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exploring taste—santa margherita gruppo vinicolo heritage—a short history of wine

A SHORT HISTORY OF WINE

Grape nectar is certainly the oldest and most appreciated beverage in the world, a muse for great artists and a source of joy for simple men.
The evolution of taste and production techniques provides a wonderful look into the civilizations where wine was a symbol of status and culture,
representing aspirations and contradictions.

Words JESSICA BORDONI Illustrations SABRINA MORREALE

bc

10000bc~3500

bc

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the neolithic era the early heroic civilisations wine in ancient greece wine in etruscan society
and the discovery of wine 3500bc~1000 in mesopotamia, egypt and palestine and magna graecia and roman times

With the “Neolithic” revolution, man abandoned One of the first populations to cultivate vines was In Greece, wine became an agricultural staple The Etruscans, who settled between Tuscany,
a nomadic lifestyle and began farming. Most the Sumerians, who settled in Mesopotamia on 776bc~146bc together with wheat and olives. Hellenic cul- Umbria and Lazio, cultivated vines, mixing them
scholars place the birth of wine cultivation in the strip of land between the Tigris and the Eu- ture linked it to the cult of Dionysus, god of the 753bc~476 with trees and selecting certain typical varieties.
an area between eastern Turkey, western Iran phrates. Papyri and tomb paintings show that in force of life and inebriation. The Greeks would In Roman times, prosperous wine growing spread
and the Caucasus Mountains (Georgia, Armenia ancient Egypt, wine was considered the beverage sip wine at banquets called symposiums. It was to France and elsewhere in Europe. In De Agri Cul-
and Azerbaijan). The story goes that wine was of pharaohs, priests and senior officials during a spicy drink flavored with honey and diluted tura, the oldest work of Latin prose, Cato the Elder
unintentionally discovered after the accidental religious and social ceremonies. A wealth of in- with water, poured from richly decorated ter- describes grapevines as the most important crop
fermentation of grapes stored in a container. In formation on viticulture in Palestine comes from racotta amphora. Hellenic colonization intro- of the peninsula, while Pliny the Elder wrote the
Georgia and Armenia, archaeological digs have the Old Testament. Jewish tradition identifies duced viticulture to the whole Mediterranean phrase ‘In vino veritas’, in wine there is truth, in his
unearthed cellars dating back to 6,000-5,000 BC, Noah as the founder of wine cultivation - after the area. In Italy, the Magna Graecia area – and Ca- Naturalis Historia. Drinking wine was considered
containing presses, goblets and objects for pro- Great Flood, the patriarch stepped off the ark and labria in particular – was renamed Enotria, the immoral: males were not allowed to drink before
ducing and storing wine. planted the first vine. land of wine. the age of 30, while for women it was totally banned.

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