[Anthropologists have helped uncork the fascinating history of
winemaking—from drunken primates to Stone Age seed domestication to
intoxicating religious rites. ]
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FIVE TURNING POINTS IN THE EVOLUTION OF WINE  
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Christopher Howard
May 31, 2022
Sapiens [[link removed]]

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_ Anthropologists have helped uncork the fascinating history of
winemaking—from drunken primates to Stone Age seed domestication to
intoxicating religious rites. _

Archaeologists have investigated Greek wine containers shipwrecked in
the Mediterranean. , Cristian Umili/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images

 

Contrary to popular belief, the evolution of wine precedes agriculture
and the domestication of grapes. The genesis of wine may even predate
our species. Over the millennia, humans have radically transformed
viticulture from a happy accident to a scientifically precise art form
and global industry. At the same time, the juice of fermented fruits
shaped us—our religions and rituals, our economies, and even our
genes.

This most human and ancient of beverages is ripe for anthropological
investigation. Archaeologists have excavated an Armenian cave that’s
home to the world’s oldest-known winery
[[link removed]], analyzed residue
from 9,000-year-old Chinese pots
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signature of grapes, and dove into the ocean to examine Greek wine
amphorae in a shipwreck
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Meanwhile, sociocultural anthropologists have explored wine and
cultural identity in France
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wine and the politics of place and labor
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and wine as a perfect synthesis of nature, culture, and technology
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Let’s decant the story they’ve uncovered, in five major
developments.

1. DRUNKEN MONKEYS: THE ROOTS OF WINE DRINKING

The dawn of wine, like the origin of art, is continually being pushed
back in time by new research. According to the drunken monkey
hypothesis [[link removed]], conceived by
integrative biologist Robert Dudley
[[link removed]] in the early 2000s
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early hominids and other primate species have had a taste for boozy
fruit for millions of years. Dudley has suggested
[[link removed]] three reasons
for this predilection:

* Fermenting fruit was easier to smell and locate—and hence,
consume.
* It offered healthy probiotics and antimicrobial properties, plus a
caloric boost: Ethanol (the alcohol produced when yeast ferments
sugars) has nearly twice
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the calories of carbohydrates.
* The mild buzz of ethanol eased the tension of life in the jungle.
Alcohol levels were low, and consumption was moderate, since properly
drunken monkeys would have made easy prey.

At least 10 million years ago, a critical gene mutation in primates
created the ADH4 enzyme
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possible to digest ethanol up to 40 times faster than previous species
did. The enzyme allowed our ape ancestors to enjoy even more overripe,
fermenting fruit without suffering ill effects.

Since grapes didn’t grow in sub-Saharan Africa, our Homo ancestors
probably made the world’s first wines by fermenting high-sugar
fruits like figs or marula, a tart, juicy tree fruit. Wine can in fact
be made from a variety of fruits, though today almost all wine is
crafted from grapes—specifically from one highly versatile grape,
Vitis vinifera sylvestris.

Before ancient humans encountered wild Eurasian grapes, they may have
fermented fruits such as marula (shown here).
Jouan/Rius/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

2. GRAPE EXPECTATIONS: STONE AGE WINE

The wine we know and love arose sometime after Homo sapiens ventured
out of East Africa about 2 million years ago and first tasted Vitis
vinifera sylvestris
[[link removed]], wild Eurasian
grapes. These early encounters may have taken place in present-day
Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, or perhaps farther north in Turkey,
Syria, or Iran.

Whether they discovered grape wine by accident or deliberately put a
twist on traditional African techniques remains unknown.
Anthropologists, however, largely support the Paleolithic hypothesis
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developed by anthropologist Patrick McGovern
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to explain how the world’s first grape wine was made. Here’s how
it (probably) went down:

While gathering food, roaming bands of humans chanced upon wild
grapes, which they placed in woven baskets or gourds (since we’re
talking about life before ceramics) and brought them back to camp. The
weight of the fruit on top crushed some grapes, and juice pooled at
the bottom of the vessel. In the warm climate, it would take only a
few days for the yeast on the grape skins to begin fermenting the
liquid.

After eating all the grapes, our ancestors must have been enchanted by
the aromatic, mildly intoxicating juice. Liking what they tasted and
felt, they would have made intentional grape pressing standard
practice. Voilà, wine was born! It needed to be consumed quickly,
however, since preservation methods were still a long way off.

