Fermented beverages have been preferred over water throughout the ages: they are safer, provide psychotropic effects, and are more nutritious. Some have even said alcohol was the primary agent for the development of Western civilization, since more healthy individuals (even if inebriated much of the time) lived longer and had greater reproductive success. When humans became "civilized," fermented beverages were right at the top of the list for other reasons as well: conspicuous display (the earliest Neolithic wine, which might be dubbed "Chateau Hajji Firuz," was like showing off a bottle of Pétrus today); a social lubricant (early cities were even more congested than those of today); economy (the grapevine and wine tend to take over cultures, whether Greece, Italy, Spain, or California); trade and cross-cultural interactions (special wine-drinking ceremonies and drinking vessels set the stage for the broader exchange of ideas and technologies between cultures); and religion (wine is right at the center of Christianity and Judaism; Islam also had its "Bacchic" poets like Omar Khayyam).

Whatever the reason, we continue to live out our past civilization by drinking wine made from a plant that has its origins in the ancient Near East. Your next bottle may not be a 7000 year old vintage from Hajji Firuz, but the grape remains ever popular—cloned over and over again from those ancient beginnings

If winemaking is best understood as an intentional human activity rather than a seasonal happenstance, then the Neolithic period (8500-4000 B.C.) is the first time in human prehistory when the necessary preconditions for this momentous innovation came together.

Most importantly, Neolithic communities of the ancient Near East and Egypt were permanent, year-round settlements made possible by domesticated plants and animals.

With a more secure food supply than nomadic groups and with a more stable base of operations, a Neolithic "cuisine" emerged. Using a variety of food processing techniques—fermentation, soaking, heating, spicing—Neolithic peoples are credited with first producing bread, beer, and an array of meat and grain entrées we continue to enjoy today.

Crafts important in food preparation, storage, and serving advanced in tandem with the new cuisine. Of special significance is the appearance of pottery vessels around 6000 B.C. The plasticity of clay made it an ideal material for forming shapes such as narrow-mouthed vats and storage jars for producing and keeping wine.

Humans and most of what they surround themselves with (clothing, habitations, and cuisine), are primarily organic in chemical composition. Organics are easily destroyed and dispersed; only the application of microchemical techniques can reconstruct what existed originally. The methods and approaches that have been developed for ancient wine can be applied to other organic materials—whether DNA, dyes, woods, resins, drugs, honey, or whatever—as long as they have been well preserved enough (best in dry, desert regions or underwater, where oxygen is not available).

After firing the clay to high temperatures, the resultant pottery is essentially indestructible, and its porous structure helps to absorb organics.

A major step forward in our understanding of Neolithic winemaking came from the analysis of a yellowish residue inside a jar (see photo at top of page) excavated by Mary M. Voigt at the site of Hajji Firuz Tepe in the northern Zagros Mountains of Iran. The jar, with a volume of about 9 liters (2.5 gallons) was found together with five similar jars embedded in the earthen floor along one wall of a "kitchen" of a Neolithic mudbrick building, dated to ca. 5400-5000 B.C. The structure, consisting of a large living room that may have doubled as a bedroom, the "kitchen," and two storage rooms, might have accommodated an extended family. That the room in which the jars were found functioned as a kitchen was supported by the finding of numerous pottery vessels, which were probably used to prepare and cook foods, together with a fireplace

The infrared spectrum of the organic contents of one of the Neolithic Hajji Firuz Tepe jars is dominated by the absorption peaks of both tartaric acid and calcium tartrate. Tartaric acid occurs naturally in large amounts only in grapes. The jar contained a grape juice that quickly fermented to wine, and was preserved by stoppering and adding terebinth tree resin. Later wine jars samples from late 4th millennium B.C. Egypt and upland and lowland Mesopotamia (Godin Tepe, Uruk, and Susa) sometimes contain relatively more tartaric acid than calcium tartrate.

