Of all the civilizations of the Ancient World the Romans without doubt made the biggest contribution in the history of wine and practically spread this beverage to the most of Europe.
Initially winemaking was introduces in the south-eastern part of Italy by Greeks. The region was perfect for vineries and local Italians quickly mastered the new art. By 270 B.C. the young Roman Empire conquered the most of Italy’s territory and (just like many other “Greek things”) adapted the technologies of winemaking and even more important the Greek wine attitude from the southern provinces. The importance of wine was raised even more in the Roman Empire and the key idea was to make wine available to all classes of society, even to slaves. This change raised a huge demand for wine both on the Italian Peninsula and on the conquered territories, which included such wine friendly regions as France, Germany, Portugal and Spain. The Roman traders began selling wine to the most of Europe and it became a common product even before the Roman military conquered or annexed the region and built wineries.
As for the technical part Romans developed lots of technical processes that can still be found in modern winemaking. Even though their wine was different from the modern wines and actually united a whole range of beverages that contained grape juice, some of which could even be ignited due to a high amount of alcohol, they still made a huge contribution in creating the modern wine. Romans established wineries in every province where it was possible to satisfy the growing local demand for wine and in time included the winery into the complex trade structure of the Empire. Lots of Roman soldiers had knowledge of winemaking and viticulture and they helped establishing wine production and in new territories. Romans willingly shared their art and skills with local populations which quickly adapted the high Roman culture and winemaking. In time some of the provinces developed high quality local wines, which entered the open market of the Empire and allowed the successful winemaking regions to expand and improve their production.
The key idea of the Roman democratization of wine was also seriously tied to medical issues. Just like with beer many decades later, wine was often safer than local water sources so a low alcohol wine was given to Roman soldiers. An even cheaper version was distributed to slaves saving them from numerous food infections and diseases. Nevertheless Romans were also the first to care about the quality of the wine, its taste, its aroma and its flavor. In addition to forming the basis of modern winemaking they also formed the basis of modern wine consuming and successfully spread these ideas to most of their provinces (even the northern ones, who traditionally preferred ales and other local beverages).
But like many other empires the Roman Empire in time collapsed, still wine managed to find a new more universal home and this home was Christianity. In addition to this Romans established serious wine consuming culture in two countries – Spain and Britain, which later would grow into powerful states and establish the presence of wine worldwide through their colonies.
