National Drink Wine Day is held each year on February 18, so get ready to unwind with a glass (or two) of your favorite Red, White, or Rose. It’s the perfect day to open up your favorite bottle of wine and enjoy it with your friends or with your dinner. As you toast your friends and family members, you can then contemplate the thousands of years of history that stands behind this marvelous little alcoholic beverage.
Wine has been a staple in human culture since its invention in 7000 BC, and some ancient societies enjoyed their wine so much, they even worshipped it! These days, hundreds of types of wine are produced all over the world, so there’s an endless variety to choose from.
While we know humans have been making wine for thousands of years, no one is certain who was the first to ferment grapes into the beverage we now call wine. Evidence of ancient wine production has been found in China, the Middle East, and Greece, so it appears many different cultures discovered the process at nearly the same time. The oldest known winery was found in a cave in Armenia, and is over 4,000 years old — The vinters there were using a grape still used to make wine today! Barrels of wine have been found in the tombs of Egyptian Pharaohs, and the Ancient Greeks used wine in secret religious ceremonies.
Although wine has taken all sorts of different forms throughout the ages, the process has changed very little in the thousands of years since its invention. Grapes are crushed, pressed, and fermented, and the mixture is sealed into barrels. The mixture is aged, and then bottled. Using these simple steps, an infinite variety of wines can be created, and different regions of the world are known for the distinctive vintages they produce. Things like soil, temperature, and weather all affect the way wine grapes grow, and make each batch unique. Two bottles of the same wine from the same vineyard might taste totally different depending on the year they were produced, and some vintages become highly sought after as a result.
Ernest Hemingway has said that wine is amongst the most civilized things in the world. It is among the most natural things in the world, which has brought to great perfection. It also offers a great range of appreciation and enjoyment than probably any other pure and sensory thing. Well, it would, of course, be ignorant of you if you just let this day pass without celebrating it in your style! Use this National Drink Wine Day to try a new bottle, and relax with the knowledge that you’re celebrating a long, long human tradition.
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