means sparkling Prosecco and the powerful Amorone. The other regions that also produce great wine include Spain, Australia, United States and South Africa (Estreicher 140). In conclusion, wine is an important part of world civilization as experienced by the amount of stages it has taken to date. As Estreicher concludes “We will never know the taste of the great wines of the past, such as Julius Caesar’s Falernum or Sam Pepys’ Ho Bryan. These are the rare and expensive wines worth dreaming and writing about” (Estreicher 150). Works Cited Estreicher, K. Stefan. (2006). WINE From Neolithic Times To the 21st Century. Algora publishing. Web. http://vinumvine.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/stefan-k-estreicher-wine-from-neolithic-times-to-the-21st-century.pdf Haapala, Kenneth. A. Adding a Bit of Scientific Rigor To the Art of Understanding and Appreciating Fine Wines. n.d. Web. 23 April 2013 Mc govern, Patrick. E. Ancient Wine. Princeton University Press. 2003. Web. 23 April 2013 Pinnery, Thomas. A history of wine in America: from prohibition to the present. Forms of life in a dry world. n.d. Web. 23 April 2013 Simpson, James. “Wine: a short history”. Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. n.d. Web. 23 April 2013 Read More