page_title: History of wine
section_title: Armenia: Areni-1 winery
hierarchical_section_title: History of wine / Prehistory / Armenia: Areni-1 winery
caption_attribution_description: English: Entrance to the Areni-1 cave in southern Armenia near the town of Areni. The cave is the location of the world's oldest known winery and where the world's oldest known shoe has been found.
context_page_description: Wine has been produced for thousands of years. The evidence of wine in China, Georgia[6] from 6000 BC, Iran from 5000 BC, and Sicily from 4000 BC.
  The oldest archaeological evidence of wine produced from grapes has been found at sites in China, Georgia, Levant, Iran, Greece, and Sicily. The earliest-extant evidence of wine production has been found in Armenia.
  The altered consciousness produced by wine has been considered religious since its origin. The ancient Greeks worshiped Dionysus or Bacchus and the Ancient Romans carried on his cult. Consumption of ritual wine was part of Jewish practice since Biblical times and, as part of the eucharist commemorating Jesus's Last Supper, became even more essential to the Christian Church. Although Islam nominally forbade the production or consumption of wine, during its Golden Age, alchemists such as Geber pioneered wine's distillation for medicinal and industrial purposes such as the production of perfume.
  Wine production and consumption increased, burgeoning from the 15th century onwards as part of European expansion.
context_section_description: The oldest-known winery was discovered in the "Areni-1" cave in Vayots Dzor, Armenia. Dated to c. 4100 BC, the site contained a wine press, fermentation vats, jars, and cups. Archaeologists also found V. vinifera seeds and vines. Commenting on the importance of the find, McGovern said, "The fact that winemaking was already so well developed in 4000 BC suggests that the technology probably goes back much earlier."
  The seeds were from Vitis vinifera vinifera, a grape still used to make wine. The cave remains date to about 4000 BC. This is 900 years before the earliest comparable wine remains, found in Egyptian tombs.
  The fame of Persian wine has been well known in ancient times. The carvings on the Audience Hall, known as Apadana Palace, in Persepolis, demonstrate soldiers of subjected nations by the Persian Empire bringing gifts to the Persian king. 
  Domesticated grapes were abundant in the Near East from the beginning of the early Bronze Age, starting in 3200 BC. There is also increasingly abundant evidence for winemaking in Sumer and Egypt in the 3rd millennium BC.
caption: Entrance to the Areni-1 cave in southern Armenia near the town of Areni. The cave is the location of the world's oldest known winery and where the world's oldest known shoe has been found.
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