We followed the grapevine from the Middle East to Egypt and the Mediterranean in our recently wrapped-up wine origin series. Now, we see the overture lead into the vine’s big moment: its arrival in Greece.
The Greek wine story begins in Crete, where the Minoan civilization adopted wine culture at the peak of the Bronze Age. Before the Minoans fizzled out around 1100 B.C., they left a lasting cultural impact on the Greek mainland — particularly on the ancient coastal city of Mycenae, located about 75 miles south of present-day Athens. Unfortunately, the infamous, mysterious Greek Dark Age soon followed, and culture stood still for several hundred years. Once it subsided and Greece regained its footing, wine culture flourished in a way that had yet to be seen in all of human history.
On this episode of “Wine 101,” we embark on a new chapter in the evolution of wine, as we see it land in Greece and become a crucial thread in the country’s cultural fabric. Tune in for more.
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“Wine 101” was produced, recorded, and edited by yours truly, Keith Beavers, at the VinePair headquarters in New York City. I want to give a big old shout-out to co-founders Adam Teeter and Josh Malin for creating VinePair. Big shout-out to Danielle Grinberg, the art director
