25.01.2011 - Vinexpo news selection
A 6,100-year-old wine production unit, the oldest ever discovered hitherto, has been found in a cave in Armenia, according to a statement on 11 January by an international team of archaeologists.
Before this find, comparable remains of wine production equipment went back 5,000 years. “For the first time, we have a complete archaeological picture of wine production 6,100 years ago”, announced Gregory Areshian, who is in charge of the dig and Assistant Director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California in Los Angeles.
The items uncovered included grape pips, remains of pressed grapes, withered vine stalks, a rudimentary wine press, a clay vat apparently used for fermentation, pottery shards impregnated with wine and even a cup and a drinking bowl. (AFP - 11 January 2011)