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Scientific evidence has proven that grapes have grown wild since at least prehistoric times, and there's human evidence that they were cultivated in Asia in 5000 b.C. There were several references in the bible, with grapes being referred to as "fruits of the vine".

The first reference of wine production was found in ceramic jars in today's Georgia, in what was once a Neolithic village dating back to 6000 b.C. Several other references can be found in Iran, dating back to 5000-5500 b.C. This evidence may suggest that winemaking originated in present-day Georgia and then spread south.

It is very likely that at that time, wine was made from wild grape varieties, and the first references pf domestication of grapes can only be found from 3,200 b.C. onwards, in the Near East.

Wine and Grapes in Roman Times

Several hieroglyphics depict vines in ancient Egypt's burial tombs: winemaking was widely practiced in Egypt in 3000 b.C., and almost all the wine was red, with some notable and rare exceptions.

In Greek and Roman times, grapes were widely known and used to make wines: at the time more than 90 varieties were known, and the Rhine valley (ancient Gallia, modern Germany) was widely covered with grape plantations as early as 100 A.D.

Romans, in particular, developed most of the techniques for winemaking: several provinces began competing with Rome itself for the production of wine, and this led to the development of harvesting techniques, as well as the usage of barrels and bottles and a denomination system to refer to wines grown in different Italian regions.

At the end of the 19th century, archaelogists found a bottle of Roman wine in a sarcophagus in Germany. The bottle dates back to around 327 A.D., and it is topped with what appears to be olive oil: this was a common technique in antiquity, since oil floated on top of the wine and prevented it from evaporating.

Medieval History of Grapes

In medieval times, peasant classes mainly drank ale, while wine was enjoyed by richer classes such as royalty, nobility, priests and merchants. At this time, the main producers of wine were priests, especially the the Benedictines in France and Germany. White wine was as widespread as the red variety, but they were usually drunk young, flavored with spices or honey, and watered down.

Grapes and the American Conquest

During the discovery of Americas, Spanish settlers brought grapes to America, planting them in North America in the early 17th century in what was probably a mission in New Mexico.

Thanks to the Spaniars, grapes rapidly spread to California, where the favorable habitat (perfect climate and absense of predators) made grapes a very successful crop in that zone.

Grapes in Modern Times

In the end of 1800, French production of wine suffered a terrible blow because almost all the wine-producing grape varieties were killed by an insect that found its way to France from North America. This led some botanists to cross-breed French grapes with the American labrusca cultivar, rendering the new hybrid resistant to the insect and preserving the production of wine in France.

For several decades, American wine was considered inferior to European varieties, but in a wine-tasting contest that took place in 1976, in Paris, American wines beat European wines.

With the development of medicine and technology, grapes have been found to possess several health-promoting qualities, which has lead to a large amount of research and increased popularity for this fruit. Nowadays, the largest producers of grapes are Italy, France, Spain, the USA, Mexico and Chile.

Today, as researchers continue to investigate the health-promoting polyphenolic compounds found in grapes, this fruit is gaining even more attention. Currently, Italy, France, Spain, the United States, Mexico and Chile are among the largest commercial producers of grapes.