The history of red wine

There are different records about the origin of wine in ancient books.

It was born about 1, years ago, which is too far away to be recorded in history.

wine is the product of natural fermentation. The earliest wine was produced shortly after the grapes fell to the ground after ripening, and the peel broke, and the oozing juice came into contact with yeast in the air.

Our distant ancestors tasted this natural product, thus imitating the natural biological instinct of the wine-making process.

Therefore, from the point of view of modern science, the origin of wine has experienced a transition from natural wine to artificial wine.

The eighth and ninth chapters of Genesis in the Bible tell the story of Noah's drunkenness: Noah was a man among countless descendants of Adam and Eve, and he believed in God very devoutly, so he became the ancestor of later generations.

When God discovered that there was evil and greed in the world, he decided to send a big flood on the earth to eliminate all evil creatures.

following the Lord's will, Noah chose all the plants (grapes) and animals on the earth, one male and one female, and took his three sons (Sim Sem, Khan Coham and Japhet) aboard a homemade wooden boat, the famous Noah's Ark.

after 15 days of flooding, on the 7th month and 17th day, the ark was put on the Ararat Mountain (in the eastern part of Turkey, the border area between Armenia and Iran).

After that, Noah began to cultivate the land, planted the first grape plant, and later started to make wine.

one day, he was alone in the tent, drunk as mud.

When his son Khan found Noah lying naked and drunk on the ground, he called Sim and Garfett, who took robes and went backwards into the tent to cover his father's back, without looking at his father's body.

When Noah woke up from drinking, he cursed Khan and asked God to make the Canaanites, the sons of Khan, slaves of the Garfett family.

I was rude after drinking, but I took it out on my son. What's more, I punished my grandson as a slave.

"No virtue after drinking" seems to be the same at all times.

Although the Bible doesn't mention whether Noah brought wine aboard, it seems to be inferred that the first important thing in his mind besides thanking God is to grow grapes to make wine.

Of course, Noah's winemaking is a Hebrew fairy tale, not a fact.

according to historical records, a large number of grape seeds were found in Transcaucasia, which was near the Black Sea in the Neolithic Age 1, years ago, that is, now Aratolia (formerly known as Asia Minor), Georgia and Armenia, indicating that grapes were not only used for eating at that time, but also mainly used for squeezing juice to make wine.

most historians believe that the brewing of wine originated in ancient Persia in 6 BC, which is now Iran.

the earliest cultivation of grapes began about 7 years ago in the South Caucasus, Central Asia, Syria, Iraq and other regions of the former Soviet Union.

Later, it spread to other areas with ancient wars and immigrants.

first in Egypt, then in Greece.

However, there are still a large number of remains and relics found in ancient Egyptian tombs.

In the Nile Valley, from the excavated tombs, archaeologists found a kind of earthen jar with a small round bottom, a thick round belly and a large neck at the upper part (Figure 1). After textual research, it was an earthen jar used by ancient Egyptians to hold wine or oil. Especially in the relief (Figure 2), it clearly depicts the scenes of ancient Egyptians cultivating, harvesting grapes, brewing steps and drinking wine, which has a history of more than 5, years.

In addition, the word Ilp (Egyptian, meaning wine) is also engraved on the hip flask produced in the ancient kingdom of Egypt.

Western scholars believe that this is the beginning of human grape and wine industry.

Hugh, a famous writer with the theme of wine? Hugh Johnson once described: "There were excellent wine tasting experts in ancient Egypt. They were just like the samples of Sherry producers or bordeaux wine brokers in the 2th century, and they could identify the quality of wine confidently and professionally."

For Greece, it is the first country in Europe to grow grapes and make wine, and some navigators brought back grape and wine-making technology from the Nile Delta.

wine is not only the cornerstone of their splendid culture, but also an indispensable part of their daily life.

There are many descriptions about wine in Greek Homer's epics (Iliad and Odyssey), and wine is often depicted as black in Iliad.

