Origins of Wine

As the first article of this blog, it is appropriate to share with you the ongoing effort by a group of researchers led by Patrick E McGovern of University of Pennsylvania in uncovering the history of wine. Perhaps we will call the first wine for mankind the Stone Age Wine. Legend has it that wine was first discovered by a Persian King Jamsheed who loved fresh grapes and stored them in jars to cater for a year round consumption. Unfortunately, one consignment went bad in the jar and was fermented overtime. It was then labeled as poison on the jar. A harem consort who suffered from a bad headache mistakenly took the “poison” and went into a deep sleep. She miraculously recovered from her headache the next day and informed the King about her discovery. From that day onwards, King Jamsheed ordered that the poison be replicated as the fermented grape juice is indeed wine with medicinal value. Thus begins the quest for winemaking. This tale, although not validated, has been most cited and has implied Iran as the homeland of winemaking.

Cher Lim
Wine Treasures (Singapore)
http://www.wine-treasures.com/