Deep in a cave in the mountains of Armenia, the earliest known winery has been discovered.

An international team of researchers found artefacts dating to about 6,000 years ago, including a vat to press the grapes, fermentation jars, a cup and drinking bowl were discovered in the cave complex by an international team of researchers.

According to Gregory Areshian of the University of California, Los Angeles, co-director of the excavation, despite the fact that older evidence of wine drinking has been found, this is the earliest example of complete wine production.

The findings, announced by the National Geographic Society, are published in the online edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science.

"The evidence argues convincingly for a wine-making facility," said Patrick McGovern, scientific director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, who was not part of the research team.

Such large scale wine production implies that the Eurasian grape had already been domesticated, stated McGovern, who is the author of Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages.

According to the archaeologists, inside the cave was a shallow basin about three-feet across that was positioned to drain into a deep vat. The basin could have served as a wine press where people stomped the grapes with their feet, a method Areshian noted was traditional for centuries.

They also found grape seeds, remains of pressed grapes and dozens of dried vines. The seeds were from the same type of grapes - Vitis vinifera vinifera - still used to make wine.

Because the wine-making facility was found surrounded by graves, the researchers suggest the wine may have been intended for ceremonial use.

Sounds like a great day for archaeologists, not so much for us winos as we would love a sample of the world’s oldest wine. However, I’m thinking it might have tasted a little dry...and dusty.

News Source: MSN News