THE ORIGINS

The origin of wine is as uncertain as it is ancient and, perhaps because of that, the birth of the vine was the frequent story-line of myths and legends and it was surrounded by a halo of mystery in different ancient civilisations. The most remote traces which have been found so far are located in an archaeological site in the mountains of Zagros, in the northwest of Iran, where the remains of a clay vessel which may have contained wine were found. A North American investigator - Patrick McGovern, of the University of Pennsylvania - dated them around the year 5,000 or 5,400 BC. Other archaeological discoveries - these, in areas situated on both sides of the Alps - have revealed the existence of the vine seeds of varieties cultivated by man in the Neolithic Age.

Greek mythology records various stories about the beginning of the vine, some of which coincide with the Egyptian beliefs and they consider wine to be a gift from the gods, from Apollo and Maron (Dionysius’ grandfather) - in the case of the Greeks - or from Osiris - according to the Egyptians. In the ancient Egyptian civilisation, wine was a highly appreciated item and it has been confirmed that it was dispensed in jugs identified with the year of the harvest and the name of the wine-producer. In Mesopotamia, 2,000 years BC., the Code of Hammurabi established the rules which controlled the wine trade.

Christianity - with it therefore appearing in the Holy Scriptures - reserved for Noah the honour of being the pioneer in planting the vine, pressing the fruit and drinking its juice. It also points to him as being the first to get drunk, on not knowing about the effects of the excessive consumption of the most noble of drinks.

In Europe, Greeks and Romans were those responsible for extending the cultivation of the vine and wine production in the lands which were gradually colonised or conquered. The first vine stocks arrived in the Greek colonies on the Iberian Peninsula from Marseilles.

And later, the Romans spread them throughout their domain and popularised the wines of Hispania among the consumers of the whole Empire. Isidoro of Sevilla mentions in his writings - 600 years before Christ - more than 25 varieties of Spanish wines. Apart from acting as ambassadors for grape growing and wine production, the Romans applied their new cultivation techniques in Hispania, based on the study and analysis of the lands. The Somontano, the region in which the Viñas del Vero produce their wines, was one of those areas chosen by the experts of that time.

During the Middle Ages, the monastic orders gave a great impulse to the science which deals with the study and production of wines. Each convent or monastery had its own vineyard to supply its wine cellar and for using the wine in religious ceremonies. The Cistercian monk communities in the Burgundy region of France endeavoured to improve the quality of their production and made great advances which are still taken into account nowadays.

With the discovery of America, the vines travelled to the new continent, where they were planted with success. But, without doubt, the definitive take-off of the winemaking industry took place three centuries later. The bourgeoisie began to flourish in Europe and to demand wines of greater quality, even at the expense of having to pay higher prices.

The vigorous production of wines was halted in the second half of the 19th Century. Some American vines imported by a vine-grower from Bordeaux (France) were the carriers of a small insect which lives on the roots of the vine stock and feeds off their sap. The phylloxera was on the point of wiping out all the vines around the world, but was stopped through the grafting of plants which also came from America. Today, the production of wines has recovered and even exceeded the splendour of past periods and today some nine million hectares are cultivated around the world, which makes it possible to produce some 30,000 million litres a year.