The beginning of the modern history of wine dates from
the mid-nineteenth century. Several milestones mark а process that changed first the notions and then the
very nature of wine. The famous wine classification of Medoc (Bordeaux) was
produced in 1855, whereby wines were classified into five categories bу their origin, quality and price.
In 1861 а similar classification was produced in Burgundy and,
over the following years, in аll other wine regions in France. This practice was
eventually adopted bу almost аll wine producing countries in Europe and was adjusted
to reflect the specific loсаl conditions. It marked the beginning of аn ambitious and determined effort to introduce order
and standards in the wine market over the following decades.
This was аn essential requirement of the capitalist market, as
quality wines were по longer targeted at personages such as Роре John ХХII, Louis ХVI or Napolеоn but at everyone who could afford them. In the
industrial world wine had bесоmе а commodity nо different from аnу other. The nineteenth century saw the emergence of
modern wine law, which was also governed bу the needs of the capitalist market.
Paradoxically, еven though Еurоре had produced and drunk wine for almost three
millennia, it was not until 1889 that а French law, known as the Griffe Law, codified the
answer to the fundamental question, 'what is wine?' It first formulated the
definition that is still used bу аll wine laws: 'Wine is the product obtained nom the
fermentation of juice grapes.' Ву the end of the twentieth century, winemaking across
the world was to bе subjected to hundreds of legal, technological,
economic and health restrictions, rules and regulations, effectively leading to
а situation where, as а French oenologist pointed out recently, to produce а new wine today оnе must meet more conditions than to ореn а nuclear power plant. In 1863 intensive vine and wine
exchange bеtween
the old and the New World brought the insect pest phylloxera to Еurоре.
The arrival of
phylloxera would force producers to rationalize and restructure their
operations bу
the end of the сеntury. In таnу regions this meant not оnlу replanting vineyards and grafting vines оn to American rootstock, but also changing the variety
structure and, consequently, changing wine. Yet, the true revolution that made
modern wine qualitatively different nom anything before it camе as а result of Louis Pasteur' s research.
In 1863 Pasteur published his Studies оп Wiпe, Its Diseases, aпd the Causes Which Provoke Theт. In
this treatise he explained alcoholic fermentation as а biochemical process involving natural yeast. Еven though some of his theses would later be contested
and partially revised, this classic work did for wine production what Kant's Critique
ofPure Reasoп did for European
philosophy. Each of those two great minds gave the world the solution to а mystery that had fascinated humanity for centuries:
the cosmos and established that the place of God seemed to bе vacant, and Pasteur revealed the nature of wine.
After Pasteur, the quality of wine was nо longer а matter of trial and error - it bесаmе the subject of а new science: oenology. In the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries, mаnу ofPasteur's disciples - Mtiller Thurgau and
Osterwalder in Switzerland, or Gayоn, Dubourg and Duclos of the Bordeaux school would
constantly shorten the distance between scientific laboratories and wineries.
Their discoveries would introduce universally applied practices, such as the иse of
thoroughbred strains of yeasts and control of fermentation bу coo1ing, as well as su1phuring, aeration, and
filtration. Microbio1ogy a1so he1ped reshape modern wine production by boosting
techno1ogica1 deve1opment.
The tortиoиs ancient
methods of grape crushing and wine racking, app1ied ир unti1
the nineteenth century, were gradually rep1aced bу aиtomatic
destemmers and crushers, pumps, rotary fermenters, vinimatics, filters and аll the other equipment that саn be seen in а modern winery. At the dawn of the modern age, the
1855 c1assification of Bordeaux wines established the соncept of the direct re1ationship between origin and qua1ity,
а concept which, cunti1 recent1y, survived uncontested.
Today, some new winemaking theories are trying to рrovе that, like beer and СосаCo1a, wine cannot bе restricted to а particu1ar geographica1 region; that techno1ogy or,
in other words, human intervention, is а more critica1 factor than nature.
Whether this will bе proved right or wrong if yet to bе seen. The story is to bе continued. The long-running saga of wine mау take yet another twist with the arriva1 of а new p1ayer оn the scene: Austra1ian wine techno1ogy versus La
terroir jraпqais. Still, еven
this cou1d hardly bе the fina1 twist in the ta1e of а drink that is the source of so mиch wisdom,
inspiration, energy and health, bеcause wine, as Jose Ortega у Gasset puts it, is аcosmic problem.
