While the origins of all “ancient” drinks have been lost in the centuries past, the drinks themselves remain present in all myths and legends of the people. According to archaeological findings however, we know that the origins of winemaking can be traced to the Neolithic period, between 10.000 and 4.500 BC, in the Zagros mountain range, between present-day Armenia and northern Iran. ​

Thanks to the temperate climate that favored organized cereal cultivation, the first rural communities began to systematically cultivate vineyards. At the same time the use of the wheel in ceramics led to the mass production of utensils that solved the problem of preparation, storage, transport, trade and serving of the liquid resulting from the fermentation of the grapes, once and for all. It is no coincidence that according to the Old Testament, Noah planted a vineyard right after the flood in this specific area.

​Soon the knowledge of winemaking travelled to Crete and to the rest of Greece, Phoenicia (Syria, Lebanon, Israel) as well as the Nile Delta in Egypt on a small scale. In Mesopotamia and the Middle East, wine remained the drink of the political and religious elite because high temperatures did not allow for production on a large scale. The common people of the time drank ale.

​In Greece of the Mycenaean and the Minoan civilization however, along with olive oil, wheat and figs, wine was the main export product and was transported by Greek ships all over the known world. Murals on Egyptian tombs, obelisks in Assyria, cuneiform tablets/stones in Babylon and catalogues of many high-ranking officials present the consumption of Greek wine, which by the way is the first PDO product in the world, as a status of social glamour.