Nearly every vine in Europe now grows on American roots
In the late 19th century a tiny American aphid called phylloxera chewed through the roots of Europe's vineyards. Almost every vine had to be replaced by grafting onto resistant American rootstock, a practice that continues today. It was one twist in an 8,000-year story that began with wine traces near Tbilisi.
The oldest known traces of wine come from near Tbilisi in Georgia, around 6000 BCE, and the oldest known winery, Areni-1 in Armenia, dates to about 4100 BCE. One theory holds that early foragers liked sweet wild grapes, gathered them, and found that juice left in the bottom of a container fermented into weak wine within days; settled farming then brought deliberate cultivation. Phoenician traders from around 1000 BCE and Greeks from around 600 BCE probably spread the drink around the Mediterranean, and the Romans scaled up production, notably in Gaul. They also learned that burning sulphur candles in empty vessels kept wine from turning to vinegar, an antioxidant trick that survives in modern sulphur dioxide preservatives.
Religion kept wine central. Greeks worshipped Dionysus, ritual wine was part of Jewish practice from Biblical times, and the Eucharist made it essential to Christianity, so medieval monks planted vineyards in many of today's great regions. Bordeaux was an exception, run as a commercial trade serving Aquitaine and Britain. Islam nominally banned wine, yet alchemists of its Golden Age such as Geber pioneered distilling it for medicine and perfume.
Colonists carried vines to celebrate Mass abroad: Mexico had vineyards by 1530, South Africa by 1655, and Australia from 1788. Virginia's attempt in 1619 failed because of native pests and mildew. In the 17th century, better glass, cork stoppers and corkscrews made bottles practical, and for the first time wine could be aged instead of drawn from open barrels.
The 20th century brought prohibition, wars and depression. France created its appellation authority, the INAO, in 1947 to police grape varieties, yields and methods, and after the war every major producer adopted similar laws. Small New World producers later found a market for artisanal wines. A few regions, such as South Australia, remain free of phylloxera and still grow vines on their own roots.
Source: History of wine
