There is evidence of wine production in various ancient civilizations, but it was the Greeks who first developed winemaking on a commercial scale and turned it into a craft. Their wines tended to be so richly concentrated that they were normally drunk diluted : two parts wine to five of water. And they were syrupy sweet, but with a sting of salt or a smell of resin, resulting from their storage in sea rinsed casks or terracotta amphoras lined with pitch-pine. Should you wish to savour this early wine style some makers and wine clubs provide wine gifts of this type. Through their trade links the art of wine making spread through the Mediterranean, especially into Italy where the Romans eagerly took up this new science.
By the middle of the first century B.C. vineyards criss-crossed the Italian landscape from Sicily to the Alpine foothills and wine was both an everyday beverage and major export. More importantly, as the Roman Empire gained ground, so did the grape. Today all Europe's traditional wine regions - Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rioja, the Rhine valley, Loire and Languedoc can all claim to have Roman foundations. Most Roman wine, whether Italian or Provincial, was of not great quality, being tart and tough, suitable for quaffing young before it turned to vinegar. Often its taste was softened by the addition of honey, herbs or spices; which also acted as preservatives. However, this was not the case with the top notch Roman wines. These were noble creations, aged for a decade or more, the most important being the legendary Falernian which reached its prime at twenty years yet would happily survive 100 years. Once again wine gift baskets are available from the top wine of the month clubs that offer the unique Roman taste.
It was this ability of the Romans to age wine - in wooden casks and then in earthenware or glass amphoras (sealed with pitch or plaster) - that represented a significant development in wine-makjng, along with the rudiments of establishing the wine cellar and wine storage. But it was short-lived, doomed to disappear with the fall of the Empire.
Since the art of amphora making was lost and wine could no longer be matured in 'bottle', quality suffered. But that aside, the Dark Ages were not that bad, in wine terms, as they might have been. In fact the thrusting Barbarians, ever thirsty, not only maintained existing vineyards but also extended them, as in Burgundy where Germanic settlers cleared the forests and replanted them with vines. As we move into Medieval times, the guardian of Western culture and civilization - Rome's legacy - was the Church; so, for 1000 years Europe's wine heritage was largely nurtured by the monasteries. They were expert agriculturalists able to study and develop vine and wine sciences; they were also powerful landowners whose expansionist policies often involved acquiring established vineyards or planting new ones. The monks produced wine for sacramental purposes, for their own frugal consumption, but primarily for sale augmenting their vast agricultural sales and income. In the absence of storage and ageing know-how, the wines were mostly light and fresh, ripe for quick consumption. At that time, Burgundy was prized for drinking within the year and Bordeaux considered the better for being younger - the exact opposite of today. Mention must be made of the Moorish influence on Spanish wine making, with the first bottles and corks being used, along with wine cellars and wine racks, and even the use of ice houses as rudimentary wine coolers. Once again good wine clubs or wine ofthe month clubs offer the opportunity to sample the Medieval Monastic wine experience.