And his understanding of the essence of life is also manifested as an idyllic vineyard full of black grapes.

According to research, there was a very developed agriculture in the Aegean Basin of ancient Greece.

People mainly planted wheat, barley, olives and grapes.

most of the grapes are used to make wine, and the rest are dried.

Almost every Greek has the habit of drinking wine.

The brewed wine was packed in a special-shaped pottery jar (Figure 3) for storage, trade and transportation. A large number of containers excavated along the Mediterranean coast were enough to illustrate the scale and route of wine trade at that time, showing that wine was one of the important trade goods at that time.

during the Mycenaens period (16-11 BC), grape cultivation in Greece was very prosperous, and the wine trade reached Egypt, Syria, the Black Sea, Sicily and southern Italy.

Wine is not only a commodity of trade, but also a part of Greek religious ceremonies. Before 7 AD, the Greeks held wine celebrations to show their worship of the mythical Dionysus.

The worship etiquette of Dionysos, a god related to wine and drunkenness, and grape cultivation are prevalent throughout Greece.

Dionysus is the Greek wine god and one of the most important and complicated gods in Greece.

Dionysus in the vase and the crazy woman who followed him (created by the painter Amasis). He is the son of Zeus and Semele under bizarre circumstances.

In Greece, the God Dionysus means happy life, games and grand festivals, because he likes to be surrounded by the noise of priestesses with wine.

The Greeks thought he was the patron saint of some kind of grand festival.

On a new Athenian-style pottery bottle from the 1st century A.D., the scene of Dionysus being drunk is carved: a drunken Dionysus is supported by a

forest god Satyrs, and the cup in his hand falls to the ground.

Bacchus, on the other hand, is the Roman wine god, who symbolizes grapes and wine, debauchery and debauchery.

He is like Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, but he doesn't play much role in Roman teachings. Bacchus and his followers (created by Cornelis De Vos), who are dissolute and dissolute, are especially worshipped by a few converted believers.

In bacchanalia, which is full of mystery, Christians danced the carnival Dionysian dance, so that the Roman Senate had to intervene to calm the chaos.

Regarding the birth of the god Bacchus, this scene was recorded on an ancient bas-relief in the Vatican Museum: after taking Bacchus out of the belly of the goddess Simlai, Jupiter put the little Bacchus in his thigh for three months.

Little Bacchus came out of the legs of the Father after full term.

At this time, Hermes, the animal husbandry god standing by, was ready to deliver the baby with clothes in his hand.

Then the three goddesses Palka, who hold life, death and fate, prayed for the newborn baby.

In the 17th century, the famous Italian painter Canavaggio (1573-161) created many images of Bacchus with his "ruthless truth" expression.

in the 6th century BC, the Greeks introduced grapes to Gaul (present-day France) through Marseille port, and passed the grape cultivation and wine-making techniques to Gaul.

but at that time, grape and wine production in Gaul was not important.

after learning the techniques of grape cultivation and wine brewing from the Greeks, the Romans popularized wine in the Italian peninsula, which soon spread to Rome and all over Europe through the hands of the Romans.

In the first century A.D., vines spread all over the Rhne Valley; In the second century, vines spread all over Burgundy and Bordeaux. In the third century, it reached the Loire Valley; Finally, it appeared in Champagne and Moselle Valley in the 4th century. Gauls, who originally loved barley beer (cervoise) and honey wine (hydromel), quickly fell in love with wine and became outstanding grape growers.

because the wines they produced were so popular in Rome, the Roman emperor Du Mi ordered that half of the grapevines in Gaul be uprooted to ensure the local grape growers in Rome.

Wine is an inseparable part of Roman culture, which has made great contributions to the economy of the Roman Empire.

With the slow expansion of the Roman Empire, grapes and wine quickly spread all over eastern France, Spain, southern England, the Rhine valley in Germany and the east of the Danube.

during this period, some countries have banned the cultivation of grapes, but wine is still very popular in Europe.

