The Unexpected Country Wine Originated From

Wine has played a significant role throughout history. In ancient Greece, the alcoholic tipple was thought of as a gift from the god Dionysus, and drunk medicinally, ceremonially, and for pleasure. But the origins of wine are much older than this example, and the ancient drink was most likely born in the country of Georgia (not to be confused with the state). Touching the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains, Georgia is an independent country (formerly part of the Soviet Union) considered to be a part of both Europe and Asia. Some of the earliest evidence of wine production was found about 30 miles outside of Georgia's capital, Tbilisi.

Fragments of clay jars, dated 6,000-5,800 B.C., were excavated and discovered to have traces of tartaric acid and other acids, which proved the jars contained grape residue. The shape of the jars suggested that they held wine rather than just whole grapes. If you want to sip on wine and have a taste of ancient history, some winemakers in Georgia still produce wine in this style of clay jar, called qvevri, which are designed to sit partially in the ground.  

Today, popular Georgian wine varieties include saperavi and rkatsiteli, and the country is also well-known for its production of orange wines, named for their color and not the citrus fruit. Other countries in the Caucasus region — particularly Armenia and Turkey — still produce plenty of wine, with a wide diversity of native grape varieties, including Voskehat, Emir, and Areni.

There is wine-producing evidence found in ancient China that is older than that found in Georgia, dating all the way back to 7,000 B.C. However, the pottery shards that were analyzed showed that the jars had stored a fermented beverage made of grapes, honey, hawthorne fruit, and rice, so it was not a pure grape wine like the Georgian discovery. China started producing grape-only wine sometime around 220-265 B.C., after learning winemaking methods from the Persians. 

Georgia's neighbour Armenia is home to a variety of distinctive food and drink, and is also where the oldest known wine-production facility can be found. It dates back to 4,100 B.C. There's also evidence that Turkey cultivated grapevines sometime between 8,500-6,000 B.C. And two-gallon clay vessels found at a neolithic village in Iran, dated at 5,000 B.C., showed traces of substances present in wine. Georgia, Turkey, Iran, and Armenia are all a part of this Caucasus region, so we can at least safely say that it is this area that is considered to be the birthplace of wine.