Who was the world’s first winemaker? Let’s guess.

Really, Really Old Vintages

What was it like before there were wines by the glass in the Hamptons? I’ve been researching some interesting theories about how wine was first drunk. Some are way more believable than others. We’ve all heard about the caveman who accidentally drops an animal part into his fire, later retrieves it, brushes off the ashes and, in effect, discovers cooking, or at least backyard grilling. At about the same time, someone in a neighboring grotto damages a container of grapes, which then naturally ferment, and, voila, we have wine. It’s a cute story, but did cavepersons really have carafes lining the shelves of their caves?

What seems logical to me is that the sweetness of wild grapes would have appealed to early man, and as anyone can observe even here in East Hampton, wild grapes can be quite prolific. But what is most remarkable is not what man (or probably woman) did, but what nature did. Only the grape is an almost perfect do-it-yourself package for making wine, a kit so to speak containing all the necessary ingredients in correct quantities. Other fruits have the potential but not the perfect balance of components. Wine from grapes was inevitable.