Thanksgiving is a time for enjoying a good glass of wine. It is also a time for dining with friends and family and being expected to bring a dish or item to share. That being said, it is no surprise that a bottle of wine (or three) is a go-to when asked to contribute to a Friendsgiving or Thanksgiving feast.
So, in honor of all of the bottles that will travel to various dinners this week, we thought we should celebrate the history of innovation that makes transporting wine so easy.
A couple of years ago, we did an extensive review of the history of wine transportation. In fact, we went through about 8,000 years of wine history in just 5 blogs.
Challenge set: the introduction. For as long as humans have been drinking wine, we’ve been trying to travel with wine. The challenge, of course, was to find the best way to transport wine safely and efficiently without compromising the delicious nectar.
Initial innovation: The Kvevri. The Kvevri was invented in Georgia around 6,000 BC and is the oldest wine vessel archeologists have discovered.
Then there was the amphora. Amphorae were the standardized method of virtually all liquid transportation in the bronze age. One might say today’s ceramic wine tanks are an echo of this past favorite.
Finally, we start using wood to transport wine. It wasn’t until the Romans encountered the Gauls that wood and wine were brought together. The Gauls had been using wooden barrels to transport beer, the Romans were always trying to bring their wine along on conquests…lightbulbs went off.
Even today, we are continuously developing new technologies to store and transport wine. The glass bottle isn’t even that old of an innovation. Plastic bladders, wine kegs and stainless steel wine barrels are making bold moves in the market.
It should come as no surprise that, at Skolnik, we favor stainless steel wine barrels (or at least wines fermented in stainless steel). It is understandably difficult to bring an entire keg of wine to your Thanksgiving dinner, but we hope that you take a brief moment to give thanks to how easy it is to bring a bottle or box to your family’s place this week.