As logical as it sounds, the Paleolithic hypothesis is just that—an
educated guess. So far, it’s impossible to prove, since there
isn’t any primordial wine to exhume from the earth. The organic
baskets and containers are also long gone. Researchers do have solid
evidence, however, for identifying the transition from wild to
domesticated grapes, which coincides with the widespread shift from
Stone Age foraging to Neolithic farming.

3. DRINKING HISTORY: FROM WILD TO DOMESTICATED VINES

Evidence suggests the domestication of grapes took place during the
Neolithic period, from around 8,500 to 4,000 B.C.
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in the Transcaucasian region between the Black and Caspian seas. Wild
grapes still thrive in parts of this ecologically diverse area, which
comprises modern-day Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

Researchers use numerous methods to pinpoint when and where grapevines
were first deliberately cultivated, incorporating insights from
archaeology, genetics, linguistics, and literary studies. But one of
the hardest forms of evidence comes from ancient seeds. Advances in
paleoethnobotany (the archaeological study of people-plant relations)
demonstrate morphological differences
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between wild and domesticated grape seeds from around 6000 B.C.
onward.

Inside the Areni-1 cave complex in Armenia, archaeologists found
evidence of the world’s oldest-known winery, including a wine press
and fermentation vessels more than 6,000 years old. Gerd
Eichmann/Wikimedia Commons

Meanwhile, biomolecular archaeologists have identified grape wine
residue and tree resin
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is used as a preservative—in Neolithic pottery vessels shortly after
the seeds began to change. These findings are further validated by
climatic and environmental
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reconstructions, along with archaeobotanical evidence
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pollen across Western Asia.

Socioculturally, a host of conditions had to be in place for the wild
grapevine to become cultivated. Permanent human settlement was the
most significant because vines require year-round tending, including
watering and protecting them from animals, pests, and other people.
Plus, in order for wine to be enjoyed all year—as opposed to being a
seasonal indulgence, as it was for Paleolithic
hunter-gatherers—airtight ceramic vessels had to be invented to
prevent the drink from spoiling or turning into vinegar.

So, wine culture primarily matured in the early agricultural
communities of Western Asia, followed by the Mediterranean and North
Africa, taking its central place in numerous religions.

4. DIVINE WINE: FROM MYTHIC TALES TO MODERN TASTES 

Across the ancient winemaking cultures of Western Asia and the
Mediterranean, wine belonged to the realm of the sacred
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In Genesis, the Biblical account of origins, Noah’s first task after
landing his ark on Mount Ararat was to plant a vineyard. Yet Noah’s
tale is a variation on the earlier Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh, who
may be the first mythic vigneron
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The Greeks came to worship Dionysus, the god of the vine
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who also arrived from Mesopotamia and later become Bacchus in Roman
mythology. Naturally, wine was served at the Biblical story of the
Last Supper, and the ancient elixir came to symbolize the blood of
Christ in the Christian ritual of communion.

Ancient Egyptian religion also made a strong symbolic association
between blood and wine, in part because both are red. As McGovern
observes
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crushing grapes was linked metaphorically with bloodshed but in a way
that symbolized restoring balance and order to the world. The god of
the red-stained winepress, Shesmu, was known as the “slaughterer,”
whose wrath was especially directed at enemies of the pharaoh.

Winemakers added resin, gypsum, ashes, herbs, and seawater to prevent
rot and mask “off” flavors.

Before the biochemistry of fermentation was scientifically understood,
the magical transformation of grape juice into wine was seen as the
work of divinities. With its ability to lift the spirits and encourage
conviviality, friendship, and even love, wine was considered a gift of
the gods. Along with its place in religious rituals and celebrations,
wine’s medicinal use for all kinds of ailments and the fact that it
was generally safer than water further conferred its sacred status.

While the mythico-religious view of wine continued for millennia and
still persists for some followers of Christianity (and perhaps ardent
oenophiles), certain breakthroughs made during the scientific
revolution and Enlightenment marked a new phase in wine history.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, wine quality vastly improved
through dramatically fuller comprehension of chemistry. For thousands
of years, sour and spoiled wines were the norm, according to the
records of Pliny the Elder
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and other historians who described techniques such as adding resin,
gypsum, ashes, herbs, and seawater to prevent rot and mask “off”
flavors. The spoilage was mainly due to excessive amounts of oxygen
and bacteria getting into vessels, which, despite winemakers’ best
efforts, lacked proper seals and sanitation.

