ripen with enough sugar that the yeasts’ alcohol production can suppress the growth of nearly all other microbes And they offer striking colors and a variety of flavors Thanks largely to these qualities, grapes are the world’s largest fruit crop, with about 70% of the annual production used to make wine France, Italy, and Spain are the world’s largest wine producers and exporters The History of Wine The evolution of wine is long and fascinating, and ongoing Here are a few highlights Ancient Times: Aged Wines and Connoisseurship As I write, the earliest evidence we have for wine made from grapes, residues at the bottom of a pot found in western Iran, dates from around 6000 BCE From 3000 BCE on, wine was a prominent part of trade in western Asia and Egypt Wild grapes and the first wines were red, but the Egyptians had a color mutant of the grape plant and made white wines from it They would ferment grape juice in large clay jars The contents of the jars were eventually sampled and graded, and the jars marked, stoppered, and sealed with mud The airtight containers allowed wine to be aged for years Many wine amphoras found in the tombs of the pharaohs carry labels with the date of production, the region in which the wine was made, sometimes a brief description and the name of the winemaker Wine connoisseurship is ancient! Greece and Rome Phoenician and Greek traders introduced the cultivated vine throughout the Mediterranean basin, where the Greeks developed the cult of Dionysos, god of vegetation, the vine, and the temporary release from ordinary life that wine made possible By Homer’s time, about 700 BCE, ... with the date of production, the region in which the wine was made, sometimes a brief description and the name of the winemaker Wine connoisseurship is ancient! Greece and Rome Phoenician and. ..grapes and the first wines were red, but the Egyptians had a color mutant of the grape plant and made white wines from it They would ferment grape juice in large clay jars The contents of the jars... and Greek traders introduced the cultivated vine throughout the Mediterranean basin, where the Greeks developed the cult of Dionysos, god of vegetation, the vine, and the temporary release from