Wine history link to jar of grapes in ruler’s harem
By Maggie Beale

China Daily, China
July 22 2005

2005-07-22 06:04

Questions from reader Paul Murphy prompted this week’s article on
wines of ancient times. Basically, 1) Were wines aged to last in
Roman times? 2) Were there vineyards before then? 3) Did the Romans
teach the French (in Provence) how to make wine?

Wine-making skills of the Romans most probably came via the ancient
Greek colonies in Sicily and southern Italy. Homeric texts (8th century
BC), record that matured vintages of Greek wines were accorded great
reverence – probably akin to that awarded to 19th and early 20th
century Bordeaux today.

Wall paintings on Egyptian tombs, circa 3,000 BC, show workers pruning
vines with a curved hand-tool very similar to the small scythe still
used in parts of rural Greece and Italy today. Several such implements
and ancient links to wine have survived centuries of wine making.

“Think of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon 605-562 BC. The giant bottle
holding 20 regular bottles of wine is named after him. He drank wine
before the Romans ever tipped a goblet,” historian diplomat Massimo
Baistrocchi told me some time ago.

According to the great Greek historian Herodotus, (circa 484-425 BC)
Persians loved wines. Called the “father of history” by Cicero, he
wrote nine books on the wars between Greece and Persia containing
much incidental information on life at the time.

Baistrocchi says, “There is one tale which says wine was discovered
by accident in Persia, when one from the ruler’s harem found a great
jar of grapes which had been stored for some time and fermented
naturally. She poured a cup for her master and (presumably) became
his favourite!”.

Even older Armenian legends say Noah planted the first vines near
Erivan. And the Libation Scene in the “Standard” of Ur panel (Ur was
an ancient city of Sumer, South Iraq, precursor of Babylon) dates
from early 3,000 BC. A hollow box, decorated with scenes of the times,
including wine drinking, is now in the British Museum. Amusingly, one
side shows a potentate drinking from what looks like a Martini glass!

Earliest records of wine in Egypt are inscribed on the stoppers of
amphorae found in pre-dynastic tombs. The kings even had their own
named vineyards: Rameses III (1198-1166 BC) was one. Hmm, imagine
that label.

Baistrocchi recalled, “The Romans not only brought wine to France but
also to the Nahe Valley of Germany over 2000 years ago. Viticulture
tools have been unearthed around the spa town of Bad Kreuznak; you
can see them in the local museum there”.

Busy as they were, the Romans weren’t the first to plant vines for
wine. You have to look further east for that. As reported in the China
Daily edition of June 23, 2003, “25 kilos of vintage wine from the
Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 24) was discovered in a nobleman’s tomb
in Shaanxi Province during construction excavation, and its raw lacquer
seal has kept it perfectly airtight”. Some controversy surrounds the
colour of the wine – it’s green. Most likely the reaction of the wine
with the bronze container. It’s doubtful anyone has tasted it.

Certainly, wine culture has spread all over the world, to South Africa
since 1688 and Australia when the first commercial vineyard started
in 1827. But that’s a mere bagatelle when compared to ancient Roman
and Chinese wines.

Did the Romans teach the French to make wine? Most probably they
shared an amphora or two – it’s the convivial nature of wine drinking,
don’t you agree? And one thing soon leads to another.

Maggie Beale is an international food and wine critic and judge;
and president of Wine Writers Circle.