Primitive Wine Making Methods
Wine is made when grape juice is partially or totally fermented. Until the late 1800s, fermentation was not a recognized scientific process. However, that didn't stop people from making wine. In fact, wine has been on the menu for over 5,000 years. Ancient, or primitive, winemaking strategies were much less sanitary and scientifically-motivated than modern winemaking methods.
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History
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Ancient Egypt is one of the first societies to record its winemaking processes. In Ancient Egypt, wine was considered a food because it contained grapes, which Egyptians believed to be highly nutritious. Only the rich and elite consumed wine on a regular basis, and vineyards were only owned by nobility. Wine was also used as a mild antiseptic, as cough syrup and for sedating women during birth. Winemaking began very early in Egyptian civilization, during the Predynastic period. Egyptians used white, pink, green and dark blue grapes to make wine.
Harvesting
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Harvesting was a time during which Egyptians gathered grapes from the vineyards and transported them back to be treaded and pressed. Men, women and children joined in during the harvest to cut grapes, usually by hand, from the vine. Huge baskets were placed atop men's heads and shoulders, or were balanced across long sticks to maximize the amount of grapes carried with each trip.
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Treading and Pressing
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Directly after harvest, grapes were placed into a large vat, possibly made of granite or schist, according to Arab World Books. Traditionally, men manually tread on the grapes while the juice flowed through a drain to a smaller vat below, where the grape juice fermented. Pressing occurred to extract any remaining juice left after treading. Women and men stretched linen across a wooden frame and placed the grapes along the linen. They squeezed the linen until liquid was released from the grapes. Liquid was caught in a vat beneath the cloth.
Fermentation
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Fermentation, we now know, occurs when sugar in the grapes is converted to alcohol. Of course, the Ancient Egyptians and other winemakers of yore were not aware of the science behind fermentation, but they did know they must keep the vats sealed in a warm place for several weeks. The wine was richer and more colorful, depending on how much grape skin was left in the vat.
Bottling and Sealing
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After fermentation, wine was filtered through cloth to take out any leftover skin or stalk. The wine was poured into wide jars with coned bases that collected detritus, should the wine continue to ferment while in storage. Reeds, straw and even pottery pieces were used as stoppers.
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References
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