The battery of infrared, liquid chromatographic, and wet chemical analyses that have been carried out clearly showed the presence of calcium tartrate in the jars. Tartaric acid occurs in large amounts in nature only in grapes. Under normal conditions and at room temperature, grape juice quickly ferments to wine. Because of slow pressing methods in antiquity and high temperatures in the Middle East, fermentation had probably begun before the liquid went into the jar. Clay stoppers of approximately the same diameter as that of the jar mouth were found nearby, so the expertise was available to seal the jar and prevent the wine from turning to vinegar.

The high-performance liquid chromatographic results pointed to another component that made it virtually certain that the jar originally contained wine: terebinth tree resin. In an upland region like Hajji Firuz, the wild grapevine and the terebinth tree grew together and produced their fruit and resin about the same time of year, so mixing these products together might have occurred accidentally or as a result of an innovative impulse. Whatever the case, the Hajji Firuz sample clearly was a mixture of a grape product and terebinth tree resin. And that grape product was most likely wine.

The Land Where Dionysus Was Born

The head of Dionysus on a silver drachma (520 BC)

As legend has it, Dionysus, the god of wine, was born in Thracia, on what is nowadays the territory of Romania. Wine has been produced in this area since the 7th century BC. The abundance and fame of the Dacian (as this part of Thracia was called) wines were so well-known that, to put an end to the migratory people's incursions, the Dacian king Burebista (1st century BC) ordered all the vineyards destroyed. Of course, not all the vineyards were uprooted and soon may of them were replanted. After Dacia was conquered by the Romans (106 AD), on the coins issued by the victors, the new Roman province called Dacia Felix (Happy Dacia) was represented as woman to whom two children were offering grapes, a symbol of the regions main riches. During Roman times, vine growing was one of the basic occupations of the local inhabitants.

In more recent times, four phases of Romanian history have had a great influence on the country's wine industry: close links with France during the 19th century, equally close links with Germany and Austria in the inter-war years, the establishment of communist rule in 1948, and the liberalization of the economy in the post-1989 period.

The links with France were strong not only during the 19th century, but right up to the outbreak of the First World War. French culture, education, and engineering were much appreciated, and French was the formal language of the educated classes. When phylloxera hit Romania (the infestation was at its most destructive during the last two decades of the 19th century), it was natural that Romanian viticulturalists would seek advice and practical help from the French. The result was that much replanting post-phylloxera was carried out using "French" vine varieties: Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and others. Thus, these varieties have been in Romania for almost twice as long as in most other East-European countries.

One of the consequences of the shift in cultural ties in favor of Germany and Austria in the period between the First and Second World Wars was the introduction into Romania of the "spritzer": wine mixed with sparkling mineral water. Even today, this remains a popular way for Romanians to drink wine, which, in turn, has lead to a tendency for Romanians to prefer (and winemakers to produce) white wines with toned-down fruit flavors, since these, rather than strongly fruity wines, produce the best spritzers.

During the communist rule, three distinct types of wine-producing organizations developed: research establishments, wine estates, and co-operative vineyards linked to state wineries. The research establishments are fully owned and controlled by the government. In the early days, each research establishment operated independently, but in 1967 they became part of the National Institute for Vine and Wine Research, with its headquarters at Valea Calugareasca in the Dealu Mare region, and ten branches, one in each of Romania's main grape-growing regions. The Institute carries out all the usual work of such an organization: genetic improvement of vine material through breeding and clonal selection, rootstock propagation, development of improved vine cultivation technology, research into improved vinification. Wine estates are large enterprises comprising both vineyards and wineries. Before 1948, these estates would have been owned by wealthy individuals or families. With the coming of communist rule, the estates were nationalized and kept as single units. The majority of Romanian grapes were grown in "co-operative" vine farms which were formed by the enforced collectivization of previously peasant-owned land. The grapes from these "co-operatives" were vinified in state-owned wineries, each winery being allocated the production of the surrounding vineyards.

The liberalization of the Romanian economy after 1989 has left the research establishment largely unaffected. However, the "co-operative" vineyards have been returned to private hands. The state wineries and the wine estates are in the process of being privatized as well.