Winemaking, wine-making, or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. There is evidence that suggests that the earliest wine production took place in Georgia and Iran around 6000 to 5000 B.C. The science of wine and winemaking is known as oenology. A winemaker may also be called a vintner. The growing of grapes is viticulture and there are many varieties of grapes.
Wine grapes from the Guadalupe Valley in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
Vineyards in Italy
Harvested Cabernet Sauvignon grapes
A mechanical destemming machine in use at Chateau Montelena winery in Napa Valley
The oldest evidence of ancient wine production has been found in Georgia from c. 6000 BC ,
Iran from c. 5000 BC, Greece from c. 4500 BC, Armenia from c. 4100 BC, and Sicily from c. 4000 BC.
The earliest evidence of fermented alcoholic beverage of rice, honey and fruit, sometimes compared to wine, is claimed in China.
Hellenistic mosaics discovered close to the city of Paphos depicting Dionysos, god of wine
Wine boy at a Greek symposium
Georgian Kvevri, a jar dated to the 6th millennium BC found at the Shulaveri site (Georgian National Museum).
Entrance to the Areni-1 cave in southern Armenia near the town of Areni where a winery dated to c. 4100 BC was found in 2007.
