History of Wine
Mankind has thought wine is a popular drink for over thousands of years, and humans enjoy it because of its taste, intoxicating affect, and the nutritious properties. Wine is such a significant drink because of its historic impact on the world. Wine has moved around the world from culture to culture over the course of history. The first indications of the type of wine we know of today, spoiled grapes, was found in fossils that trace back to 60 million years ago. Which means our pre-human ancestor’s realized that the older riper grapes were better than normal grapes.
Since then the earliest ruminants, of wine were discovered in the northern mountains of Iran. This happened around (5400-5000 B.C.), then they passed the torch to the ancient Egyptians. The ancient Egyptians were around from 3100 B.C. The wine that the Egyptians made was a little different than the European wine. The ancient Egyptians rule was from 31000 B.C. – 332 B.C. There even many hieroglyphics of the Egyptians consuming wine.
After the Egyptians it was the Greeks that controlled the wine industry in what we know as Europe today. The dates were from 3000 B.C. – 2000 B.C. The wine industry was a big business for the Greeks.
One of the most remembered wine periods was the Roman Empire around roughly 1000 B.C. The Romans were the ones who took huge steps in the scientific aspect of wine making. They did a lot to classify varieties of grapes. They were also the first to use glass wine bottles. Which was used in 325 A.D.
The next step in the history of wine is something completely different, it’s a drink called champagne. Everyone knows champagne as the thing you drink for New Year’s or a special occasion. The creation of champagne lead to a whole new industry unlike any other. The fifth century was the time that champagne started being made in France. During this time it was a widely used product and it was used daily instead of only on special occasions. Sparkling wine is only considered champagne if it is made and bottled in Champagne, France. Champagne gets its bubbles from inside the bottle, yeast and sugar make it sparkling.
The last stop on the spread of wine was the production of wine outside of Europe. The production of wine in the U.S. in places like California and in Australia of all places. Europeans would often look down on wine that was made out of the Europe. In the beginning of the America’s wine wasn’t a popular drink because they preferred drinks like beer and whiskey and more American drinks. In the last 100 years though the U.S. has been a big producer of wine as well as a very big consumer.
The United States of America produces twelve percent of all of the worlds wine. The U.S. is also the largest consumer of wine, which is also why we have over one million acres of land just to grow grapes. Grapes are also the highest value fruit crop in the U.S., grape production is worth over 6.5 billion dollars. There were over 10,043 wineries in the U.S. in January of 2019.
Of the 10,043 wineries and wine bars in the United States, one of them stands out like no other. Ram Cat Cellars is a new concept of wine bar with a very spunky spin on the traditional wine bar. The combination of world class wines and amazing cuisine and charcuterie boards makes for a fantastic evening out. They hope to continue to share the history of wine and create new ways of enjoying an amazing glass. Expanding the history of wine is something that Ram Cat excels at, bringing a new yet comfortable feel to the wine bar scene has been the key to their success.
The spread of wine has been one of great importance and I hope that you have learned something. The last thing that you need to do is sit down pour a glass, swirl it, and sip it like the generations before you.