Wine’s long history

Oldest evidence of grape wine is 8,000 years old

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Wine’s long history

Some amazing stories poured from wine’s long history:

• Archeologists in Central China have found 9,000-year-old relics of winemaking in the same area famous for evidence of some of the earliest musical instruments, pictographic writing, and domesticated rice. So, humans may have been rocking out at a wine shop, catching up on the news, and enjoying a bowl of rice for a very, very long time.

The wine was made from rice, honey, and fruit—not grapes—but clearly appears to be wine.  Heavy concentrations of calcium salt from tartaric acid—compounds that develop naturally in large amounts only in wine—are key clues.

• Oldest evidence of grape wine is 8,000 years old, found in a mound called Gadachrili Gora 20 miles south of Tbilisi, Georgia. Rough pottery found in a village from the late stone age had decorations that included bunches of grapes. Pollen analysis indicates the mound once was covered with grapevines.