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Period — 6000 BC – 500 AD

Origins & Antiquity

Wine is older than writing. The earliest traces of deliberate winemaking — grape residues in clay jars — come from the South Caucasus around 6000 BC, and the vine travelled with civilisation itself: Egyptian cellar inventories, Phoenician amphorae, Greek colonies seeding the Mediterranean coasts. Rome industrialised it, planting the provinces — the Rhône, the Mosel, Bordeaux — and writing the first wine literature, from Pliny's grape catalogues to Ausonius' verses on his riverside vines.

Key events

c. −6000Earliest evidence of winemaking, in qvevri jars of the South Caucasus
c. −800Greeks and Phoenicians spread the vine across the Mediterranean
c. 70Pliny the Elder catalogues the grape varieties of the Roman world
c. 370Ausonius writes his Mosella; Rome's vineyards reach Bordeaux, Rhône and Rhine

The grapes of the era

Indicative presence index, 0–100

70

60

55

50

45

40

40

40

40

35

35

35

30

Nerello Mascalese

25

Trebbiano (Ugni Blanc)

25

20

20

15

15

15

10

10

10

10

5

5

5

5

5

5

Grüner Veltliner

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

The wines of the era

Falernian Dry white Qvevri Saperavi Red wine Qvevri Amber Wine Dry white Caecuban Red wine Santorini Assyrtiko Dry white Mulsum Sweet white Passum Sweet white Retsina Dry white Commandaria Sweet white Pramnian Red wine Nemea Red wine Côtes de Provence rosé Rosé Fiano di Avellino Dry white Cirò Red wine Côte-Rôtie Red wine Etna Rosso Red wine Taurasi Red wine Nero d'Avola Red wine Cannonau di Sardegna Red wine Alentejo Red Red wine Graves & Pessac-Léognan Red Red wine Amarone della Valpolicella Red wine Sherry Fortified Corbières Red wine Naoussa Red wine Patrimonio Red wine Lambrusco Sparkling Hermitage Red wine Saint-Émilion Red Red wine Cahors Red wine Ribera del Duero Red wine Valdeorras Godello Dry white Utiel-Requena Bobal Red wine Dingač Red wine Bandol Red wine Soave Dry white Dão Red Red wine Dry White Bordeaux Dry white Clairet Rosé Red Burgundy Red wine Chianti Red wine Prosecco Sparkling Wachau Grüner Veltliner Dry white Moscato d'Asti Sparkling Primitivo di Manduria Red wine Rheingau Riesling Dry white Chablis Dry white Savoie Mondeuse Red wine Fendant Dry white Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Dry white Condrieu Dry white Montefalco Sagrantino Red wine