Monday, September 17, 2012

How Wine's Word Spread Across the World

By John Taylor


Wine has been around since the dawn of time itself as we all know its significance in the bible as Jesus turned the water to wine delighting whole communities. Some documentation suggests that it was thousands of years before this that wine made an appearance, as the Ancient Egyptians stumbled across the fermentation process by accident when leaving grapes out in the sun.

The Roman Empire after Ancient Greeks introduced the wine to the Rome Empire, the Romans took on this new found delicacy with gusto. Despatching of the Greek Urns that had been previously used for storing the wine, they discovered that age was an important factor with taste. Through trial and error they invented the oak barrel allowing the wine to breathe whilst being infused with the woody scent. Sometimes they would let the wine age for an incredible twenty five years!

France Despite the lack of documentation it is widely believed that the Romans introduced the vine to France. The species known as Vitis Vinifera became popular and covered the Gaul region where vineyards still thrive to this day. The French adored the wooden barrel method of storing the wine, as the barrels could be easily transported through rolling, and they would stack neatly on top of each other. The Roman's also believed the wood permeated the liquid adding a flavour unlike any other. Much later the original vine faced extinction as phylloxera threatened to wipe out all existence of vineyards, at the time this devastated economies but allowed us to learn valuable lessons in how to treat the crop.

The Church Wine seemed to disappear for a while following the fall of the Roman Empire, however it soon came back with a bang. In particular the Monasteries that took up the art of producing wine, experimenting with flavours using different woods for storage and unusual techniques for fermentation. Popularity grew rapidly and soon wine was revered by the upper classes as the most fashionable drink to have at social gatherings. In fact it's from tis time that many of the fine wines we hold in high esteem originate from today.

Wine Conquers the World Not long after this the New World was discovered, where explorers took the vine to plant in the sunny spots of California. However this wine is still considered to be relatively immature and the majority of fine wines do originate from Europe. Today fine wine can still define classes in Britain, and remains the height of fashion, it's evident that its popularity has never waned in thousands of years so is unlikely to recede over the next few centuries. This is why fine wine is such a good investment, as not only does it raise a social standing to embrace the education behind such extravagance, it also reaps rewards unlike any other.




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