"The Incredible Story of Wine - From Prehistory to Today, 10,000 Years of Adventure" by Daniel Casanave and Benoist Simmat.

The history of wine is the history of civilization.
In antiquity, wine was syrupy, flavored with blackberry or myrtle, mixed with honey or oil, and diluted with water before being consumed. It was the ultimate religious drink. Greek mythology is full of references to wine and in the Bible, after the Flood, Noah planted a vineyard. Wine civilizes men and humanizes gods.

The first classification of wines dates back to the 1st century AD! By the end of antiquity, Gallic wine was already being widely exported, thanks to the technique of aging in oak barrels. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the Church and monasteries perpetuated winemaking knowledge; in the Middle Ages, wine began to resemble what we know today. In the 17th century, the invention of the bottle revolutionized storage, and oenology became a way of life. Through colonization, wine conquered the world. Today, half the countries on the globe produce it.

Importance of terroirs, commercial power struggles, taste for speculation, magic of great vintages… The history of wine is the story of a millennia-old passion.