No single person “invented” wine; it emerged thousands of years ago when early humans discovered that stored grape juice could naturally ferment into an alcoholic drink.

Quick Scoop

  • The oldest firm archaeological evidence of true grape wine comes from the South Caucasus, especially near Tbilisi in present‑day Georgia, around 6000 BCE.
  • The oldest known winery (with a press, vats, jars, and cups) was found in the Areni‑1 cave in Armenia and dates to about 4100 BCE, showing that organized winemaking was already well developed.
  • Similar or related fermented grape (and grape‑mixed) drinks also appeared very early in regions like Iran and China, so winelike beverages likely arose independently in several places.

So, who “invented” wine?

Historians agree there is no identifiable inventor; wine arose pre‑history, probably when stored grapes or juice fermented by wild yeasts and people liked the result. Over time, communities in the Caucasus region refined that accidental discovery into deliberate viticulture and winemaking, which is why Georgia and Armenia are often called the “cradle” of wine.

Mythologically, the ancient Greeks credited the god Dionysus (Bacchus to the Romans) as the creator of wine, reflecting how central it became to ritual and celebration rather than recording an actual inventor.

TL;DR: No one person invented wine; it likely began as an accidental fermentation of grapes, with the earliest solid evidence pointing to Neolithic Georgia and Armenia over 6,000 years ago.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.