How Wine Has Become More Of A Commodity

People used wine to show that they are successful and have a higher social status ranking than others, leaving the ones who weren't wealthy and unsuccessful without wine. This began the first socially/economically divided empires. It was used in religious ceremonies, and used medicinally to heal wounds.

6. Wine is a part of a Catholic ritual where wine symbolizes the blood of Jesus Christ and Christianity began in the Roman Empire and became an important force in Europe after the change between Emperor Constantine. Wine was also uses for medical purposes as a pain killer.

Wine was originally very scarce and exotic, meaning the only people to really drink it were very powerful, prestigious, and privileged people. It was mainly drunk during public meetings and debates, or symposia’s, to express one’s self much more freely. While beer was known to have medicinal benefits, wine was known to clean wounds.

Wine, known as the beer of the mountains was first produced during the Neolithic period between 9000 and 4000 BCE. There were two factors in the Zagros Mountains that made the production of wine possible; an abundance of the Eurasian grape vine, Vitis vinifera sylvestris, and cereal crops. Grapes contain natural yeast that will convert the sugars in the juice to alcohol; that way when people started to store grapes they would eventually turn into wine. The earliest evidence of wine came from a jar from the village Hajji Firuz Tepe and dated back to 5400 BCE. Wine became important because it was a main part of religion, medicine, commerce, and became a

The exact time when beer was created is unknown, but was common in the Near East by 4000 BCE. With the discovery of beer, came an increase in the importance of cereal grains, and the argument that the discovery is a key factor in society’s adoption of agriculture, the point at which history begins approach modern times. One of the explanations for this change is, “once beer had been discovered, and its consumption had become socially and ritually important, there was a greater desire to ensure the availability of grain by deliberate farming” (Standage 21). The next drink Standage decided was a significant piece of history was wine, which is presented through a review of early Greece and Rome. An important point that Standage noted was the apparent split in social classes seen with the introduction of wine. “At the time, one shekel of silver per month was regarded as the minimum wage, so wine could only have become an everyday drink among the very rich” (Standage 50). In addition, wine was also associated with religion, long distance trading, and geography. Standage moves on to the colonial period using spirits as vessel through which to discuss the era. Connections from spirits are made to exploration, the slave trade, and the American revolution. Standage makes the case that spirits was the first globally ubiquitous drink that affected many aspects at the time. “Unlike beer, which was

As a result of the Neolithic Revolution, ‘the ability to store grain began to encourage people to stay in one place” (18) , causing there to be a food surplus. Years later, this surplus of food in societies like Ancient Egypt, expanded to the point that beer had become such a commodity, even “ workers who built the pyramids were paid in beer” (37). Mesopotamia also adopted beer as a form of currency “ taxes in the form of grain and other goods were presented at the temple and were redistributed to fund public works” (33) . Beer even helped develop one of the first forms of writing called cuneiform in which “ Sumerian wage lists and tax receipts” were documented (30). This showed that beer had evolved from just being staple foodstuffs. It had become a way of a convenient form of payment. Wine, unlike beer was expensive in the beginning therefore, it was more valuable than beer. Wine production eventually increased and so did long-distance trade. Maritime trade had increased to the point that it was cheaper to transport over long distance. This meant that there were fewer borders to cross, which resulted in “ fewer taxes and tolls there were to pay” (42). This resulted in Roman wine makers “ shipping their own wine” (58) after dominating Greek wine trade. Wine’s importance in Greek islands was clear by “ the appearance of wine-related imagery on Greek coins” (45) Wine had become so accessible that even the lower class drank

It was exotic and expensive. The author says “So fine was the calibration of wine with status that drinkers at a Roman banquet, or convivium, would be served different wines depending on their positions in society.” The richest drank the finest wines while poorer citizens drank lesser vintages and so on the social ladder. Wine was also religious. Wine influence on the history of the society started in ancient Greece, wine became the main export of a vast seaborne trade, helping to spread Greek culture abroad. It was a form of currency. I agree with the author’s assessment on the impact of wine. I agree because without wine it probably wouldn’t been involved with religious activities unless it was discovered later down the

One does not consider the origin and history of a alcoholic drink during a celebratory event nor does one consider the effects it has created in society when reaching the bottom of their glass. Journalist and author, Thomas Standage in his non-fiction text, A History of the World in 6 Glasses, describes the great impact of beer, wine, and spirits on civilizations. Standages purpose is to explain how these alcholic drinks marked political, social, and intellectual revolutions that influenced modern day society. Particularly, wine caused major social and agricultural turning points in the Greek and Roman empires. Standage adopts a celebratory and admireful tone in order to convince the readers of wines pivotal role in history.

a.Around 870 BCE, a grand party was thrown to display the wealth of a king, Ashurnasirpal, for a new capital in Nimrud in the Mesopotamia region. During this time, the king showed off exactly just how rich the new empire was by making available 10,000 jars of beer, and 10,000 skins of wine, and at that time wine was 10 times as expensive as beer. Not only was skins imported, but some were made from his own vines, thus starting the craze of wine in that area.

Even though the knowledge of the first ever used alcoholic beverage is unknown, it is known that the earliest alcoholic beverage was made from berries or honey. Wine came from wild grape regions from the Middle East. Beer and wine were used for a variety of purposes; such as, medicinal purposes, pleasure, nutrition, rituals, funerary purposes, to and even to cure fatigue. The first popular alcoholic beverage was made from honey and water. In the earlier times, seeing someone intoxicated was rare and unusual. Then came Christianity, and with it came more drinking attitudes, many biblical writings refer back to alcohol references. Wine was

Wine was consumed to show power, it was done at parties and high class arrangements. Most people drank beer, but wine showed a sense of authority, as it was much harder to get than beer.

Wine is a known product of human passion and scoring it through its taste alone write a little description of how wine is to be tasted. A lot of wine bloggers and writers also become passionate in writing reviews about wine. In order to fully understand and appreciate wine, many of us should also know who made it and what meaning it truly entails upon making the said wine. A wine becomes very meaningful when we know some of its history and elements on how it was mixed and created, making it more enjoyable to taste and build such experience to taste

In the most recent years, domestic sales of wine has declined constantly. The wine consumption is becoming more occasional. This is partially due to an aggressive anti-alcohol campaign and driving restrictions set by the local government, but also facilitated by a lack of marketing strategy: the wine market is loosing touch with the youth (the average age of wine drinker is gone up from 35 to 55) and young people are getting more keen to beer or alcohol pops.

This case describes the global development of wine industry, and how new world wine players occupied the global market share from old world wine producer gradually. It is very interesting that author selected the Britain as the sample stage for the battle between the new world wine campaign and the traditional campaign.

Wine making history can be traced back to fourth century BC. Wine making in China has also last for at least 2000 years. Wine tourism is defined as a special tourist activities related to visit winery and wine producing area thereby obtain broadly feelings and experiences, including wine tasting, wine appreciation, food, touring around wine producing areas and learning cultural and life style of the wine producing area. The activities usually last for one day or more (Zhan & Li, 2009).