Using updated tools and techniques, modern vintners make cleaner,
stabler, and ultimately superior wines compared to ancient times. As
wine began to taste better and improve with age, and distinct styles
emerged (many still recognizable), it became the aesthetic object and
status symbol it is today.

5. NEW WORLDS AND THE GLOBALIZATION OF WINE 

From early trade routes across Western Asia, the Mediterranean, and
North Africa, wine flowed throughout Europe and eventually to the
colonized territories of the Americas, Southern Africa, and New
Zealand and Australia. In countries such as Chile, Argentina, South
Africa, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, “New World” wine was
born.

“Old World” wine
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generally points to Western and Southern Europe and carries
connotations of traditional winemaking methods and a deep emphasis on
the sense of place expressed in wine, known in French as terroir. Less
bound by history and tradition, New World wine is typically viewed as
more experimental and innovative, and often has bolder and more
fruit-forward flavors.

New World wine became increasingly important following the phylloxera
plague of the mid-to-late-19th century. This tiny insect decimated the
vineyards of Europe, especially in France, leaving a global shortage
of wine that the relatively unscathed New World was only too happy to
supply. Winemakers found that the solution to the plague was to graft
European V. vinifera onto the roots of American vines. Most wine is
still produced
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from these grafts or hybrids.

In the 1800s, a phylloxera infestation wiped out vineyards in much of
Europe, forever changing the winemaking world. Photo12/Universal
Images Group/Getty Images

Nevertheless, New World wine was long considered (and still is by some
connoisseurs) inferior to wines of the Old World, with its 8,000-plus
years of history and tradition. A turning point, however, was the
so-called Judgment of Paris
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in 1976. This event pitted the recognized top wines of France and
California against one another in a blind tasting by France’s
preeminent wine critics. Lo and behold, California came out on top,
and many experts in the Old World conceded that fine wine could be
made elsewhere.

Into the new millennium, the globalization of wine has reached
ever-increasing heights, making inroads in massive new markets in East
and South Asia. China, for example, now has numerous wine-producing
regions [[link removed]]. More and
more Indigenous peoples are becoming involved in winemaking in places
such as New Zealand
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North America
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and Chile
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And due to climate change, vines are being planted in places that were
previously too cold to ripen grapes, such as in Scandinavia
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Patagonia
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When we pour, swirl, and taste wine, we’re joining a long ritual
procession of our human and pre-human ancestors. So, let’s not only
raise our glasses to Old Europe, but also to our forebears in Western
Asia and Africa, and the people around the world who are adding new
dimensions to the remarkable evolution of wine.

This work first appeared on SAPIENS [[link removed]] under a
CC BY-ND 4.0 license
[[link removed]]. Read the original
here [[link removed]].

_CHRISTOPHER HOWARD -- I’m an anthropologist interested in the
changing relations between humans, technology and the environment. As
such, I explore a wide range of topics from an interdisciplinary
perspective, mostly through the lens of social theory, philosophical
anthropology and phenomenology. I also have a special interest in wine
and viticulture, having worked previously in the California wine
industry. Currently, I teach anthropology for Chaminade University of
Honolulu, Massey University (NZ) and conduct research for the New
Zealand Ministry of Economics. I also consult as an organizational
anthropologist and write about wine for several publications.
Originally from Sonoma, California, I reside in Wellington, NZ._

_SAPIENS is a digital magazine about the human world. It’s about how
we communicate with each other, why we behave kindly and badly, where
and when we evolved in the past, and how we live and continue to
evolve today. It’s about the relationship between our laws and
ethics, the cities we build, and the environment we depend on. It’s
about why sex, sports, and violence consume and intrigue us, what life
was like in centuries past, where we might be headed in centuries to
come, and much more._

_In January 2016, we launched SAPIENS with a mission to bring
anthropology—the study of being human—to the public, to make a
difference in how people see themselves and the people around them.
Our objective is to deepen your understanding of the human experience
by exploring exciting, novel, thought-provoking, and unconventional
ideas._

_Through news coverage, features, commentaries, reviews, photo essays,
and much more, we work closely with anthropologists and journalists to
craft intriguing and innovative ways of sharing the discipline with a
worldwide audience. To expand our reach, we syndicate articles at The
Atlantic [[link removed]], DiscoverMagazine.com
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publications. We are fully funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation
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while maintaining unconditional editorial independence._

_SAPIENS aims to transform how the public understands anthropology.
Every piece of content is grounded in anthropological research,
theories, or thinking. We present stories and perspectives that are
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_We hope you will return often to SAPIENS, where we strive to
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