Wine grape vines are self-sown in Greece, and evidence of their existence can be traced to times even beyond the Ice Age. Vine growing and wine making in Greece are among the oldest activities of humankind in prehistoric times (4500-1050 AD).

During the Bronze Age, in the 2nd millennium BC which followed the Cycladic civilization that flourished in the Aegean, two of the most important civilizations of prehistoric times developed, where wine played a central role both as a tradable commodity and as a foodstuff. In the first one, Crete’s Minoan civilization, which spread to the Aegean islands around Crete, vine and wine were a main cultivation and chief export, respectively. Since then, winegrowing has continued steadily on the island where archaeological excavations have unearthed the world’s oldest wine press and vessels bearing traces of wine. Then flourished the Mycenaean civilization, based in Mycenae, Peloponnese, which dominated in southern Greece and the Mediterranean in the second half of the 2nd millennium, after the devastating eruption of the volcano of Thera (Santorini). The kings of Mycenae showed their appreciation of wine by enjoying it in specially crafted golden wine cups as those found at Vafio (15th c. BC). Inscriptions written in the deciphered Linear B and found at Pylos, Messinia, contain an ideogram especially reserved for wine where the words “Dionysus”, and “Vinos” are visible -the latter being the source of words pertaining to the word ‘wine’ such as oenos, vinum, vin, vino, wine and wein.It is during this time period (13th century BC) that historians place the Greeks joining forces in their campaign against Troy and Odysseus’ legendary return journey to the home island of Ithaca.

By the Archaic period, in the 7th century BC, winegrowing has spread throughout the Greek realm since both climate and soil favor it. As the cult of Dionysus continued to gain ground, the Dionysian celebrations gave birth to dramatic poetry, theater, and ancient Greek tragedy.

The Golden Age of Athens (5th century BC) is part of the Classical period (480-323 BC). It was an age which has become interwoven with perfection and timelessness; with the birth of democracy and philosophy; with the building of the Parthenon, and with Hippocrates, the “Father of Medicine” and so much more; it was the age of great classical writers, tragedists, and philosophers whose works and deeds sang the praises of Greek wine; it was the age of the greatest wines of antiquity; it was a time when, by the standards of that time, international wine commerce experienced its most remarkable growth ever. Transactions were often carried out with “wine” coinage as payment and advanced viticultural and winegrowing means and techniques were being firmly established.

In the 4th century BC, which is also part of the Classical period, with Athens still clashing with Sparta and other Greek city-states, the leadership of the Greek realm would pass to another Greek region, Macedonia, and its king Philip. He and Alexander the Great, his son and successor, were great admirers of Greek wines.

As of the middle of the 2nd century BC, during the Roman period (146 BC-324 AD) Greece was under Roman rule. On encountering Greek culture, the Romans would adopt many a Greek cultural elements out of which the “Graeco-Roman” civilization would emerge. Among those cultural elements were winegrowing and winemaking techniques which constituted the origins of Roman wines.

Eminent Roman poets and distinguished writers of the time would sing the praises of Greek wines in their work. Among them, Horace lauded Homer and his epics by referring to him as Homerus vinosus.

Two important Greek doctors, Dioskourides and, later, Galenos, following in the footsteps of Hippocrates, pointed towards the value wine had as a therapeutic means and favorably commented on the plethora of Greek wines as well as on the wine’s exceptional quality.
 

Greek wine and culture are two concepts inextricably linked to each other. Today’s wine world owes Greece for its contribution to elevating wine within History to the status of a “work of art” and transfiguring it into a vehicle for culture. Today’s wine world owes Greek wine culture for turning winegrowing into a systematic field encompassing unique vinification techniques and for crafting wines from a diverse background of grape varieties, types, and appellations, among other things: practices which lay the ground for a global wine culture as enjoyed today by contemporary wine lovers.