Wine Timeline

 Ever curious about some of the salient details

from the History of Wine?

Well, here's a brief timeline overview of some pivotal events,
derived from the wonderful resources at Wine Folly.

• 7,000– 6600 BC tribes from the Yellow River Valley of China made a fermented rice/honey/fruit wine.
• 4,000 BC in Israel, Georgia, Armenia and Iran, wine-making facilities have been discovered with large earthenware vessels submerged in the ground.
• 1600–1100 BC  Egypt, Assyria and Mesopotamia may have been transported wine in goatskins.
• 1400 BC Amphora is the primary method used to ship wine in Canaanite and Mycenaean cultures.
• 900 BC During the Iron Age in Northern Europe, barrels were the preferred container to store and ship wine.
• 900–100 BC Clay amphorae are used to store and transport wine in ancient Greece and Rome.
• 200 BC Roman soldiers are encouraged to drink 2–3 liters of wine a day for good health.
• 1000 Château de Goulaine is built...possibly the oldest operating winery.
• 1530 vines are imported by the Portuguese and Spanish to Mexico and Brazil.
• Late 1500s wine was preserved for long shipping journeys by the Dutch and English by adding alcohol. This 'fortification' created the famed wines of Port, Madeira, Marsala and Sherry.
• 1600 desired wines of the day are sweet white wines such as Sauternes of Bordeaux, Riesling of Germany and Tokaji from Hungary.
• 1600s glass wine bottles were first popularized in Portugal in an unsuccessful attempt to age Port wines.
• Mid-1600s Somewhere in Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc naturally cross to create Cabernet Sauvignon.
• 1718 The abbey in Champagne publishes a set of wine-making rules said to be established by Dom Perignon for quality wine-making.
• 1737 The first demarcated wine region of the world is Tokaj in Hungary.
• 1740 bottles were redesigned to be laid on their side, creating the ability to age wines longer.
• Mid-1800s sparkling wines are popularized in Champagne partially due to consistency in wine bottle manufacturing.
• 1857 1st commercial winery operation in California is in Sonoma called Buena Vista Winery.
• 1862 Louis Pasteur discovers oxygen’s harmful effects on wine causing the industry to adapt to wine bottles.
• by 1900 70% of vineyards in France are killed by Phylloxera.
• 1967 The first mechanized harvesters were commercialized in New York.
• 1978 Robert Parker introduces his novel 100-point wine rating system.
• Today Spain, Italy and France are the world’s largest producers of wine, while Vatican City, Andorra, and France are the largest consumers per-capita.