For the Bible, the discoverer of wine is Noah, who after the Flood plants the first vineyard and thus discovers the powers of wine. For the Greeks, however, the inventor was Dionysus who, having experienced the miraculous benefits of the divine drink, generously spread it.
The birth of wine is probably due to chance (even if the most passionate people don't believe it at all), discovered thanks to the natural fermentation of grapes forgotten in containers.
Archaeological discoveries demonstrate that vitis vinifera , from which wine is made, originated in India, and from there spread to neighboring countries in Asia and along the Mediterranean basin.
The first cellar
But the real revolution for wine took place in Armenia (part of ancient Mesopotamia), thanks to communities that abandoned nomadism to dedicate themselves to agriculture, and also to the cultivation of vines.
Here, large-scale wine production began in 4,100 BC. There is archaeological evidence of a real cellar : a cave with a grape press, numerous containers for fermentation and conservation. Jars, cups, remains of stems, seeds and peels were also found...
The first wines produced
In 2500 BC, the first evidence of the different types of wine can already be read in some Egyptian hieroglyphs. And in Tutankhamun's funerary kit there are amphorae for wine, with indication of origin, vintage and producer .
The world's first sommelier
The Inandik Vase (1650-1550 BC, Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara), a supreme example of the wine culture of ancient Anatolia (now Turkey), shows for the first time some people involved in the preparation and pouring of wine .
The great history of wine had now begun.
