Ancient Wine: the Search for the Origins of Viniculture.(Book Review)

Publication: Natural History

Publication Date: 01-NOV-03

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COPYRIGHT 2003 Natural History Magazine, Inc.

by Patrick E. Mcgovern Princeton University Press, 2003; $29.95

So old is the love of wine, and so rich in lore and legend, that its origins remain lost in the tangles of time. In Greco-Roman legend the god Dionysus is identified with bringing the art of wine making westward, from lands east of Persia. Biblical scholars who name Noah as the first cultivator of wine grapes describe him as settling down after the flood to become the first wine maker. He loved his work so much, according to the story, that he became the first town drunk.

In one of the most charming tales about the origins of wine, from ancient Persia, a fictitious King Jamsheed keeps jars of...

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