The oldest known winery yet found comes from a cave in Armenia, dated to around 4,100 BCE. Archaeologists found a wine press, fermentation vats, drinking cups and grape seeds. Chemical evidence of grape wine from Iran and Georgia dates back even further, to around 5,400 and 6,000 BCE respectively, but the Armenian site is the oldest known wine production facility.
By 3,000 BCE, wine was being traded across the ancient Mediterranean. Egyptian pharaohs were buried with amphorae of wine for the afterlife. Specific vineyards were recorded on jar labels, making those arguably the world's earliest wine labels.
Greek and Roman civilisations treated wine as a staple, not a luxury. It was drunk diluted with water. The Romans added honey, seawater, herbs, resin and spices, partly for flavour and partly because wine without modern preservatives did not travel or keep well.
The Roman practice of dropping a piece of burnt toast into a cup of wine to absorb sediment and improve flavour is where we get the word toast. Raising a glass in someone's honour descends directly from this habit.
When the Roman Empire declined, the Catholic Church became the custodian of viticulture. Monasteries across France, Germany and Italy maintained vineyards, developed techniques and kept the tradition alive. Monks in Burgundy spent centuries observing which plots produced better wine, laying the groundwork for the modern appellation system.
Phylloxera, a tiny root louse imported from North America on plant specimens in the 1860s, destroyed around two thirds of Europe's vineyards within three decades. The solution was grafting European vines onto American rootstock, which is still the standard practice today. Almost every bottle of European wine you drink comes from a vine grafted onto American roots.
