From all around the Mediterranean come artifacts of ancient peoples, Egyptians, Minoans, Greeks and Phoenicians. For each of these civilizations, wine played a large part in everyday life, worship, and myth. Homer described the Mediterranean itself as the "wine-dark sea".

The vine was cultivated by the Egyptians from around 6000 BC. Wine was certainly safer to drink than water.

The spread of the vine is related to the spread of the Greeks. It was they who introduced the vine to Italy and parts of France. Although praised in their literature, Greek wine was quite different to modern wines being flavoured with spices, herbs, and often honey.

Wine as we now know it is largely the work of the Romans. The vine followed the legions to all parts of Gaul, Spain and Portugal. Unlike the Greeks, the Romans did not keep wine solely in earthenware amphorae, but also in barrels and bottles akin to modern items. This, and the high quality of Roman wine gave it great powers of keeping and the Romans understood and discussed great vintages.

Most of the French vineyards are based around river valleys. Wine is a heavy commodity and boats provided an efficient transport mechanism. Provence and the Languedoc were established by the Greeks, but the Romans continued to expand the vineyards up the Rhone and to Bordeaux in the first century and later to Burgundy and the Loire. Indeed, of all the great French regions, only Alsace and Champagne are not of Roman origin.

The Dark ages following the fall of the Roman Empire were a time of little change in wine production, though production flourished in the Middle Ages largely through the Church. Many wine growers donated large tracts of suitable land to the Church, the profits from which supported hospices for the aged and infirm. Wine was used by the Church in ritual, though it was also regarded as a medicine and even as a disinfectant.

The spread of the Church took wine to new areas. By the sixteenth century, wine was being produced in Mexico and other parts of the New World, and by the seventeenth century it had reached South Africa.

The use of bottles had fallen by the wayside until the late seventeenth century when the re-discovery of the cork encouraged their use. At this time, the properties of a tightly sealed bottle in keeping wine were also re-discovered and brought about a revolution in wine production.

The evolution of modern wine from the great estates started with the understanding of maturation in the sealed bottles. Wine making has never looked back since this move in the eighteenth century.

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