Hystory of viticulture in relation to climate change (from Neolithic to the fall of the Roman Empire)

Abstract

Vine cultivation is highly influenced by the climate both in production quantities and quality, but also in the vocation of the various species in the area. In addition to the phenology of the plant, which is inextricably linked to the climate, geological-geomorphological processes have sometimes influenced the migrations of peoples, who in turn brought with them customs and traditions, including food, transplanting them to the land of arrival. This review analysed the spread of the grapevine from the earliest finds to the end of the Roman Empire, a period to which most of the grape varieties cultivated today in Europe and Africa can be traced. This review has traced the spread of the grapevine through climatic, geological-geomorphological and social studies in order to provide a chronological development of the subject in relation to the causal factors that influenced its spread. The present manuscript has the ambition of providing a union framework on the movements of the first wine-growing areas, tracing them chronologically and evaluating them on a climatic basis.