As for wine, its history is interlaced with that of man himself. Scientists agree to the fact, that human civilization begins when man stopped being a nomad and started cultivating the land. It would be also correct to assume that this pass happened when the first "farmers" started cultivating the vine.
The vine tied those ex-nomads to the earth, because it takes many years until it produces fruits. Wine production although, is a fact which cannot be defined precisely in time. Stones of grapes found in the caves of prehistoric peoples of Caucasus, Mesopotamia, Egypt and - later - of Greece, refer to the wine and associate it with the Gods. One thing thus is certain - that its origin lies at least 5.000 years from today.
It is not historically known when viticulture started in Greece. It might be around the 15 century B.C. Also there is no consensus about the route it followed to come to our country. Some say it came from Phoenicea to Crete, from there to Naxos and the rest of Greece followed. Others believe that Aitolia was firt, others believe it come from Thrace. The route is not that important, since it spreaded rapidly and soon became on of the main economic resources of Greece - something that can be confirmed from the many ancient coins depicting grapes. We can be certain that wine had a special place in the Greeks lives in such an extend that Dionysus (Bachus), the good of wild vegetation at the beginning, was associated with the grape and its blessed product almost exclusively.
Greeks became the best winemakers, after their restless spirit brought them to Egypt and Phoenicea from where they learned the art of wine-making. Their travels and the colonisations of Mediterranean coasts set the beginingns of modern viticulture and brought the wine to Southern Europe. Countries considered to have a tradition in wine production such as France, Italy, or Spain owe much to those untiring traders.
We can continue our travel, by seeing the Greek Wine-producing areas.
Or we can return to the introductory page.