Well documented in numerous Biblical references, evidence of wine can be traced back to Egypt as far as 5,000 B.C. Tomb wall paintings showing the use of wine as well as actual wine jars found in Egyptian tombs provide evidence of this fact. Because more northern climates and soil produce better wine, the growth of the wine industry can be traced from its emergence along the Nile River in Egypt and Persia northward into Europe and, eventually, to North America. Though the wines of old were coarse and hard and had to be mixed with water, ancient Greek wine proved to be somewhat better than Egyptian wine. For this reason, Egyptians began importing it. Then Roman wines (from what would emerge to be Italy, Spain, and France) became notably superior. Eventually, French and German wines grew to be the most desirable, thereby shifting the center of wine production from the Mediterranean to central Europe. Some of the best wine in the world is still produced in southern France, particularly in the Bordeaux region, where wine has been made for more than 2,000 years. The colonists brought wine production to the east coast of the New World by the mid-1600s. The earliest account of wine used in the New World may be when the Pilgrims fermented grapes to celebrate their first Thanksgiving in 1623. Settlers tried to grow imported grape cuttings they brought from Europe, but unfortunately the European cuttings had not developed immunities to the North American plant diseases that eventually killed them. By the middle of the nineteenth century (using the fruits of the abundant native Vitis labrusca grape plants) wineries were established in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and North Carolina. In 1697, European cuttings of Vitis vinifera grapes were successfully introduced to California by Franciscan priests at the Mission San Francisco Xavier. They soon became the dominant grape species in California wine making. A great boost to California wine making came from Colonel Agoston Haraszthy, a Hungarian nobleman, who introduced more high-quality European cuttings during the 1850s. His knowledge made him the founder of California's modern wine industry. Today, California and New York state are by far the largest American producers of wine, and California is one of the largest wine producers in the world. Though many of its table wines are known for their quality, the enormous wineries of central and southern California produce gigantic quantities of neutral, bulk wines that they ship elsewhere to make specific wines, such as dessert wines, or to blend with other wines. They also make grape concentrates to fortify weaker wines and brandies that use large quantities of grapes. Here's the link for an interesting read: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Wine.html

Grapes have been cultivated almost as long as man has been farming. The Bible mentions Noah planting a vineyard and making wine. It seems to have been first discovered in the Mesopotamian area, probably nowadays Iran. That's whee the earliest evidence of vineyards have been found.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine With all due respect, some of the earliest evidence of winemaking comes from Georgia (the country: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_%28country%29) and Iran (I believe quite recently). Of course, Egypt is still a venerable location for wine. Depending on who you talk to, Georgia is often called the birthplace of wine. It certainly boasts one of the most ancient, contiguous wine cultures in the world.

No doubt... see the link below http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/travel/08georgia.html

"Scientists have discovered the world's oldest wine - a vintage produced 8,000 years ago. The find pushes back the history of wine by several hundred years. New discoveries show how Neolithic man was busy making red wine in Shulaveri (Georgia, the former Soviet republic). Although no liquid wine from the period has survived, scientists have now found and tested wine residues discovered on the inner surfaces of 8,000-year-old ceramic storage jars. Biochemical tests on the ancient pottery wine jars from Georgia are showing that at this early period humans were deliberately adding anti-bacterial preservatives to grape juice so that the resulting wine could be kept for longer periods after fermentation. The preservative used was tree resin, which contains several bactericidal compounds, says Professor Patrick McGovern of the University of Pennsylvania Museum. The wine may have tasted something like retsina, the resin-preserved wine still popular in Greece. The development of pottery in the Middle East and the Caucasus regions also seems to have played a key role in the production of the first wines, especially vintage ones. Ceramic containers were able to preserve wines far better than the plaster or leather containers that had previously been used. Plaster was far too porous and reactive, while sealed animal skin or leather bags could not be used to store wine for sufficiently long periods. Examination of the pottery shards has also revealed the large carrying capacity of these early wine jars - around five litres. The study has also yielded evidence of the cultural - and probably religious - importance of early vintage wine. While examining Neolithic Georgian pottery jars used to store and age wine, Professor McGovern discovered a series of tiny, highly stylised relief images of Stone Age people celebrating the vine. The ancient world had a long tradition deifying the source of wine, and Professor McGovern believes he may have stumbled upon the prehistoric origins of what much later evolved into wine cults such as those of the Greek god Dionysus and Dionysus's Roman equivalent, Bacchus." Source and further information: http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/000498.html