More About Wine Than You Cared To Know…

The earliest evidence of wine production comes from areas around the Caspian Sea and Mesopotamia dating back to 6000BC. It is thought that wine was discovered when spoiled grapes were used by accident.

Texts from tombs in ancient Egypt shows evidence of wine consumption and production dating back to 2700 BAntique wine press at the Museum or Wine, Tuscany, ItalyC. There is evidence the Egyptians were the first to bury their vessels to preserve wine. Wine came to Europe with the spread of the Greek civilization in 1600BC. However, it was the Romans around the year 1000BC, who made major contributions in classifying grape varieties and colors, observing and charting ripening characteristics, identifying diseases and recognizing soil-type preferences. They became skilled at pruning and increasing yields through irrigation and fertilization techniques.

Exploration and settlement brought wine to Mexico, Argentina and SouVineyards in Cornas, Franceth Africa in the 1500s and 1600s. There were early unsuccessful attempts to grow grapes along the US east coast and through the Mississippi valley. Imported European wine vines were first planted in Los Angeles in 1833. Between 1850-1860, Agoston Harazsthy, a Hungarian soldier imported cuttings from 165 of the greatest European vineyards to California. Overall, he introduced about 300 different grape varieties. Considered the Founder of the California Wine Industry, Harazsthy founded Buena Vista winery. He dug extensive caves for cellaring, promoted hillside planting, fostered the idea of non-irrigated vineyards.

In 2005, there were 11,006 registered wineries worldwide, of them 3322 were in the United States. By December 2007, the number of registered wineries in the United States exceeded 6000.