Ancient China. Medieval Middle East

Ancient China

Following the Han Dynasty (202 BC â?“ AD 220) emissary Zhang Qian's exploration of the Western Regions in the 2nd century BC and contact with Hellenistic kingdoms such as Fergana, Bactria, and the Indo-Greek Kingdom, high quality grapes (i.e. vitis vinifera) were introduced into China and Chinese grape wine (called putao jiu in Chinese) was first produced. Before the travels of Zhang Qian in the 2nd century BC, wild mountain grapes were used to make wine, notably Vitis thunbergii and Vitis filifolia described in the Classical Pharmacopoeia of the Heavenly Husbandman. Rice wine remained the most common wine in China, since grape wine was still considered exotic and reserved largely for the emperor's table during the Tang Dynasty (618â?“907), and was not popularly consumed by the literati gentry class until the Song Dynasty (960â?“1279).[34] The fact that rice wine was more common than grape wine was noted even by the Venetian traveler Marco Polo when he ventured to China in the 1280s.[34] As noted by Shen Kuo (1031â?“1095) in his Dream Pool Essays, an old phrase in China amongst the gentry class was having the company of "drinking guests" (jiuke), which was a figure of speech for drinking wine, playing the Chinese zither, playing Chinese chess, Zen Buddhist meditation, ink (calligraphy and painting), tea drinking, alchemy, chanting poetry, and conversation.

Medieval Middle East

In the Arabian peninsula before the advent of Islam wine was traded by Aramaic merchants, as the environment was not well-suited to the growing of vines. Many other types of fermented drinks were produced in the 5th and 6th centuries, including date and honey wines.

The Muslim conquests in the 7th and 8th centuries brought many territories under Muslim control. Alcoholic drinks were prohibited in law, but the production of alcohol, in particular wine, seems to have thrived. Wine was a subject of poetry for many poets even under the Islamic rule. Even many Khalifas used to drink alcoholic beverages during their social and private meetings. Egyptian Jews leased vineyards from the Fatimid and Mamluk governments, produced wine for sacramental and medicinal use, and traded wine throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. Christian monasteries in the Levant and Iraq often cultivated grape vines; they then distributed their vintages in taverns located on monastery grounds. Zoroastrians in Persia and Central Asia also engaged in the production of wine. Though not much is known about their wine trade, they did become known for their taverns.

Wine in general found an industrial use in the medieval Middle East as feedstock after advances in distillation by Muslim alchemists allowed for the production of relatively pure ethanol, which was used the perfume industry. Wine was also for the first time distilled into brandy in this time and period.

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