We don’t know who first discovered wine. Presumably someone had been collecting wild grapes to eat and the grapes were crushed in whatever container they were in and at least some of the juice had enough time to sit and begin to ferment. It took a very long time to move from that kind of accident to intentional cultivation of grape vines and the production of wine. Scholars think that this might have happened around 6000 years ago.
The Bible says that, after the ark came to rest on dry land, one of the first things that Noah did was to plant vineyards, make wine and drink it. The place where the ark came to rest was said to be Mt. Ararat, in Turkey. That is part of the general area where researchers believe wild grape vines evolved in the Near East. Read more…