Aug 10, 2017 07:33 PM
http://www.winemag.com/2017/08/09/where-...come-from/
"When you think of wine, most likely what comes to mind are powerhouse regions like Bordeaux, Napa, or Champagne. Or, grapes like Pinot Noir, Malbec, Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon.
But a growing group of winemakers in the Middle East, Western Asia and Eastern Europe are eager to remind they represent the oldest wine-producing regions in the world, and that they’re making wines like nowhere else on earth.
At a recent event hosted by Smithsonian Associates in Washington, DC, winemakers and wine historians examined who could in fact claim to be the original creators of wine. While it’s hard to pinpoint where the first fermented grape beverage was made, researchers traced the origins of domesticated grapes to an area around the headwaters of the Tigris River in Turkey.
Dr. Patrick McGovern, scientific director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, has traveled the region extensively looking for an answer..."
"When you think of wine, most likely what comes to mind are powerhouse regions like Bordeaux, Napa, or Champagne. Or, grapes like Pinot Noir, Malbec, Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon.
But a growing group of winemakers in the Middle East, Western Asia and Eastern Europe are eager to remind they represent the oldest wine-producing regions in the world, and that they’re making wines like nowhere else on earth.
At a recent event hosted by Smithsonian Associates in Washington, DC, winemakers and wine historians examined who could in fact claim to be the original creators of wine. While it’s hard to pinpoint where the first fermented grape beverage was made, researchers traced the origins of domesticated grapes to an area around the headwaters of the Tigris River in Turkey.
Dr. Patrick McGovern, scientific director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages and Health at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, has traveled the region extensively looking for an answer..."