History Of Grape Growing

Grape growing history is basically dated ever since Neolithic periods and we do have proof that people were refining grapes then to make wine. It spreads from 5 BC to modern times. The oldest domestication of the variety Vitis vinifera is reality in Georgia. While in 3200 BC there were different establishments that were focused on growing grapes.

During early cultivations Vitis vinifera, a hermaphrodite species, was preferred when compared to female and male vines that had dependencies when thinking about pollination. Hermaphrodite vines can easily pollinate themselves.

Phoenicians basically first started using various viticulture practices. These practices were later used in the Carthage. You can also find a lot of details about viticulture thanks to Mago and his 28 volume manuscript. This is one manuscript that did manage to make it through the Roman Empire's Carthage artifacts destruction attempts in the third Punic War and today gives us much info about the history of growing grapes.

Inspired by these scripts, Roman statesman Cato de Elder, wrote De Agra Cultura in 160 BC which described the viticulture and agriculture of the Romans. De Re Rustica, written by Columella, talked a lot about the Roman viticulture. Columella writings are the first known text to mention usage of trellis for supporting grape wines.

He also speaks about the earlier trend of training the vines to grow on tree trunks and how he personally favored the usage of stakes for support and not tree trunks. Columella basically liked stakes because it was really hard to prune vines when they were growing on trees. Pruning was also essential because vines do need sunlight and if vegetation is too thick this is not possible anymore.

Different world known wine growing regions including German Mosel, French Bordeaux, SPanish Rioja, Rhone and Burgundy became popular when we saw the Roman Empire spreading their dominance towards Western Europe.

Roman viticulturists stood out as pioneers when identifying good locations to grow grapevines. They managed to understand that cold air is travelling down hill and comes from the valley's top. Too much of cold air harmed the grapevines as it interfered with photosynthesis affecting the food produced by the plant and winter frost was also not suitable for grapes.

Catholic monks were really good viticulturists in the middle Ages. They introduced cru vineyards, which basically produced similar vintage wines. Around this time we saw the development of the Metayage system in France and laborers started working lands on a contract basis. The landlords gave the labor the choice of choosing the type of grapes his wished to grow and how to cultivate it.

Most practices of the middle age continued till the 18th century. Some studies were conducted so that people will see compatibility levels between localities and different grapevines. Quantity was discussed a lot and did bring in conflicts. Since only quality grapes would offer quality wine landlors did prefer quality over quantity. However, the poor labor gave importance to quantity as it affected the money he earned.

History of grape growing spans over decades from 5BC to the modern times, viticulture was bought to Europe from Greece by the Roman Empire. It was Catholic Monks that introduced modern day vineyard culture. There are many places that have proof that viticulture was even popular in ancient times.