European Vineyard Winemaking

Timeline

1. -200–400Italian peninsula and Gaul · ItalyThe Romans systematically introduced wine grapes, built terraces and pressing troughs, and shipped wine by amphora to the provinces; vineyards became a major part of the Mediterranean villa economy.
2. 1000–1400Monasteries in Burgundy and the Rhine Valley · BurgundyBenedictine and Cistercian monasteries oversaw vineyard clearing, varietal selection, and barrel aging; demand for communion wine and feast drinking drove refinement of viticulture, making vineyards a core asset of church estates.
3. 1321–1330Bordeaux and Venice wine trade ports · AquitaineGrape harvest pressing was still done by peasants and monastery tenants; urban wine merchants' guilds regulated measures and quality, and barrel-shipped wine entered northern European and Mediterranean markets by river and sea, making it one of Europe's major commodities in the early 14th century.