History of Wine Timeline

From c. 1000 BCE, the Phoenicians were probably responsible for much of the subsequent spread of wine culture around the Mediterranean through their extensive trade networks.

Image source: Phoenicia

The 7th-century BC lyrical poet Alcman made the earliest reference to a named wine, praising Dénthis from the western foothills of Mount Taygetus in Messenia as anthosmías ('flowery-scented').

From c. 600 BCE, Greek colonization and trade further spread wine culture around the Mediterranean, building on earlier Phoenician influence.

Image source: Ancient Greece and wine

The works of Homer, Herodotus and other historians of Ancient Greece refer to the ancient Thracians' love for winemaking and consumption, said to reach back as far as 6000 years ago.

Image source: Thracians

During the 2nd century BC, Zhang Qian's exploration of the Western Regions reached the Hellenistic successor states of Alexander's empire — Dayuan, Bactria, and the Indo-Greek Kingdom — linking China with grape-growing regions.

Image source: Zhang Qian

Evidence suggests widespread drunkenness and true alcoholism among the Romans began in the first century BC and reached its height in the first century AD.

Image source: Ancient Rome and wine

Multiple kinds of aromatic wine are mentioned in Talmudic literature, Jewish rabbinic texts from the early centuries AD through late antiquity.

The writings of 4th-century CE priest Jerome vividly depicted the Holy Land's landscape adorned with sprawling vineyards, reflecting the region's enduring winemaking tradition.

Image source: Jerome

When the Western Roman Empire fell during the 5th century, Europe entered a period of invasions and social turmoil, with the Roman Catholic Church as the only stable social structure preserving viticulture.

Image source: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

As described by the 6th-century CE poet Corippus, the wines of the Levant region stood out for their attributes of being white, light, and sweet.

Image source: Corippus

The advent of Islam and subsequent Muslim conquests in the 7th and 8th centuries brought many territories under Muslim control, affecting wine production. In the Levant, conquest suppressed winemaking after centuries of prominence.

Image source: Early Muslim conquests

After their founding in 1098, the Cistercians planted vineyards across Europe, including Clos de Vougeot and Steinberg, while Benedictine monks became among the largest producers of wine in Italy and France.

Image source: Cistercians

The publication of Liber de Vinis by Arnaldus de Villa Nova in the 13th century established the use of wine in medicine, seeing it as particularly useful as an antiseptic, a restorative, and for preparing poultices.

Image source: Arnaldus de Villa Nova

Winemaking in the Levant had retained its importance since the Bronze Age until the decline of Byzantine rule; the 13th-century Mamluk conquest resulted in its complete prohibition.

Image source: Mamluk Sultanate

Due to political ties between the Duchy of Aquitaine and England (1152–1453), Bordeaux output served the British market, overseen by the Worshipful Company of Vintners after its establishment in 1363.

Image source: Worshipful Company of Vintners

Until the 13th century most vineyards grew white varieties more resistant to damp, cold climates; by the end of the 14th century red varieties such as Pinot Noir and Gamay had been introduced in Burgundy.

Image source: Pinot noir

In 1435 Count John IV of Katzenelnbogen, a wealthy member of the high nobility of the Holy Roman Empire near Frankfurt, became the first to plant Riesling, which would become Germany's most important grape.

Image source: Riesling

The 17th century saw developments that made the glass wine bottle practical, with advances in glassmaking and use of cork stoppers and corkscrews, allowing wine to be aged over time — hitherto impossible in opened barrels.

Image source: Wine bottle

Vineyards were established in Mexico by 1530. Mexico became the most important wine producer starting in the 16th century, to the extent that its output began to affect Spanish commercial production.

Image source: Mexican wine

Vineyards were established in Peru by the 1550s and Chile shortly afterwards, as Spanish missionaries took viticulture to South America. They also brought it to Argentina in the mid-16th century and Baja California in the 18th.

Image source: Chilean wine

British colonists attempted to establish vineyards in Virginia in 1619 but were unable to due to the native phylloxera pest and downy and powdery mildew.

Image source: Virginia wine

The European settlement of South Africa and subsequent trade involving the Dutch East India Company led to the planting of vines in 1655. The Cape Province later became the largest exporter of wine to Europe in the 18th century.

Image source: South African wine

Arthur Phillip introduced vines to Australia in 1788 when the First Fleet brought cuttings from South Africa. Initial plantings failed, but successful vineyards emerged in the early 19th century and viticulture was widely practised by the 1850s.

Image source: Australian wine

The Australian missionary Samuel Marsden introduced vines to New Zealand in 1819, though the product of such countries remained little known outside small export markets until late in the 20th century.

Image source: New Zealand wine

The centuries after the invention of the glass bottle saw a boom in the wine trade, especially in the mid-to-late 19th century in Italy, Spain and California, aided by waves of immigrants importing French, Italian and German vines.

Beginning in the latter half of the 19th century, the Great French Wine Blight was caused by an infestation of the aphid phylloxera brought over from America, whose louse stage feeds on vine roots and eventually kills the plant, causing loss of many indigenous varieties.

Image source: Great French Wine Blight

During the devastating phylloxera blight in late 19th-century Europe, it was found that Native American vines were immune to the pest, leading to grafting solutions that saved European viticulture.

Image source: Phylloxera

In East Asia, the first modern wine industry was Japanese wine, developed in 1874 after grapevines were brought back from Europe. Mercian was established in 1877 and Suntory in 1909.

Image source: Japanese wine

The co-operative movement gained traction with winemakers during the interwar period, and the Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité was established in 1947 to administer France's appellation laws, the first comprehensive restrictions on grape varieties, yields, alcoholic strength and vinification techniques.

Image source: Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité

Until the latter half of the 20th century, American wine was generally viewed as inferior to that of Europe. With the surprisingly favorable American showing at the Paris Wine tasting of 1976, New World wine began to garner respect in the land of wine's origins.

Image source: Judgment of Paris (wine)

The oldest surviving urn of wine in liquid state was found in 2019 in a Roman mausoleum in Carmona, southern Spain, and is about 2000 years old.