The History of Wine

1
The History of Wine
2
Wine in the Ancient World

• Earliest Evidence is from the Neolithic Era
• 8000-45000BC
• Hajji Firuz Site found in Zargos Mountains in
  Iran
• Neolithic community kitchen found pot with wine
  resign
• Pot dated to 6000BC

3
Wine in the Ancient World

• Early Mesopotamia Wine Culture (Late Uruk Period
  3500-3100BC)
• Class War Between Beer and Wine Begins
• An impression of a seal from Queen Pu-abls tomb
  shows a male and female on either side of a
  wide-mouthed jar are shown drinking barley beer
  through tubes, while others below raise high
  their cups, probably containing wine, which is
  served from a spouted jar.

4
Wine in the Ancient World

• Egyptians began Modern Viticultural Techniques
• Clay pots found during 1st and 2nd Dynasties with
  wine residue
• 3rd Dynasty Hieroglyphics show vine trellis
  training
• Many tombs from then on were decorated with
  viticultural and winemaking scenes

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Wine in the Ancient World

• Beginnings Locations of Wine
• From Phoenicians and other traders spread wine
  throughout the Mediterranean

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Wine in the Ancient World

• Ancient Greece plants Vineyards throughout the
  Southern Europe
• As far as Modern Spain
• Roman Empire conquers most of known world and
  plant vineyards for local governors
• Roman Empire Converts to Catholicism
• Priests increase already large production to
  convert population to Catholicism

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Wine in European History

• Monks during the Dark Ages Maintain Winemaking
• In fact increases as Pilgrimages increased
• The reign of Charlemagne revived winemaking and
  advanced the technique
• Wine becomes a primary beverage with periodic
  problems with drinking water from the 14th to the
  16th Century.
• The monk Dom Perignon accidentally invents
  Champagne in 17th Century
• Robert Hooke 1664 and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek 1684
• Louis Pasteur discovered the role of Yeast in
  Fermentation 1860
• Phylloxera nearly wipes out nearly every vineyard
  in the late 19th Century

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Early Vines in the New World

• Viking, Leif Erikson, arrive in 1000AD and notes
  the existence of enormous grape vines
• 1524 Giovanni Verrano notes wild vines in North
  Carloina and their wine potential
• French Huguenots in Florida make wine from Vitis
  rotundifola in the mid 16th Century
• Captin John Smith notes Foxy grapes and their
  potential for Sherry in 17th Century
• In the 17th Century Samuel de Champlain notes
  islands on the St. Lawrence overgrown with vines

9
Failed Attempts with Vitis vinfera in the New
World

• Lord Delaware brings French Viticulturists to
  plant vinifera varieties in the 1620s
• Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts (18th
  Century)
• Governor's Island
• Lord Baltimore in Maryland (18th Century)
• William Penn near Philadelphia (18th Century)
• Abraham de Lyon of Portugal planted a large
  vineyard in Savannah Georgia in 1730
• King Charles II planted vines in Rhode Island
• Pierre Lagaux Builds 1st Commercial Winery near
  Philadelphia in 1793

10
Thomas Jefferson and His Passion for Wine

• As Ambassador to France he gained an appreciation
  for French Wine
• While he cultivated native vines, he drank French
  wines
• Selected French Wines for President Washington
• Maintained the Presidential wine cellar for John
  Adams, his administration, and continued for
  Madison and Monroe.
• Jefferson after unsuccessfully planting vinifera
  varieties, he later finds Alexander and Catawba

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New Attempts Find a Viable Native Varieties

• John Alexander successfully cultivates a Vitis
  labrusca variety later to be known as Alexander
  in late 1700s
• Jean Jacques Dufour Swiss native who planted
  Alexander vine in Indiana and created Little
  Rhineland
• John Adlum of Georgetown plants another labrusca
  variety Catawba
• Jean Jacques founds Brotherhood Winery in New
  York
• Oldest remaining Winery (Founded 1816)
• Nicholas Longworth built a winery in Cincinnati
  in 1820s
• Made first American sparkling wine
• Longfellows Ode to Catawba Wine

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Wine goes West

• Pope Alexander VI recognizes California in 1493
• Spanish Conquistadors arrive in 1542 and 1602
• Vineyards planted in both encounters
• King of Spain terminates all plantings in 1595
  (150 years)
• Franciscan Monks continue to plant for
  sacramental wine
• Padre Juan Ugarte at Xavier Mission in Baja
• Padre Junipero Serra and Gaspar De Portola begin
  missions throughout California coast in 1769
• Gold Rush brings on new varieties
• Agoston Haraszthy brings 300 new vinifera
  Varieties

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Wine and Prohibition

• Prohibitionists gradually gain power
• from mid 19th Century
• Maine is a Prohibitionist State 1846
• Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont in 1852
• Drys begin to publish propaganda U.S.
  Parmacopoeia
• 1917 WWI and 33 states go Dry
• National Prohibition (Volstead Act of 1920
• Only Sacramental and Family use keep wine alive
• Act Repealed in 1933 but Wine Industry is Ruin

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ZinfandelAmericas Grape
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A Zinful Past

• Not much was known until the past 20 yrs
• Believed Agoston Haraszthy brought it to CA
• due claims by Agostons son Arpad
• Records show imported to Long Island (1829)
• Found Zinfandal and Zenfandel in Boston
• Known to exist in CA in 1852
• Dominate Red Varietal (1859)
• Reported as a Claret Varietal in 1862
• Sonoma Horticultural Society

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A Zinful Past

• Discovered same as Black St. Peters
• Phyloxera in 1890s Prohibition in 1920
• The Scientific Revolution in CA Wine
• Zinfandel as a Provincial Red Varietal
• The Development of Zin Styles (60s and 70s)
• White Zinfandel saves Old Vines
• The Resurgence in popularity 1990s
• 20K acres 1970, 34K 1990, 50K 1997

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Zinfandel Historys Mystery

• Initially assumed to be a Hungarian Variety
• Then amphelograpy linked it to Primitivo
• Then thought to be linked to Plavac Mali
• DNA fingerprinting confirmed Zinfandel is
  genetically similar to Primitivo
• New studies link Zinfandel to Croatian
  Variety Crljenak
• Now What?