After discussing
the origins of Greek wines (see: Greek
wine, not so Greek after all), connoisseurs are now concentrating
on the origin of Italian wine. After all, the Mediterranean
is a relatively small pond crossed by countless trade routes from early times
onwards.
Until now, it
was generally believed that the production of wine in Italy went back
to the Bronze Age (1300-1100 BC) but the recent discovery of ancient pottery
indicates that the process was known as early as 4000 BC, i.e. the Copper Age.
A team of
archaeologists working at Monte Kronio
in Agrigento on the
southwest coast of Sicily
found remains of wineries, seeds and ancient storage jars. After analyzing the
residue inside the jars, they discovered traces of tartaric acid that occur
naturally in the winemaking process. This led them to conclude that wine was
produced here more than 6000 years ago.
The analysis of
the residue is generally impossible because the ancient pottery has to be
excavated intact which was the case here. The next step will be to determine
whether the wine was red or white – while I automatically assumed (erroneously?)
that ancient wine always was red.
An earlier find near Philippi inGreece
(see: News
about Greek (Macedonian) wine), dated the earliest winemaking to 4200
BC. This once again proves – if proof needed – that trading around the Mediterranean Sea was extremely dense and lively.
An earlier find near Philippi in
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