Unit 26 of 26 · Online wine course

A Short History of Wine

From ancient jars to today. 5 lessons · about 40 min

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The 5 lessons

  1. Wine's ancient origins: from wild vine to Rome

    How a wild forest vine became a crop, and how Egypt, Greece, Phoenician and Greek sailors and finally Rome carried wine across the ancient world.

    You will be able to:

    • explain how a wild vine became a farmed crop
    • describe wine's place in Egypt, Greece and Rome
    • trace wine's journey west from the Caucasus to Gaul
    about 8 min

  2. Old roots: Georgia, Greece and Hungary today

    Three ancient wine cultures still alive in the glass: Georgia's amber wines, Greece's place-named grapes and Tokaj's wines, from syrupy sweet to dry.

    You will be able to:

    • explain how Rkatsiteli in qvevri becomes amber wine
    • match four Greek place names to their grapes
    • rank Tokaj's wines from Eszencia to dry Furmint
    about 8 min

  3. How Europe's classic regions formed

    Why European wines carry place names: how Rome, monks and merchants made regions famous, and how laws, from Chianti in 1716 to the EU, protected the names.

    You will be able to:

    • explain the three forces behind Europe's wine place names
    • describe how fraud turned famous names into wine laws
    • tell a PDO wine from a PGI wine
    about 8 min

  4. The New World rises: how vines crossed the oceans

    How European vines reached the Americas, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand from the 1500s, and how these lands built a riper, grape-named style.

    You will be able to:

    • explain what makes a wine country New World
    • trace how vines spread from Mexico to New Zealand
    • describe what shaped the riper, grape-named New World style
    about 8 min

  5. Phylloxera and the modern era: crisis, cure, science

    How a tiny American insect was found, fought and beaten, what the crisis did to wine and growers, and how science made good wine the norm.

    You will be able to:

    • tell how phylloxera was found and traced to America
    • explain the cures tried and what the crisis caused
    • name three modern changes that made wine better
    about 8 min

Related reading on Winelingo: Wine classifications explained