After that, agriculture in the Roman Empire gradually declined, and vineyards also declined.

The ancient Romans liked wine, and some historians blamed the decline of the ancient Roman Empire on the ancient Romans' excessive drinking and the degradation of their race.

At the beginning of the 4th century, the Roman emperor Constantine officially and publicly recognized Christianity, and wine was needed for mass ceremonies, which encouraged the planting of vines.

After the Roman Empire perished in the 5th century, the Christian monasteries in the divided Western Roman Empire (France, northern Italy and some German regions) recorded the process of grape harvest and wine making in detail.

these detailed records are helpful to cultivate the most suitable grape varieties in specific farming areas.

the development of wine in the middle ages benefited from the Christian church.

There are 521 references to wine in the Bible.

Jesus said at the last supper that "bread is my flesh, and wine is my blood". Christianity regards wine as holy blood, and church staff take grape planting and wine brewing as their work.

wine spread all over the world in the footsteps of missionaries.

Charlemagne, the "Holy Roman Empire" emperor of Caroline Dynasty who ruled the Western Roman Empire (Frankish Kingdom) from 768 to 814 AD, also influenced the wine development since then.

this great emperor foresaw the prospect of vineyards from the south of France to the north of Germany, and the "Grandcru Corton-Charlemagne" vineyard in the famous Burgundy region was once his industry.

The wine in Burgundy, France, can be said to be a model of traditional French wine.

but few people know that its source is actually the church-the Cistercians.

The monks of the Cistercian Church can be said to be experts in wine making in the Middle Ages. This story originated in 1112.

At that time, a man named Bernard? Bernard de Fontaine's ascetic monks led 34 followers to defect from the monastery in Cluny to the grape-producing province of Cordo in Burgundy, located in a newly-built small monastery in the northern part of Beaune and in Citeaux, and established the Cistercian Church.

The precepts of the Cistercian Church are very cruel. The average life span of each monk is 28 years. The main content of the precepts is to ask monks to smash stones in abandoned vineyards and taste the soil with their tongues.

After Bernard's death, the power of the Cistercian Church expanded to the public area of Cordo province to make wine, and then spread to more than 4 monasteries all over Europe.

Godsworn of the Cistercian Church is addicted to the research and improvement of grape varieties.

Lalou Bize-Leroy, an outstanding producer of Burgundy in the 2th century, believed that the Cistercian monks would distinguish the soil by tasting the soil. In fact, it was these monks who first put forward the concept of "cru", that is, grapes with the same taste and style could be cultivated from the same soil.

that is, they have cultivated the best grape varieties in Europe.

In terms of wine-making technology, the Godsworn of the Cistercian Church is the spiritual source of traditional European wine-making.

In the 13th century, with the prosperity of the Cistercian, the wines of the Cistercian monasteries all over Europe won higher and higher reputation.

The bishops of Avignon in the 14th century were particularly fond of Burgundy wine. The generous Duke Philip of Burgundy was the famous public relations officer of his wine: at the Catholic conference in Bruges in 136, he provided as much wine as the participants could drink. Of course, Born's rare wine could only provide them with a little taste.

"Drink less but letter" is an immortal proverb of wine.

But since then, the first-class red Burgundy has never really developed on a large scale; Its history is rather that Pinot Noir grown from the excellent soil in Cordo province can perfectly show its quality.

Small batch production in small barrels is their game feature.

Especially after the French Revolution in 1789, due to the dissolution of monasteries and the liquidation of the old aristocratic manor, the vineyards in Burgundy were also broken into parts.

By the 15th and 16th centuries, the best wine in Europe was considered to be produced in these monasteries. In the 16th century, the tapestry described the process of wine making, while the red wine produced in Burgundy was considered to be the best wine.

During this period, grape cultivation and wine-making techniques were introduced to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, North Korea and America.

After Columbus discovered the New World, Spanish and Portuguese colonists and missionaries brought European grape varieties to South America in the 16th century.