Wine throughout time
Discover how the production of this tipple has changed over thousands of years
Words by Scott Dutfield
The remains of an ancient wine press made between 516 BCE and 70 CE in Israel
© Getty
Mural depicting a scene of grape picking and wine production found in the tomb of Prince Khaemwaset of Egypt
© Getty
It’s one of the world’s most consumed alcoholic beverages, with 1.6 billion bottles drunk each year in the UK. But how long has wine been guzzled, and how is it made?
Wine is made from fermented grape juice, with an array of different fruits and spices added to diversify flavour. It undergoes several stages of production before reaching your table, such as crushing and pressing the grapes and fermenting the liquid by adding sugar before bottling. What gives wine its boozy punch is the fermentation that occurs when the yeast in the grape skin feasts on the added sugar, producing alcohol. This is the basis for winemaking, or vinification, which has remained relatively unchanged for thousands of years. From the clay vases of ancient Iran to the mass production of modern-day merlot, wine has been bottled throughout the ages.