History of aging process of wine

The first mention of wine in recorded history dates back to 5000 BC. The popular drink of the time was mead – honey wine.

Pliny the elder, the ancient author, naturalist and natural philosopher, describes in his writings how the ancient Greeks used partly dehydrated gysum before the fermentation of wine.

The Greeks seen to have had no appreciation of particular vintages and although they recognized the value of aging wines, most wines were drunk young.

Only higher-quality wines could sustain aging and transport over longer distances. Any one of more than a year old was an old wine, but many of the grand crus were considered at their best when a number of years old, perhaps up to about 10 years.

Cellar or wine storage areas, can be traced to the ancient world, where it became known that the aging of some wine would bring about positive changes.

The ancient Romans developed many wine regions in Western Europe. The use of barrels for fermentation, aging process and transportation were also created during this period.

There seems to be two main advantages to aging wine. The first is the smoothing characteristics of aged, quality red wines. Second is the sense of exclusively involved in drinking old wines.

Very old wines are appealing to consumers more because of their historical appeal than because of gastronomic factors.
History of aging process of wine