Mediterranean Viticulture and Winemaking

Timeline

1. c. -6000–400Near East to Italy · MediterraneanGrape domestication and winemaking techniques spread westward from the Near East; Greek colonization and the expansion of the Roman Empire brought vineyards and wine culture throughout the Mediterranean, forming regional grape varieties and winemaking traditions.
2. 500–1480Burgundy and Iberia · MediterraneanMonasteries preserved and improved viticulture techniques; in the High Middle Ages wine became an essential sacramental commodity and a long-distance trade good, and regions such as Burgundy and Bordeaux built up their reputations as wine-producing areas.
3. 1491–1500Venice and Barcelona · MediterraneanIn the 1490s Mediterranean ports shipped Italian, Spanish, and Greek wines to Northern Europe and Ottoman territories; the wine trade was an important component of urban commercial revenue, and vineyard management techniques grew increasingly refined.
4. 1700Bordeaux and new global wine regions · BordeauxIn the early modern period, scientific winemaking and legal appellation systems were established, and Mediterranean techniques spread through colonization and migration to the Americas, Australia, and elsewhere, forming the contemporary global wine industry.